Speeches and Presentations

Presentation by Jim Judd, Director Canadian Security Intelligence Service Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism Act

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March 07, 2005

Introduction

• Good morning. I'm here today with Dale Neufeld, the deputy Director of Operations for the Service.

• I'm here to give you an overview of the terrorist threats facing Canada.
  
  
• This is, of course, in the context of your review of C-36, the anti-terrorism legislation adopted several years ago.
  
  
• I will try to be succinct in my opening remarks so as to leave time to respond to your questions.
  
  
• I really want to focus on three things:

• What has happened with the threat of terrorism since this legislation was enacted.
  

• How we see the current environment both in Canada and globally.
  

• What the prospects may be for the future.

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The Threat Environment

• Terrorism has become a global movement that has taken root. It is not a passing trend. It is in Canada, and it is very real threat to our national security.
  
  
• Adherents of the movement span countries, cultures, political systems and socio-economic backgrounds. They include both highly educated elites and more humble foot soldiers, and followers are recruited around the world, including in our own back yard.
  
  
• Since 9-11 and the passage of this legislation, terrorist actions have taken place across the globe with a concomitant loss of lives.
  
  
• As you will see in the next slide, both the number and frequency of terrorist attacks have grown dramatically.
  
  
• None of these attacks have been on the scale of 9/11 but have been nonetheless horrifying. The bombings of the Bali nightclub and the Madrid trains, and the attack at the school in Beslan were among the most spectacular, but by no means the only ones.
  
  
• It is worth remembering that terrorism is not a new phenomenon in Canada or to Canadians, even prior to the events of 9/11.
  
  
• All that said, there have been some positive developments since 9/11 in the effort to counter terrorism:
  • Afghanistan – dispersal of leadership and infrastructure.
  • Response by the United Nations and individual national governments to:

  • Enact legislation
  • Change organizations and enhance collaboration
  • Commit new resources

• And, despite continuing terrorist action around the world, new attacks have been thwarted in number of countries.

• At the same time, there have been a number of significant negative developments, some of which have made and will make the work of security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies much more difficult.

• Evidence of planning for other attacks around the world and in our own country continues to be uncovered.

• While we have a good sense of what our current targets are doing, it's the ones we don't know about that cause the greatest concern.

• Second, the terrorist networks responsible for, or associated with, the 9/11 attacks have become more physically dispersed and, simultaneously, much more technologically sophisticated in many respects:

• We assess as well that their long-standing quest to obtain more horrific weaponry – be it chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear – continues unabated. The head of the IAEA only recently set out his own concerns regarding the increasing ease of access to radiological and even nuclear weaponry.

• The organizational structure of AL QAEDA and its affiliates has also changed from a centralized command and control model to a much more decentralized and loosely tied system.

• In many respects, it has been transformed into more of a global movement formed of often autonomous and far-flung elements.

• The terrorist networks' use of the Internet, for example, as a communications, recruitment and propaganda tool has been truly impressive in bolstering their capacity around the world and, again, in our country.

• We note their utilization of encryption and sophisticated steganography techniques.

• The Internet is also now being used as a tool for fundraising through the use, for example, of credit card fraud schemes.

Growing Number of Adherents to Terrorism

• Third, the number of adherents to terrorism has continued to grow in the years since 9/11. Last month, the CIA Director, in his recent threat overview before the US Congress, cited Iraq as a possible new operating base for international terrorism.

  • The ranks of trained terrorist fighters in Iraq have been, and continue to be, bolstered by individuals from around the world – including from Europe and Canada.
  • For example, Said RASOUL, a Canadian citizen, is believed to be a member of ANSAR AL-ISLAM, an AL QAEDA affiliated group in Iraq.
  • Abdul JABER, a landed immigrant, is also believed to be a key commander and ideologue with ANSAR AL ISLAM.

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New Recruits

• Fourth, the type of persons attracted to terrorist networks is changing in several worrisome ways:

  • More are being found in the second generation of immigrant families – whether in Europe, Canada or elsewhere.
  • Still others have had no discernible previous link of any kind with the terrorist networks – a phenomenon we have found here in our country as well.

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Common Characteristics

• Some things have not changed about the contemporary terrorist threat – whether here or in other countries:

  • Extremists remain committed adversaries ready to die for their cause(s).
  • They are indiscriminate in their targets – not differentiating at all between military/security forces and civilians and, in fact, preferring to attack "soft targets" and to inflict maximum casualties, thereby increasing the public impact of their action.
  • They continue to demonstrate outstanding operational security and highly effective planning skills, often taking years to put into effect a terrorist operation.
  • They also maintain the capacity to operate effectively in much the same way as a multinational corporation with operations involving personnel in several countries simultaneously – geography does not impede them.
  • Many of the tools of their trade are readily accessible, including recipes for chemical agents or commercially available components for explosives and other weaponry.

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Where Are We Now?

• We are extremely fortunate in this country not to have had a terrorist attack take place on our soil since 9/11.

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No Attacks on Canadian Soil, but Canadian Victims

• But we have not been immune from the effects of terrorism, leaving aside the 24 Canadians who died in the 9/11 attacks:

  • Another two Canadians died in the Bali bombing, and
  • Canadian Forces personnel have been killed and wounded by terrorist attacks while serving in Afghanistan.
  • The threat to our deployed Forces in Afghanistan remains high, and for this reason, the Service makes it a priority to support the Canadian Forces deployed there.

