National Defence committee  To clarify, in concept, these hubs could exist on paper only. I talked about the agreements that need to be in place with a host nation. Then you work into logistical support arrangements and then you work down to contracting arrangements. You could have a range of capability that existed on paper only and not require anything.

National Defence committee  Again, I won't say hypothetically, but right now we are planning. I would say there are costs involved. You will get into things such as pre-establishing contracts in certain areas. That costs money to do. You do that because it is much better to have a pre-arranged contract in place for a range of services and to be able to activate those than it is to go in on very short notice, and then, based on the spot market or the demands of the local economy....

National Defence committee  There are about 1,800 personnel within the command. You then have the six depots that are essentially domestically based. The pieces that do the forward deployment include the Canadian Forces Joint Support Group in Kingston and the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment. Then I have an engineering capability in Moncton.

National Defence committee  If the commander of Special Operations Forces Command were here, he'd say he was both a force generator and a force employer. So yes, those are probably the two formations that provide both. Very clearly, the services focus on force generation. The Expeditionary Force Command and the Canada Command focus on force employment almost specifically.

National Defence committee  In simple terms I look at force generation as having capabilities ready to support operations, whether that is contracting expertise, engineering expertise, or supply expertise. It's almost a functional checklist, and that reverts to people and capabilities inherent in that. That is not a challenge, whether I provide that leadership and/or expertise to provide support to a deploying task force in support of Expeditionary Force Command or I provide that capability for security at the Olympics in support of Canada Command.

National Defence committee  Prior to the dot-com establishment, we had the deputy chief of staff organization. I did not work in it, so I can't comment on how it conducted its business at that time. But when we stood up the transformation, or when transformation and the dot-coms were established, the first thing we were doing was separating strategic from the operational capability.

National Defence committee  I wouldn't say redundancies. I would say that we're now more concentrated on bringing those joint enablers together.

National Defence committee  I would not have an idea on that, sorry.

National Defence committee  There have been efficiencies and economies in how we do business, yes.

National Defence committee  At the time transition happened, I was south of the border, so I wasn't involved in the day-to-day activities. General Benjamin was the first commander of CANOSCOM, so he was in place when that happened. I can only give you a bit of an overview of how the transition happened. I consisted in standing up a small cell that started to build capabilities.

National Defence committee  Madam, thank you for the question. The CANCAP is a contract, and it essentially puts in terms and conditions in terms of the readiness and the requirements of the individuals. So in terms of the training and the requirements for those employees who would be deployed, it is up to the contractor to maintain a level of training that we will stipulate in that contract.

National Defence committee  The key, I would say, is flexibility. What you want to have in a support continuum...you have military people with functional capabilities, you have contracted solution space, and an option in contracted solution space--what we have--is what we call the CANCAP, the civilians. Will we continue to use it?

National Defence committee  I will give you some context in terms of how we use it. The types of services that CANCAP actually provide right now are administration, supply, transportation, health, environment, equipment, food, communication, waste management, water supply. So we have put a range of functions into that contract.

National Defence committee  Again, I alluded to it in answer to another question. The short answer is yes. So for known types of operations, I cited two—non-combatant evacuation operations and disaster assistance and relief—and we have another one, major air disasters. Those are essentially plans that sit on the shelf and indicate a level of readiness and response.

National Defence committee  We talk about lessons learned and feedback loops. CANOSCOM works in a very dynamic environment. I've been in place for just over two years now. We have been constantly engaged in operations over that two-year period, so I get constant feedback about whether we are providing the right level of support for what we do.