Global Affairs did not Google staff during vetting when NATO spy suspect was given clearance

OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada would not have Googled or done an open-source search before granting security clearance to someone like the Canadian woman charged with spying at NATO headquarters.

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That’s according to David Morrison, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s senior diplomatic and international affairs advisor and the former top bureaucrat at Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

“I agree… that the use of open-source, Google, however you want to characterize it, I think that should be a standard part of our vetting process. I also agree… that personnel information that speaks to someone’s integrity should be part of the system,” Morrison told MPs on the Public Safety committee Wednesday.

“It was not part of the system at the time, and that has now been rectified, according to my colleagues at GAC,” he added.

Morrison was testifying as part of the committee’s study into the the federal government’s security clearance process after Belgian authorities charged a Canadian intern at NATO with espionage in late July.

The Canadian woman of Chinese descent is suspected of “spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization.” She was denied bail in August and remains imprisoned in Belgium.

The suspect was later identified by media as 33-year-old Biwei Zhang, who also went by Claire Zhang. Belgian and Canadian officials have neither confirmed nor denied her identity.

Government officials have since acknowledged that Global Affairs Canada (GAC) issued the security clearance necessary for her to intern at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) headquarters in Mons, Belgium.

At the time Zhang was granted her clearance by GAC, Morrison was the head of the department.

MPs on the committee have spent much of their time trying to understand how Zhang received “at least” a “secret” level clearance to go work at NATO when there was a trail of public red flags in her career.

A public Federal Court decision in early 2024 revealed that Zhang had been denied employment at the Canadian Border Services Agency after it was discovered she committed fraud in her job application.

Morrison’s testimony confirmed that GAC would not have looked for such a document, or even searched public sources for information about Zhang. But the senior public servant also noted that the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) have a role in the background check as well.

“If Global Affairs had been aware of anyone that has derogatory information that would speak to that person’s suitability and reliability to protect Canada’s secrets or NATO’s secrets, I have every confidence that they would have acted on that information,” Morrison said.

Morrison’s blunt admission that there were no open-source searches for a secret-level clearance at GAC at the time stunned Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs.

Conservative MP Rhonda Kirkland described it as a “system failure”, while her colleague Frank Caputo highlighted that even a two-week intern in his office found the Zhang decision after media reported on her identity.

“As she pointed out to me, people research people for a first date, and they would Google this type of information, and I think find it. So I will say it again: when the information is publicly available, and we nonetheless give a security clearance — and a high one at that — that is a failure in intelligence,” Caputo said.

In his opening statement, Morrison told the committee that the government needed to tighten up its security vetting process in the wake of the affair.

He issued four recommendations, including a “government-wide repository” of information on employees’ security clearance and more consistent use of open-source verifications for all levels of security clearances in governments.

He also emphasized that government should be better and continuously assessing employees’ security clearances after they receive them.

“A robust personnel security program should extend throughout employment, through insider risk programs, continuous personnel security assurance, recurring screening, reporting obligations, and security awareness,” he said.

“These would help identify emerging risks, ensure clearance holders remain reliable and loyal, and ensure clearances reflect current information.”

In response, Bloc MP Claude DeBellefeuille wondered why all his recommendations weren’t already in place before the Zhang affair.

“I am pretty floored by your responses,” she said.

Last month, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree admitted there were gaps in the government’s security clearance process that were being addressed in the wake of the NATO intern’s arrest.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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