Stress Tested: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Canadian National Security

Leading experts analyze the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic on Canada’s national security.

The emergence of COVID-19 has raised urgent and important questions about the role of Canadian intelligence and national security within a global health crisis. Some argue that the effects of COVID-19 on Canada represent an intelligence failure, or a failure of early warning. Others argue that the role of intelligence and national security in matters of health is—and should remain—limited. At the same time, traditional security threats have rapidly evolved, themselves impacted and influenced by the global pandemic.

Stress Tested brings together leading experts to examine the role of Canada’s national security and intelligence community in anticipating, responding to, and managing a global public welfare emergency. This interdisciplinary collection offers a clear-eyed view of successes, failures, and lessons learned in Canada’s pandemic response.

Addressing topics including supply chain disruptions, infrastructure security, the ethics of surveillance within the context of pandemic response, the threats and potential threats of digital misinformation and fringe beliefs, and the challenges of maintaining security and intelligence operations during an ongoing pandemic, Stress Tested is essential reading for anyone interested in the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Contributions By Amarnath Amarasingam, Marc-Andre Argentino, Casey Babb, Jean-François Bélanger, Stephanie Carvin, Alexander Corbeil, Jim Cox, Jessica Davis, Tara Hansen, Stéfanie von Hlatky, Graeme Hopkins, Thomas Juneau, Kelley Lee, Bessma Momani, Michael Nesbitt, Julianne Piper, Diana Rayes, Bill Robinson, Adam Sahloul, Stephen M. Saideman, Simon Wallace, Leah West, Alex Wilner

Published by LCR Publishing

Leah West, SJD, is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs (Intelligence and National Security) at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. She is also, Counsel with Freidman Mansour LLP, and was previously Counsel in the Department of Justice National Security Litigation and Advisory Group. She served for ten years in the Canadian Armed Forces as an Armoured Officer, and is the co-author of National Security Law.

Thomas Juneau is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, acts as a consultant for various departments in the Canadian government, and is a frequent commentator in Canadian and international media. He is the author of Squandered Opportunity: Neoclassical realism and Iranian foreign policy and and the co-editor of Top Secret Canada: Understanding the Canadian Intelligence and National Security Community.

Amarnath Amarasingam is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religion, and is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Studies, at Queen’s University, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, and an Associate fellow at the Global Network on Extremism and Technology. He is the author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada.

Introduction
Amarnath Amarasingam, Thomas Juneau and Leah West

Part 1: Threats

They Got it All Under Control: Fringe Conspiracy Theories and Threats to Canadian National Security
Marc-Andre Argentino and Amarnath Amarasingam

Exploiting Chaos: How Malicious Non-State Actors Leverage COVID-19 to their Advantage in Cyberspace
Casey Babb and Alex Wilner

Supply Chains During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stephanie Carvin, Edie Brenning, Djomeni Raphael Desire, Walid Elgazzar, Habab Elkhalifa, Annie Huang, Ilia Nizenko, Richard Oum, Rafael Pozuelo-Perron, Raman Singh, Randall Whiteside, Erin van Weerdhuizen, Randall Whiteside, Anisha Yogalingam

Getting the Politics of Protecting Critical Infrastructure Right <
Bessma Momani and Jean-François Bélanger

Part II: The Responses

A Health Intelligence Priority for Canada? Costs, Benefits, and Considerations
Jessica Davis and Alexander Corbeil

National Security and Intelligence Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stephanie Carvin

Collection and Protection in the Time of Infection: The Communications Security Establishment During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Bill Robinson

Corona as Constraint on the CAF?: As Always, the Mission Matters
Stephen M. Saideman, Stéfanie von Hlatky, and Graeme Hopkins

Defence Intelligence and COVID-19
Jim Cox

Reviving the Role of GPHIN in Global Epidemic Intelligence
Kelley Lee and Julianne Piper

Privacy vs. Health: Surveillance to Stop the Spread?
Leah West

Enforcing Canadian Security Laws through Criminal Prosecution During a Pandemic?: Lessons from Canada’s COVID-19 Experience
Michael Nesbitt and Tara Hansen

National Security Lessons Regarding the Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Migrant and Refugee Communities in the U.S. and Canada: A Bilateral Approach
Adham Shaloul and Diana Rayes

Untangling deportation law from national security: the pandemic invites a softer touch
Simon Wallace

Conclusion
Thomas Juneau

This book is important, and worth reading, for its assessment of COVID-19 on national security.

—Kurt F. Jensen, Intelligence and National Security