New articles in Canadian intelligence history
Eberlee on Canada’s Special Intelligence Section; Barnes on the Avro Arrow
I’d like to bring your attention to two new articles on Canada’s intelligence history that were published in scholarly journals this fall.
These are excellent pieces on their own, full stop. And yet I am particularly excited because both authors have used Canada Declassified to make their primary source documents available to readers.
As you read both articles, you will see that the authors invite their readers to look at the primary documents they used to research the article which are now available easily and for free online. I have done this previously with my articles on Cold War defectors in Canada, Canadian intelligence activities in Vietnam, and the Tripartite Intelligence Alerts Agreement, and I’m thrilled other historians are taking up this opportunity.
Putting the primary documents online serves several purposes. The most obvious is to enable readers of the article to examine, for themselves, the evidence the author relied on. Additionally, the briefing books will be valuable teaching tools for instructors guiding classes in writing with primary sources. Furthermore, the primary sources themselves are rich resources that can be utilized for other research projects.
You might have noticed mention of Alan’s article in Jim Bronskill’s reporting for The Globe and other newspapers.
On the day Jim Bronskill’s piece appeared in The Globe, I was walking through Union Station, and looked up to see an Avro Arrow up on the digital billboards with mention of the article.
That’s pretty good press for Canadian intelligence history!
Here are the articles and the links to the primary documents:
Sam Eberlee, “Scholar, diplomat, Intelligence pioneer: Herbert Norman and Canada’s Special Intelligence Section, 1942-1945,” Intelligence and National Security, 2023: 18 pp. (Subscription or library access required.)
Canada Declassified briefing book (with the primary documents) is here.
Article abstract:
“Using recently declassified documents, this article examines the wartime work of Canada’s Special Intelligence Section under diplomat Herbert Norman. This was the first experiment with all-source strategic intelligence analysis in Canada. The SIS scrutinized intercepted Japanese and French communications, and prepared regular intelligence reports on enemies’ conduct of the war. Its analysis sometimes veered into prescriptions of Allied policy and grand strategy for the benefit of readers like Prime Minister Mackenzie King. During the Second World War, Canada’s SIS demonstrated that intelligence personnel with deep expertise could produce insightful analyses of key global developments for strategists and decision-makers.”
Barnes, Alan "Arrows, Bears and Secrets: The Role of Intelligence in Decisions on the CF-105 Program,” Canadian Military History 32, no. 2 (2023): 1-45. (This article is open access, and you can cut straight to the PDF here.)
Canada Declassified briefing book (with the primary documents) is here.
Article abstract :
Newly available information has made it possible for the first time to examine the role of intelligence in decisions on the CF-105 Arrow. These records show that Canadian intelligence assessments of the Soviet bomber threat differed from US estimates. In the late 1950s Canadian analysts stressed the imminent shift from bombers to ballistic missiles as the main danger to North America. The Diefenbaker government’s decision to cancel the Arrow program in 1959 was significantly influenced by this view of the changing strategic threat. In examining the role of intelligence, the article addresses a number of earlier myths, and provides a more complete picture of the decisions concerning this iconic Canadian aircraft.