Canada extends ban on arms sales to NATO ally Turkey

Sur le même sujet

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  18 novembre 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Des génies d’ici protègent les avions de chasse

  Une équipe québécoise d'élite d'une vingtaine d'employés en cybersécurité a inventé un outil informatique pour protéger les avions de chasse de l'armée. « Lorsqu'il y a intrusion, les dég'ts sont majeurs. Ça peut conduire à des écrasements ou à de l'interception d'information très sensible », explique calmement au bout du fil le PDG de StreamScan, Karim Ganame. Fondée en 2011, l'entreprise montréalaise compte parmi ses clients de gros noms des secteurs manufacturier et pharmaceutique connus que son grand patron préfère taire pour des raisons de sécurité. Ces dernières années, StreamScan a travaillé en étroite collaboration avec le Centre de la sécurité des télécommunications (CST) et le ministère de la Défense sur de nombreux projets à l'abri des regards. En gros, son outil détecte des anomalies. Par exemple, lorsqu'il y a des cyberattaques dans les avions, les systèmes informatiques vont se comporter différemment et la firme peut alors les alerter qu'une attaque est en cours. « Confiance en personne » Récemment, la PME a décroché un juteux contrat avec la Défense, qui s'intéresse à son puissant outil d'intelligence artificielle capable de sauver des vies, mais aussi de prévenir le vol d'informations ultras confidentielles. « On s'attend à ce que les alliés collaborent entre eux, mais on est quand même dans la Défense, et les intérêts peuvent varier en fonction de certaines circonstances ou de réalités géopolitiques. Bref, en cybersécurité, on a confiance en personne. Ça peut venir de n'importe où », analyse-t-il. Quand on lui demande si le Québec tire bien son épingle du jeu dans ce domaine, Karime Ganame en a long à dire sur les vice-présidents de grandes compagnies d'ici qui doutaient de sa capacité à fonder une entreprise. « On me disait que l'innovation en cybersécurité vient des États-Unis. J'ai dû leur dire : “Les États-Unis n'ont pas le monopole de la connaissance. Au Québec, on est capable de le faire”. Et on l'a fait », conclut-il. https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/11/09/des-genies-dici-protegent-les-avions-de-chasse

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  26 novembre 2019 | Local, Autre défense

  U.S. sent ‘blunt’ letter to Canada criticizing defence spending: sources

  BY MERCEDES STEPHENSON AND KERRI BREEN Canada has been officially called out by the United States over how much it spends on the military, Global News has learned. A “blunt” letter from the U.S. government was delivered to the Department of National Defence that criticized Canadian defence spending levels and repeated American demands that Canada meet NATO targets. Global News has not seen the letter — said to have a frustrated, critical tone — but multiple sources have confirmed it was sent and received. U.S. President Donald Trump has long called for members of the 29-nation military alliance to beef up their budgets for defence. His national security adviser Robert O'Brien, who spoke Saturday at the Halifax International Security Forum, said getting NATO members to meet the established target — two per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — is an urgent priority. “There are very serious threats to our freedom and our security and if NATO is going to be effective, and if we want to put our money where our talk is, we got to spend that money to defend ourselves,” he said. Nations including Canada agreed at the 2014 NATO summit in Wales​ to move towards the military spending target within a decade, he noted. “We expect our friends and our colleagues to live up to their commitments and their promises,” he said. He also praised Canada's plan to build and deploy Arctic patrol vessels. The North, he said, is going to be the new “frontline” of defence, as Russia and China have made it clear they are going to militarize the Arctic. One Canadian source told Global News that the U.S. is concerned that Canada does not take the threat from those countries in the Arctic seriously and wants the country to boost its contributions in that area. Just seven countries — including the U.S. and the U.K. — have met NATO's two per cent of GDP spending goal, according to figures released in June. NATO's estimates show Canada is expected to spend 1.27 per cent of its GDP on the military this year, up from about one per cent in 2014. Canada does fare better when you look at its defence budget in dollars and cents, said Dave Perry, vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The country spends the sixth highest amount overall among NATO members on its military. As for meeting the percentage of GDP target, Perry's not optimistic despite planned increases in the defence budget. “Canada is not on a path to live up to the commitments that we were signing up for in 2014 in Wales,” he said. Last year, Canada spent about $22.9 billion on the Department of National Defence. But Ottawa intends to dramatically boost military spending in the coming years. In 2017, the government released a plan to increase the budget to almost $33 billion annually within a decade. Asked about the letter from the U.S., Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan touted this plan to strengthen spending. Discussions around “burden sharing” within the bloc have been happening for some time, he said. He noted that under the government's plan, the defence budget would see an increase of 70 per cent, a “significant amount.” “The relationship with Canada and the U.S., the defence relationship, I think, is even stronger now, because they see a tangible plan that we have created,” he said on an episode of The West Block that aired Sunday. “It's working, actually, extremely well.” The U.S. sending such a letter is an unusual, formal means of relaying a message, and it represents an escalation from previous attempts to get Canada to spend more on its military. That pressure has been increasing in recent weeks ahead of the NATO summit in London starting on Dec. 3. In fact, the same message has been conveyed in multiple ways to the federal government, a diplomatic source said, and NATO itself also wants to see more military spending from Canada. In July, however, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested publicly he was happy with improvements in Canadian defence spending. “Under your leadership,” he said to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, ​​”Canada has stepped up its contributions to our NATO alliance including with forces for NATO missions and operations and increased spending.” But one former defence minister said the letter from the U.S. — NATO's leader in defence spending in relation to its GDP — was not a good sign. Peter MacKay said such a letter amounts to “a very serious diplomatic slap — not on the wrist, but in the face.” During his time in government, the former Nova Scotia Conservative MP said he had talks with defence secretaries regarding Canadian military spending and the country's goal of reaching two per cent. “Those discussions can be forceful and frank but they took place face to face,” said MacKay, who was defence minister for six years under former prime minister Stephen Harper. “Sending a démarche (diplomatic letter) is really ratcheting it up a notch.” https://globalnews.ca/news/6210623/canada-defence-spending-nato/

