# Distrust of DND a threat to security



## ark (4 Jan 2005)

> Distrust of DND a threat to security
> Federal agencies' suspicions about military have undermined anti-terror efforts, report says
> 
> Defence Department officials are not trusted by their counterparts in other federal agencies, making the development of a surveillance network to protect the country against terrorists and other threats extremely difficult, according to a report commissioned by the military.
> ...



http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=054cce36-f45b-4cf5-b778-b1f2edb7344d&page=2

I guess you get what you pay for


----------



## Edward Campbell (4 Jan 2005)

Even more important, DND is _distrusted_ by the only bureaucrats who really matter â â€œ in PCO and Finance â â€œ because officials appear not to understand their own bailiwick.   The CDS, especially, cries wolf again and again and then finds a way to come through when challenged.   The senior people in Finance are convinced that there is still _'fat'_ in DND and they, quite simply, do not believe the CDS or the DM or the MND. 

But, big *BUT*: The report is wrong.

It concludes that â Å“the Defence Department should also develop better relationships with other levels of government.â ?

What is needed, urgently, is for other government departments to develop better relations with DND.

Most very senior bureaucrats have avoided service in DND like the plague â â€œ it is no way to get ahead, unless you do something _*exciting*_ in the Materiel Group (and that may cost DND a billion or two by the time you've made your little mark).

Only the PCO can fix this and then only by ordering other Departments to make themselves compatible with DND when they share tasks or resources.   DND must make itself _interoperable_ (compatible) with allied forces (ABCA, etc, firth, the NATO) and it is cost prohibitive and administratively and operationally silly to try to make DND both internally (other government departments) and externally (allies) compatible.   DND may have to *require*, for example, that Fisheries and Oceans buys new computer systems and crypto kit or do without e.g. intelligence, and then explain to its clients why it cannot do its job.

DND is, has been for years â â€œ even decades â â€œ a poor relation in Ottawa.   A long, long series of weak ministers and, too often, weak and inept DMs have made it a government whipping boy.   The new DM, Ward Elcock, http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news.asp?id=244   _*may*_ tough enough and 'bomb proof' and able to change that ... despite weak sisters in the persons of Graham and Henault.


----------



## pbi (5 Jan 2005)

I am going to challenge this. 

I have a fair amount of experience in dealing with all three levels of govt with respect to military support to other governments and agencies, in a range of circumstances. These dealings have, I would say, been characterized by really shocking ignorance, absurdly false expectations, and a truly miserable inability to do operational planning at even the most basic level that would occur to a Lt,  on the part of most if not all of these civil agencies at one point or another. Typically, the civilian authority quickly attempts to offload as much of its job as possible onto the military, makes silly demands, and usually fails to demonstrate any meaningful comprehension of how the military functions, or why. 

We are trapped to a certain extent that in order (IMHO) to curry "acceptability" with a normal indifferent (if not to say hostile...) govt we have taken on all sorts of functions which should properly be done by other government agencies, by a Civil Defence service, etc. Indeed from time to time we even produce individuals in our own ranks who seem to think that these things should assume an even greater profile than what they already have.

There is another side to the story and it isn't being told. Cheers.


----------



## OLD F of S (5 Jan 2005)

DND has worked with various Govt agencies over the years such as RCMP, Fisheries and
Agriculture. The departments have used our ELINT products on numerous occasions. One instance
was the price they would set on grain exports to the former Soviet Union. IMHO they relied on and 
trusted the information supplied by DND.


                         Regards OLD F of S


----------



## pbi (7 Jan 2005)

IMHO many of these organizations, (especially I am sad to say the various law enforcement agencies), could not organize a two-man rush to a three hole shitter. We should send them all on a PLQ. Cheers.


----------



## RCD (7 Jan 2005)

Strong leadership!Someone who is capable of coordinating the various agencies, and bring back the trust.


----------

