Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak before this committee today.
My name is Adam Green. I'm the director for national security policy at Public Safety Canada. Part of my remit is to oversee the activities of Public Safety's research security centre.
To begin with, I want to properly frame the remit I will speak to you about today. The research security centre is at the heart of Canada's approach to the challenge of research security, which is a topic that I know has been at the core of the concerns of this committee.
For the committee's clarity, while we do provide information to researchers in academia on a range of security-related topics, during which questions about the security process can be raised, responsibility for personnel-vetting and for delivering security clearances is beyond the scope of the centre's activities.
As you are likely aware, national security threats targeting intellectual property and technological know-how have been increasingly prevalent over the last decade as Canada is placing itself amongst the global leaders in research and technology.
Canada's cutting-edge innovation in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum and aerospace makes the entire research ecosystem particularly vulnerable to threats such as espionage, foreign interference and theft. What makes us innovative and competitive can also make us a target.
To tackle this head-on, in 2022, the federal government made significant investments to enhance Canada's research security posture so as to ensure that Canadian research, innovation and intellectual property would be protected.
Part of this funding was used to establish the Research Security Centre which serves as an entryway for the academic community into the Government of Canada for research security advice and guidance. Taken together with a range of policies and processes enacted over the past five years, Canada's research security posture has made us a global leader in this space.
I am very proud to be here before this committee and in a position to share with you that our work is highly regarded by our allies and like-minded partners. Countries throughout Europe, Asia and Oceania regularly look to us to share our experience, provide best practices and to interrogate how they can learn from our approach on this issue.
What sets us apart from most other countries on research security is that our policies are centralized and have a real ability to prevent potential national security threats before they can manifest. We do this by reviewing a proportion of federal grant applications to ensure that the risks relating to the theft of sensitive and dual-use intellectual property are mitigated. No other country in the world has a centralized function to do this.
Similarly, the named research organizations list of our sensitive technology research and affiliations of concern, STRAC, policy, is one of the first of its kind in the world and is referenced by several of our allies in their own research security policies and documentation. This made-in-Canada list is backed by a methodology and a set of tailored indicators that help us determine whether a foreign institution is connected with the military or state security apparatus of a foreign country that poses a national security risk to Canada.
The centre has been successful in building awareness of national security threats within the Canadian research ecosystem. We've delivered hundreds of what we call “safeguarding science” workshops. We've conducted over 140 national security reviews of grant applications. We've connected the right expertise with the academic sector, and we've built a network of hundreds of stakeholders across Canada and internationally. Most of this would not have been possible without buy-in from academia.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the great work this committee has undertaken as part of its own 2024 study on the security of research partnerships.
I am pleased to share that the Research Security Centre has been working with its partners help implement this committee's recommendations.
One of the key recommendations made to Public Safety Canada was to encourage and assist post-secondary institutions in adopting measures to protect researchers and students who are the target of foreign interference on campus.
Our regional advisers, who are spread out geographically around the country, have been working with the office of the national counter foreign interference coordinator to coordinate visits to universities across Canada to speak directly with staff and students on foreign interference challenges on campus, and to offer guidance and support in addressing those issues.
We have also worked with our colleagues in other government departments, as referenced by my colleagues, to provide targeted and timely briefings to university stakeholders and researchers on a variety of issues.
These collaborative efforts have made Canada's research security posture much more resilient to emerging threats. Threat actors will continue to try to adapt their tactics, and academic partnerships will wax and wane with a range of countries, but we are confident that the necessary tools and policies we have put in place will continue to adapt so as to address evolving concerns.
Thank you very much.