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  2 novembre 2018 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Defence Business Planning in Canada

  by Ross Fetterly CGAI Fellow October 2018 “Running any complex organization during a period of major change, especially large and complex organizations, requires careful attention to the essentials of management.”1 The history of defence reform in Canada has been one of a constant struggle to renew both core military capabilities and personnel strengths, while searching for increased efficiency within a limited budget. Indeed, the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence (DND/CAF) operates on a magnitude and complexity across a broad range of diverse responsibilities unique in Canada. At a time when global security demands our constant attention, and when the CAF operates outside Canada in a less permissive and uncertain environment, resource management is important. The environment is increasingly one of unilateralism and multi-dimensional conflict, with unconventional means used to disrupt both national institutions and long-standing multi-national arrangements. While state organizations commit many non-military actions such as cyber-security attacks, defence organizations have a significant role to play in this domain. This requires resourcing defence to build capacities that support whole-of-government initiatives which enhance the Canadian government's resiliency in response to the multi-dimensional actions taken by illiberal or non-democratic states. Defence business planning has a key role in realigning resources and activities in response to shifting geopolitical realities. Management of defence resources is about transforming them into military capabilities in a relevant manner and in accordance with government policy. Defence establishments are unique within national government institutions, as well as in organizations in general. Nevertheless, they are required to produce certain outputs and are given a range of resources to achieve that. To accomplish assigned tasks, those resources need to be put through a deliberate business-process mechanism. The objective of the defence business planning process is to provide a pragmatic method of documenting organizational priorities and objectives, and communicating them internally while highlighting and addressing any constraints. Business planning is well established within the Canadian defence establishment. In recent years, the business planning approval process has become a key focal point in the departmental Investment Resource Management Committee (IRMC) leading up to the start of a fiscal year. Yet, the 2017 defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE), has dramatically changed the dynamics of resource management at National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ). From a relatively stable status quo, to an environment where programmed personnel, equipment and funding increases are significant, managing change and the new initiatives as articulated in SSE, becomes a central institutional priority. Business planning is the primary process to manage implementation and execution of this relatively ambitious program. The discussion of defence business planning will begin with its challenges, and then provide an overview of factors inherent in resource demands. The third section will examine defence resource management reforms and the impact on implementing SSE, and then address factors affecting change in business planning, as well as consideration of enduring challenges. The final section will highlight that defence business planning is the bridge between near- and long-term planning and then articulate why it will need to act as a primary enabler in implementing SSE-directed activities. Full report: https://www.cgai.ca/defence_business_planning_in_canada