Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

National Security in Canada—The 2001 Anti-Terrorism Initiative: Air Transportation Security, Marine Security, and Emergency Preparedness
(Chapter 2 - April 2005 Report of the Auditor General of Canada)

12 May, 2005

Sheila Fraser, FCA
Auditor General of Canada

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to meet with the Committee. With me today are Peter Kasurak, Principal and Edward Wood, Director, both responsible for this audit.

This is the second of two chapters looking at projects undertaken as part of the government’s Budget 2001 national security enhancement initiative. The first chapter, published in March 2004, examined the allocation of funds and monitoring of expenditures, intelligence issues, and some aspects of air and border security.

Chapter 2 of my April 2005 Report examined progress toward improving national security since 2001 in three distinct areas:

• The air transportation security inspection program including the installation of explosives detection systems;
• Marine projects designed to track vessels and to enhance the security of our ports; and
• Federal emergency preparedness.

Simply put, progress has been uneven. While improvements to marine security programs are proceeding well, I found serious weaknesses in emergency preparedness and in some aspects of air transportation security.

In emergency preparedness, funds were not allocated based on an assessment of risks. Equipment purchased for first responders in different cities was not required to be interoperable, thus missing an opportunity to create a national pool of compatible equipment. Training for first responders is progressing very slowly with fewer than 200 of the 6,000 estimated first responders needed at the intermediate level being trained.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada—a new department established in December 2003—needs to complete its proposed changes to the Emergency Preparedness Act and to finalize the plans, procedures, and chain of command necessary to respond to threats to public safety.

Turning to air transport security, some key elements are being implemented successfully. Explosive detection systems worth $1 billion have been installed at Canada’s airports, and the number of air transport security inspectors has increased.

Transport Canada officials say they have “no major problem” with the effectiveness of passenger and baggage screening carried out by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, or CATSA. However, Transport Canada has neither established performance standards nor carried out an assessment of CATSA’s effectiveness.

Our audit also examined passenger screening at airports. However, information related to the effectiveness of air passenger security systems was classified as secret. I must respect the government’s information security regime and, accordingly, we have not reported the information.

This raises the question of how to deal with security requirements, while providing sufficient information to Parliament so that it can scrutinize the spending and performance of security and intelligence activities. Although the government must weigh these issues and make difficult choices, it is Parliament, on behalf of Canadians, that must hold the government accountable for those choices.

Parliament needs to find a way to receive reports that contain classified information, without jeopardizing national security, whether from security and intelligence agencies or organizations such as my Office, which are charged with scrutinizing these agencies on Parliament’s behalf. I note that the government has taken steps in this direction with the recent proposal to establish a National Security Committee of Parliamentarians.

In my first audit on national security, I said that September 11, 2001 had changed our perception of how safe we are and led to higher expectations for our security. The government still has work to do to meet those expectations.

Thank you Mr Chairman. This is only a brief overview of our chapter on the progress toward enhancing national security in Canada. We would be pleased to respond to questions.