PM's ex-security adviser calls system for flagging vital intelligence 'ad-hoc' and 'inconsistent'
CBC Vincent Rigby, who served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser from 2020 to 2021, told MPsThursday that he fears "important and actionable" intelligence was not always pursuedduring his tenure.
Rigby told a parliamentary committee Thursday morning that he read between 5,000 and 7,000 intelligence reports during his 18 months in the job.
"But we did not have a formal system to flag important pieces of intelligence. What we had was ad-hoc and it was inconsistent," he told MPsstudying allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics.
"I was concerned that important and actionable intelligence was not being appropriately flagged or followed up."
Rigby said that's why, after he left the public service, he helped writea report calling on the Canadian government to "wake up" and address what he called "systemic weaknesses in our national security system."
