Politics and intelligence analysis: the Canadian experience

• Published in: Intelligence and national security Vol. 38; no. 5; pp. 691 - 705
• Main Authors: Juneau, Thomas, Carvin, Stephanie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 29.07.2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Case studies; Civil service; Decision making; Geography; Information gathering; Intelligence; Intelligence gathering; National security; Partisanship; Policy making; Politicization; Politics; Transparency; Canada
• DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2023.2181905
• ISSN: 0268-4527

Academic debate on the interplay between politics and intelligence is dominated by the U.S. experience. Our research, based on interviews with over sixty individuals in the Canadian intelligence and national security community and including political staffers, provides a new case study: that of Canada, a middle power with considerable access to intelligence through the Five Eyes partnership. We found that cases of hard politicization of intelligence analysis are virtually non-existent in Canada. The most important factor explaining this finding is Canada's structural position in the world, or how its geography shapes the broader context of interactions between intelligence and politics. Beyond this, six more specific factors at the domestic level also matter: the relative unimportance of foreign and security policy as political issues, few opportunities, a lack of political benefits, low intelligence literacy generally among policy makers, poor transparency in national security decision making, and a tradition of non-partisanship in the civil service. The paper concludes by reflecting on this assessment: while hard politicization remains a rarity in Canada, the shields that have prevented the emergence of politicization will likely be increasingly tested in the future.