Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think I'm going to answer that question very quickly and tell you that I'm a NEXUS cardholder. I think that's your answer.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  To take this from a flip perspective and using the NEXUS reference as an example, I do travel to the United States frequently, and to make my life and my travel easier, I recognize I am going into another sovereign country and I have to respect their laws and their rules—much the same way anyone coming into Canada would.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm echoing that completely, because when you consider there are certain laws in technology, there's the—I forget the name—18-month rule where technological capability can double in 18 months. Just consider this scenario. At the end of 2008, the fastest known supercomputer could do 1.5 quadrillion calculations per second.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The critical factor here is to start with properly identifying a risk analysis. That's where we actually need to start this, asking where our risks and where our vulnerabilities are. Further to that, for information collection, even in a peacetime setting, we still have opportunities and networks that we can chat with—friendly nations.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Opitz. Yes, I think to broaden this discussion we need to look at it initially in a historical context. The RCMP and CSIS, and expanding out into other groups, like all organizations, are not immune to cultural barriers. Since you mentioned my Washington days, there's a saying that intelligence begins at the local level and it works all the way up to the national level.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure. The Five Eyes are the five countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. This has been a collaborative effort on intelligence gathering that I think ranges back 50 to 60 years. These are natural allies, who shortly after World War II realized they had shared interests.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll take the first stab at that. I think this was brought out in the testimony. Biometrics serves little use if it has no information to be cross-referenced against. As mentioned, the information gathering starts abroad. We need to give our visa officers and embassies the capabilities and intelligence resources, so they can actually start finding out about a person abroad.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure. I'll summarize. In summary, we should note that we have only begun to address the myriad issues. The immigration and security file is a cause in which you are all united. You have all been mandated as representatives of the people. However, your first responsibility is the security of the Dominion and the people.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair and committee members, I thank you, as well, for inviting us, and I do echo the comments of my colleague. There is a concept known as domain awareness, and respectfully, Canada is not aware of its domain. Given Canada's lack of sufficient intelligence capabilities, we seldom know if individuals or cargo accessing Canadian territory pose a threat to the nation, be it of health, safety, or even economic natures.