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OTTAWA — Terror suspect Mohamed Harkat admitted in a March 1997 conversation that he knew al-Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah personally and did not fear being contacted by him at home, according to new court documents. A summary of that conversation — between Harkat and an unidentified Ottawa man — has been filed with the Federal Court. Prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the summary is one of 13 added to the public record in the security certificate case. It’s not clear whether the summaries are based on wiretaps, obtained under authority of the CSIS Act, or on informants’ accounts...

There is nothing wrong with setting broad goals for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. The U.S. wants to leave as soon as this is feasible, and Iraqis have long wanted us to leave. At least since 2004, Iraq’s Kurds have been the only group in Iraq that showed a consistent desire for the U.S. to stay. It also is impossible to be certain that the risks of early withdrawal will really be greater from the risks of staying. It is at least possible that acting on early timelines will force Iraqis to move towards political accommodation, to take hard decisions,...

Obama Argues He's More Open-border Than McCain: "The 12 million people living in the shadows, communities taking immigration enforcement into their own hands...they're counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling the airwaves. Yes, they broke the law and we should require them to learn English, pay a fine and go to the back of the line." CIS notes: These oft-repeated "penalties" are not serious. As for the fine, immigrant rights attorneys will cry discrimination and those aliens who don't pay it will never be deported. The English language requirement would be impossible to regulate and likely never enforced....

Iran’s Other Leader by: Rachel Paulk, July 14, 2008 As Iran continues to develop its nuclear facilities and to demonstrate its missile capabilities, foreign policy analysts are scrambling to determine the best American response to the rogue nation’s militaristic threats. None seem to agree on how to best approach the hostile Islamic state because its leaders prove difficult to predict on the escalating nuclear crisis. Karim Sadjadpour, author of the report “Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader,” stated in a lecture at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali...

Senator John McCain delivered remarks yesterday to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington D.C. Below are Senator McCain's remarks, as prepared for delivery: Thank you. I appreciate the invitation to talk with you about a great and urgent challenge - breaking our nation's critical dependence on foreign sources of oil, and making America safer, stronger and more prosperous by modernizing the way we generate and employ energy. Oil is often called the lifeblood of our economy-the indispensable commodity that keeps commerce humming and America on the move....

Clock ticking for Kim's Korea 24 January 2008 Kim Jong-Il's regime could collapse within six months, bringing chaos to North Korea, observers and intelligence sources in Asia have told Jane's. A joint United States report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute for Peace has also revealed that China has "contingency plans" in the event of North Korea's implosion. The report, entitled 'Keeping an Eye on an Unruly Neighbor', said that China was prepared to "take the initiative" and had a military strategy for securing North Korea's "loose nukes" should Kim Jong-Il's rule fail.

A government committee has concluded that Mohammed Mansour Jabarah was "arbitrarily detained" by CSIS when it helped the admitted al-Qaeda member surrender to FBI agents five years ago. The Security Intelligence Review Committee also found his right to silence as protected under the Charter of Rights was violated as well as his right to counsel. "Furthermore, his right to remain in Canada as protected by section 6 of the Charter [mobility rights] was violated," says a report from the committee. The committee, chaired by former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, made six recommendations, principal among them the need to obtain formal...

Those who seek to understand what's behind the chatter about President George W. Bush's Security and Prosperity Partnership as a possible prelude to a North American Union, similar to the European Union, should read the 35-page White Paper published recently by the Hudson Institute called "Negotiating North America: The Security and Prosperity Partnership." The Washington, D.C., think tank is blunt and detailed in describing where the Security and Prosperity Partnership is heading. Here's how Hudson defines the Security and Prosperity Partnership's goal: "The SPP process is the vehicle for the discussion of future arrangements for economic integration to create a...

Hateful chatter behind the veil Key suspects' wives held radical views, Web postings revealMISSISSAUGA — When it came time to write up the premarital agreement between Zakaria Amara and Nada Farooq, Ms. Farooq briefly considered adding a clause that would allow her to ask for a divorce. She said that Mr. Amara (now accused of being a leader of the alleged terror plot that led to the arrests of 17 Muslim men early this month) had to aspire to take part in jihad. "[And] if he ever refuses a clear opportunity to leave for jihad, then i want the choice...

prominent environmentalist is sounding the alarm about a closed-door trilateral meeting to discuss, among other things, large-scale water transfers to combat future shortages in the United States and Mexico despite Canada's standing objection to such a plan. Next week, government officials and academics from the three countries will gather in Calgary for the two-day North American Future 2025 Project where they'll brainstorm ideas on how the continent should implement policies to deal with various challenges - including security, energy and labour. But it's the agenda on water that has activists concerned, given that the discussions will be held behind closed...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A top U.S. Democratic congressman met a leader of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's most powerful rival, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, U.S. officials and the Islamist group said Saturday. Visiting House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, twice on Thursday -- once at the parliament building and then at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said Brotherhood spokesman Hamdi Hassan. U.S. Embassy spokesman John Berry would confirm only that Hoyer, who represents Maryland, met with el-Katatni at U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone's home at a...