• Given the international mobility of Canadian citizens and the continued deployment of Canadian Forces personnel in Afghanistan and potentially in other troubled regions of the world, our citizens can be at risk when outside our country.

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Canadian Links to Terrorist Activities

• We have not been immune from terrorism in other ways:

  • There are several graduates (men and women) of terrorist training camps, many of whom are battle-hardened veterans of campaigns in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and elsewhere, who reside here, while others continue to seek access to our country.
  • Often these individuals remain in contact with one another while in Canada and show signs of on-going clandestine activities (counter-surveillance, secretive meetings and communications, etc.).

• Canadians have also been involved in the planning and execution of terrorist operations in other countries, either while residing here or outside Canada. These include:
  

• Abdel Rahman JABARAH, who was sought for his involvement in the bombing of residential compounds in Riyadh in May 2003. He died in July 2003 during a gun battle with Saudi security forces.
• His brother, Mohammed JABARAH, was involved in a foiled terrorist plot to attack foreign embassies in Singapore. Since 2002, he has been detained by the United States.
• There has been considerable publicity around the family of the late Ahmed Said KHADR, a close associate of Osama BIN LADEN who was a central figure in Canada's Islamic extremist network. Some of his children underwent weapons and explosives training at camps in Afghanistan.
• Fateh KAMEL, a Canadian citizen of Algerian origin, was sentenced to eight years in prison in France for directing a terrorist cell in that country. KAMEL recently returned to Canada.
• Kassem DAHER, a Canadian citizen and a member of USBAT AL ANSAR, was imprisoned in Lebanon for his role in a gun fight with Lebanese security forces.
• In addition, Abderraouf JDEY and Faker BOUSSOURA, Canadian citizens of Tunisian origin, are listed on the US State Department "Rewards for Justice" programme. Both attended Al Qaeda training camps, and JDEY made a "suicide video" for Al Qaeda in which he pledged his life for the movement.

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Extremists Seeking Refuge or Status in Canada

• And Canada has also been an attractive refuge for extremists:

  • Hani AL SAYEGH, a refugee claimant, was involved in the Al Khobar bombings in Saudi Arabia in 1996.
  • Ahmed RESSAM, a failed refugee claimant, planned an attack at the Los Angeles airport from Montreal in the late 1990s and was subsequently tried and convicted in a US court.

• A number of these extremists, we believe, came to Canada to continue their activities and are being held under national security certificates. These include:

  • Mohammed MAHJOUB, a member of Vanguards of Conquest (VOC), a radical wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad;
  • Mahmud JABALLAH, senior operative of the Egyptian Islamic terrorist organization al-Jihad and Al Qaeda;
  • 
    Hassan AL MEREI and Mohammed HARKAT, both suspected members of the BIN LADEN network; and,
  • Adil CHARKAOUI, a suspected member of Al Qaeda.

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Reconnaissance Activities in Canada

• We also know that pre-operational planning reconnaissance has been undertaken in Canada on a variety of possible targets in some of our largest metropolitan centres. Successful terrorist actions against any one of these could potentially take a terrible toll on human life.
  
  
• The publicized case of Samir AIT MOHAMED, a failed refugee claimant currently incarcerated in Vancouver and believed to have been targeting a Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal, is but one publicly known example.
  
  
• Finally, it is worth remembering that Canada was specifically mentioned by Osama BIN LADEN as being among the "designated targets" for terrorist action because of our role in Afghanistan after 9/11.
  
  
• Canada has been twice named as a target for terrorist attack by AL QAEDA.

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Summary

• While circumstances have changed since 9/11 in terms of both the nature of the terrorist threat and the measures taken against it, the terrorist risk is real, both in Canada and in many other countries.
  
  
• The bottom line here is that, as opponents, global terrorism, specifically AL QAEDA, has become more difficult for security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to track and apprehend. In particular, the greater autonomy and decentralization of these groups has provided more opportunity for local initiative, as opposed to centrally directed attacks.
  
  
• There is little about the terrorist threat that distinguishes Canada from other nations, including those that have been or are likely to be directly targeted.
  
  
• Put in other words, nothing exempts Canada from the threat of serious violence.
  
  
• While our pre-eminent concern remains with security threats to Canada and Canadians, we also have critical obligations to our international partners to ensure that Canada is not used as a base to attack others or that Canadians are in any way participants in such attacks or their planning.
  
  
• In that regard it should be borne in mind that there have been a number of instances where Canadians or individuals based here have been implicated in terrorist attacks or plans in other countries – at least a half dozen or more in the last several years.
  
  
• Fighting the terrorist threat and reducing the vulnerability to attack here and elsewhere in the world will require us to creatively engage the complete ranges of techniques and legislative devices available to us.
  
  
• In many ways, we have made our own luck, by relentlessly pursuing our targets, using the legal means provided to us under our own legislation, the CSIS Act, but also, in concert with our partners, using the new measures provided by the government to enhance its ability to fight terrorism at home and abroad.
  
  
• I want to thank you for the opportunity to address you as you begin to review the Anti-Terrorism legislation. In answering your questions as candidly and as openly as I am able to, I hope to leave you with a strong feeling of confidence in the work CSIS does to mitigate and eliminate the threats to our national security.

Date modified: 2005-11-14

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