Over the last year, I’ve written three posts about Canadian records related to the “global war on terror”: The response to 9/11, Op APOLLO, and Canada and the Iraq War.
In the meantime, more documents have been released (and I’m expecting more soon, too). I’m writing today to alert you to new releases available on Canada Declassified.
Wordle for National Security Historians
First, here’s a little riddle. What word has been sanitized here?
Intriguingly, this is from a draft speech prepared for the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2002. A later draft replaced the word “war on” with “campaign against,” and what was originally quite a hard-charging speech was been toned down considerably.
The initial request for this document was made more than a decade ago. (A colleague shared the release package with me.) I’ve since filed a new request to Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for the full draft and speech, which obviously should now be open in full. Unfortunately, GAC refuses to respond to my request and the matter is before the Information Commissioner.
When my request is resolved and I have the records, this speech will be worthy of a full post.
Canada and 9/11
A handful of new documents:
First is a partially sanitized account of Prime Minister Chrétien’s call to President Bush on the eve of operations in Afghanistan. I am a bit confused by the “read and destroy” marking. This is not really how e-mail works. Perhaps it simply meant that any printed copy should be destroyed? (If you know, let me know.) I am glad it was not destroyed.
GAC has also released an e-mail from the Canadian Embassy in Washington titled “The Impact of September 11th: One Month Later.” It is about 4 pages long and worth a read in full. A previous release had withheld almost all of this e-mail, and so I’m pleased GAC agrees that it can now be released in its entirety.
Since my last post, a reader contacted me and shared more Cabinet records from the post-9/11 era. (This is the kind of cooperation that makes such a difference in our field. I am grateful for this.)
Of special interest are the minutes of the September 13, 2001 “Special Meeting of Ministers.” This was, deliberately, not a full cabinet meeting, but instead a small group of ministers.
The Prime Minister’s remarks are especially important.
Also up now is a draft mandate letter for Minister of Foreign Affairs John Manley, who was appointed Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers on Public Safety and Anti Terrorism.
Op APOLLO
The first two parts of the Department of National Defence’s “OP APOLLO - General” files have been released. (Previously, only Part 3 had been released.)
Parts 1 (215 pages) and 2 (297 pages) cover November 27, 2001 through April 30, 2003.
Another file, “OP APOLLO - Concept of Operations,” covering February 1, 2002 to August 31, 2003, is now available.
These are very rich files, similar in content and detail to the information I detailed in my initial post, “This is Modern Warfare.”
Iraq
A number of Iraq files have been released and are now online, too. Each has something interesting tucked inside.
Briefing Note for Minister - Deployment of a Canadian Forces Liaison Team to Qatar
Deputy Minister Correspondence - Mr. J. Judd - International Plans and Operations - Iraq
Briefing Note for Minister - The Operational Impact of Canadian Non Involvement in a Coalition Campaign Against Iraq
Briefing Note for Minister — Deployment of HMCS Fredericton 5 March 2003
Letter to J Chr[é]tien Seeking Direction to the Canadian Forces in the Event of US Led Attack Against Iraq
CSIS SABRE 03/07 - Implications for Canada During the War with Iraq
DFAIT Presentation for Iraq Meeting - B. Graham S. Whelan and Minister - 9 April 2003.
Lose-Lose
This last one, “DFAIT Presentation,” was titled “Conflict in Iraq: Challenges and Questions for Canada.”
In a sign of the times, the cover e-mail has information for printing in “Corel Presentations” — again, Canadians fought the first stages of the global war on terror in Corel, not Microsoft.
But this is a fascinating presentation given by DFAIT officials to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and International Cooperation a few weeks into the Iraq War.
Two slides were especially striking to me. First, a list of the “positive and negative” outcomes of a U.S. ‘success’ in Iraq. (Those inverted commas are doing a lot of work.)
And ultimately, the conclusion, surely stemming from the last two points on the list above: That Canada “can afford neither an unqualified US success or a complete failure.”
What a striking reminder of quandaries posed by the war.
Updates:
It has been a busy time since my last post.
Canada Declassified has been awarded a five-year SSHRC Insight Grant to keep going.
Last week I was in Calgary to present a paper at the North American Society for Intelligence History’s annual conference. I saw some excellent presentations, including one by Jessi Gilchrist, whose paper will be published shortly in the Journal of Commonwealth and Imperial History. Sam Eberlee gave an excellent paper, “The View from Langley: The CIA and Pierre Elliott Trudeau in the Era of ‘Canada First’ Economic Nationalism,” and you can read it now in the Canadian Historical Review.
This week I’ve submitted a book manuscript on indications intelligence and a chapter on Canada and the Iraq War for a book on the Chrétien years.
The NATO Summit also kept me busy, with appearances on the radio, CTV Your Morning and other news shows, and interviews for print journalism pieces. The most fun I had was visiting The Globe & Mail’s podcast studio to record an episode of The Decibel. You can listen to the podcast on any podcast platform, via the links here.
With NATO silly season over (for now), I’m hoping I can get back to sending regular newsletters.