Today: July 13, 2002 at 10:10:14 PDT U.S. Says Iraq Would Target Troops ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- The threat from Iraq's chemical and biological weapons is primarily to U.S. troops and to enemies of President Saddam Hussein inside and near Iraq rather than to civilians in the United States, defense and intelligence officials say. Iraq is believed to have biological weapons including anthrax spores and botulinum poison, which causes botulism. As for chemical agents, Iraq is thought to possess mustard, tabun, sarin and possibly VX gases, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Those are what U.N. inspectors had...

Canadian oil: Target of terror Al-Qaeda group calls for attacks as way to disrupt U.S. supply Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from the Calgary Herald Published: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Al-Qaeda has called for terrorist strikes against Canada's oil and natural gas facilities to "choke the U.S. economy." An online message, posted by The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula, declares "we should strike petroleum interests in all areas which supply the United States ... like Canada," the No. 1 supplier of both fuels to the U.S. "The biggest party hurt will be the industrial nations, and...

Canada's intelligence service says a "very rapid process" is transforming some youths from angry activists into jihadist terrorists intent on killing for their religion. Enraged over what they perceive as a Western "war on Islam" and coaxed on by extremist preachers, a few have embraced terrorism with frightening speed, the service warns in a new study. "The transformation from radical to jihadist can be a very rapid process," says the "secret" report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, obtained by the National Post. The study, released under the Access to Information Act, is the government's latest attempt to understand why...

ELEANOR HALL: A key US military strategist who counts the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, among his students, is absolutely scathing about the current Bush administration's strategy in Iraq and says no one except the President is in any doubt that it should change. Harlan Ullman who's now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says the US lost control of events in Iraq almost immediately after the invasion and that far from assisting in the development of democracy, the US-led allies, including Australia, have fomented chaos. But Dr Ullman says he holds out little hope that either...

Part 2 of National Post's series: "The path to terror in Canada" Terror suspect's bride: 'I'm shocked' Stewart Bell National Post Tuesday, September 05, 2006 Three months after the RCMP began arresting 18 suspects accused of plotting terror attacks in Canada, an investigation by the National Post has uncovered a web of links to Pakistan. Today, in the second of four parts, an exclusive interview with the Pakistani bride of Toronto terror suspect Jahmaal James. LAHORE, Pakistan - There are plastic flowers on the walls, a small computer on the table beneath the window and a curtain for a door....

Khadr alleges abuse from all sides Abdullah claims CSIS, RCMP facilitated his torture in Pakistan Adrian Humphreys National Post Friday, August 18, 2006 TORONTO - Abdullah Khadr, a Canadian man accused by the United States of being an al-Qaeda weapons supplier, says he faced a revolving door of abuse from police and security agents from three countries -- including Canada -- during 14 months of imprisonment in Pakistan. In a sworn affidavit filed in a Toronto court, Mr. Khadr claims his Pakistani jailers raped him with a stick and beat him; American "spies" slapped him and threatened him and...

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Tuesday that the spy agency avoids racial profiling because it is "fundamentally stupid'' and does not knowingly use information gleaned under torture offshore because the practice is "morally repugnant.'' James Judd told a gathering of Canadian judges on Tuesday that he is "acutely aware'' of complaints that the agency, along with several other organizations, targets the Muslim community in fighting the war on terror. "We don't profile because it's fundamentally stupid and we don't have enough resources,'' said Judd. "From a national security perspective, we can't afford...

TORONTO — Canada's police and intelligence agencies, through their use of paid Muslim informants, effectively have spies in virtually every major mosque in Toronto, according to well-connected members of the Muslim community. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service does not deny operating inside Muslim religious institutions, but insists that it hires informants to report on people, not places. Those knowledgeable about mosques and the tactics of security services say it often amounts to the same thing. “If they're following certain people, an imam for example, and that imam is spending a lot of time at the mosque, then [the informant] is...

Security No. 1 Calgary Sun Friday, July 14, 2006 By LICIA CORBELLA Most Canadians would agree that if ever there was a time this country needed to boost spending on "intelligence gathering" it was five years ago after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. Surely, working to prevent such atrocities in the future should be the federal government's No. 1 job. Think again, says Canada's most effective and hardest-working member of Parliament's upper chamber, Senator Colin Kenney. "CSIS' budget is still less than what it was in 1990," says Kenney, chair of the Standing Senate Committee on...