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Ex-spymaster becomes top defence bureaucrat
Sean Gordon
CanWest News Service
Friday, August 06, 2004
OTTAWA -- After a scant two months of retirement, Canada's former spymaster has been hired as the new deputy minister for the Department of National Defence.
Ward Elcock, who retired as director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last May after serving the maximum 10 years in the post, was appointed to his new job Thursday.
He replaces longtime DND bureaucrat Helene Gosselin, who had been acting in the job since December of last year.
As the top mandarin in the department, Elcock will help steer the sweeping foreign policy and defence review, which is to be carried out this fall.
Elcock, 56, is notoriously taciturn and prickly, and though his official biography makes no mention of personal details or even his hometown, the father of two has spent more than 30 years in the public service.
He holds a degree in political science from Carleton University, and graduated from York University's Osgoode Hall law school in 1973. He immediately joined the federal government and launched a career that brought him from the Finance Department, to ministries such as Energy, Mines and Resources before he ultimately landed in the Privy Council Office.
There he held a series of jobs before rising to deputy clerk -- security and intelligence. He was named director of CSIS in 1994.
Defence watchers hailed Elcock's appointment, saying his years in the intelligence community and long government service should stand him in good stead when dealing with the sprawling defence bureaucracy.
Conservative defence critic Gordon O'Connor, a retired brigadier-general, could only think of good things to say about Elcock.
John Thompson, president of the Toronto-based MacKenzie Institute said Elcock's appointment came as something of an "interesting" surprise.
"It's not a natural move for him. But he's an extremely professional civil servant and he will be a good manager," he said.
Thompson said he had believed that Elcock was "on the outs" with the government following his frank warnings about the terror threat to Canada.
He said Elcock's appointment to the Defence Department "could reflect the government's interest in getting the military geared up against the jihadists" and might also indicate a greater emphasis being placed on emergency readiness by the Armed Forces.
While testifying before parliamentary committees, Elcock has frequently warned Canada is highly placed on the al-Qaeda terrorists' hit-list of western countries, and has twice been mentioned as a target on tapes believed to have been recorded by Osama bin Laden.
He has also clashed repeatedly with MPs and cabinet ministers at committee meetings, and in the words of one intelligence expert, cultivated a reputation for being "a pretty inscrutable guy."
Elcock's detractors, who include civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby, point out under his watch, CSIS was able to effectively muzzle the Security Intelligence Review Committee, a civilian watchdog agency responsible for reviewing CSIS activities.
Ex-spymaster becomes top defence bureaucrat
Sean Gordon
CanWest News Service
Friday, August 06, 2004
OTTAWA -- After a scant two months of retirement, Canada's former spymaster has been hired as the new deputy minister for the Department of National Defence.
Ward Elcock, who retired as director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last May after serving the maximum 10 years in the post, was appointed to his new job Thursday.
He replaces longtime DND bureaucrat Helene Gosselin, who had been acting in the job since December of last year.
As the top mandarin in the department, Elcock will help steer the sweeping foreign policy and defence review, which is to be carried out this fall.
Elcock, 56, is notoriously taciturn and prickly, and though his official biography makes no mention of personal details or even his hometown, the father of two has spent more than 30 years in the public service.
He holds a degree in political science from Carleton University, and graduated from York University's Osgoode Hall law school in 1973. He immediately joined the federal government and launched a career that brought him from the Finance Department, to ministries such as Energy, Mines and Resources before he ultimately landed in the Privy Council Office.
There he held a series of jobs before rising to deputy clerk -- security and intelligence. He was named director of CSIS in 1994.
Defence watchers hailed Elcock's appointment, saying his years in the intelligence community and long government service should stand him in good stead when dealing with the sprawling defence bureaucracy.
Conservative defence critic Gordon O'Connor, a retired brigadier-general, could only think of good things to say about Elcock.
John Thompson, president of the Toronto-based MacKenzie Institute said Elcock's appointment came as something of an "interesting" surprise.
"It's not a natural move for him. But he's an extremely professional civil servant and he will be a good manager," he said.
Thompson said he had believed that Elcock was "on the outs" with the government following his frank warnings about the terror threat to Canada.
He said Elcock's appointment to the Defence Department "could reflect the government's interest in getting the military geared up against the jihadists" and might also indicate a greater emphasis being placed on emergency readiness by the Armed Forces.
While testifying before parliamentary committees, Elcock has frequently warned Canada is highly placed on the al-Qaeda terrorists' hit-list of western countries, and has twice been mentioned as a target on tapes believed to have been recorded by Osama bin Laden.
He has also clashed repeatedly with MPs and cabinet ministers at committee meetings, and in the words of one intelligence expert, cultivated a reputation for being "a pretty inscrutable guy."
Elcock's detractors, who include civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby, point out under his watch, CSIS was able to effectively muzzle the Security Intelligence Review Committee, a civilian watchdog agency responsible for reviewing CSIS activities.
