To Reimagine National Security by Ensuring Public Servants Serve

“To reimagine a Canadian national security strategy, it is useful to reflect on the circumstances and substance of the one previous effort – the April 2004 policy Securing an Open Society: Canada’s National Security Policy, written under the stewardship of the Privy Council Office and endorsed by a covering letter from the then Prime Minister, Paul Martin.”?(Reimagining National Security Strategy by Aaron Shull & Wesley Wark)

One of the outcomes of that above policy implementation was the personal invitation from the National Research Council to David Elderfield, an engineer with extensive background in RF data communications and GPS. That invitation was for Mr. Elderfield to submit a proposal for technologies to improve national border security. The resulting proposal was delivered to Ottawa eight months later, at no cost to the taxpayer, and outlined a two-part containerized cargo analysis system that was applicable to incoming freight onboard ships, trains, truck or aircraft. Sensing of products of illicit trade made up the first part, with the ability to flag indicators of related money laundering being the paired function. The proposal was extensive and was put forward to be examined by RCMP, CBSA, CSIS, and Canadian Police Lab. All these bodies validated our approach as a leading-edge solution and their political masters endorsed and requested that we move forward into an official R&D program. That endorsement came in the form of a letter from then Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, and was followed by further documented agreement from 3 other ministers and 2 provincial premiers.

Just 18 months after initiating that R&D operation, under the name WayFare Identifiers Inc. (WFI), this operation had delivered operating code to NRC & CBSA, who then forwarded it to US Homeland for scenario testing. The results were excellent and the NRC then proposed that WFI be Canada’s member on the cross-border board for Smart Container technologies, a HSARPA program. We also gained test agreements within the secure areas of Prince Rupert Port, the Westjet area of Calgary Airport, and at the Alaska Border crossings.

Over the next three years we formed strategic partnerships with Equifax, ALCAN, CP Ships, Reimers and CSAV. We had supply arrangements with NovAtel GPS and General Dynamics. We had Vice Admiral Al Baciocco, then head of USN R&D, on our advisory board. And, though we were still pre-revenue, had multiple offers from venture capital firms to get full financing. We inked a binding contract with a Toronto based REIT that maintained our Canadian identity with agreement to give up 50% of the company for 6 million USD. An agreement that left development control with the original team. Until those funds would be injected, my family and I were the only source of financial support, delivered as documented loans from our after-tax savings and asset value.

Here is the problem. The Martin government also gave Agency status to Canada’s tax arm. Because of that, it is a bureaucracy that has accountability to no one and that can readily shield all actions behind the Privacy Act; an Act that was never meant for the protection of Public Servants, but to protect citizens only. It was only 9 weeks after our Business Development manager met with COSCO and CIMC in Shanghai that the CRA froze our accounts and started to claw back our SR&ED grants. The actions of CRA staff was completely defended by massive delay, evasion and outright lies, that they actually documented in their own Diarized Notes. They capped off the destruction of WFI by manufacturing a claim that I, as CEO, took undeclared income of $720,000 over a 6 year period, when I had not received anything from the company but held documented IOU’s from the firm for over $1.3 million. This was intentional abuse of power for unknown reasons; reasons that need exposing.

If you plan to recreate a National Security Policy, the number one issue to address is corruption. Corruption flourishes in the dark, where there is little oversight and the public fears questioning what look like official actions. I cannot prove that low level management at the CRA were influenced or bribed to undermine WFI, but I can prove that their personnel have lied, created bizarre scenarios to excuse their actions, and delayed appropriate responses for years. Those Diarized Notes that indict the CRA’s decisions took 3 ATIP requests and 7 years to be revealed, and even then we only received 22 pages out of the 965 we requested.

Any new security policy requires that foreign and third-party influence on Public Servants be made impossible through a dynamic management and verification system. Otherwise, you are spitting into the wind.