Inside Canadian Intelligence: Exposing the New Realities of Espionage and International Terrorism

by Dwight Hamilton

Since 9/11, Canada has been on the front lines of a New World Order that few understand. And in today's world, secret intelligence is not just the first line of defence -- it may be the only one. Editor Dwight Hamilton has assembled a formidable cast of former intelligence officers and journalists to take you inside the covert and dangerous world of espionage and international terrorism.

This revised paperback edition provides a concise expos of every government organization in the Canadian national security sector. With first-hand accounts and informed analysis, the team behind Inside Canadian Intelligence has the esoteric expertise to accurately portray the new realities like no one else can. Forget James Bond: this is the real thing.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Canada

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2006

About the author

Dwight Hamilton has been an editor at two of Canada's largest professional journals. He worked for Canadian military intelligence in the 1980s.

Reviews

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be completely transparent, I don't think I can give a fair review of this title given that the second edition was published 13 years ago and when I first read it, it was bits and pieces to assist in composing my thesis. Many chapters/passages are outdated by this point- as it largely focuses on al Qaeda as the main terrorist threat, which is no longer the case.

However, I would like to highlight that many points still remain relevant:
- Canadians did, and do not, recognize the potential threat that terrorism (and as mentioned in the book, economic espionage pose to Canada)
- The public at large do not recognize that the War on Terror will never actually be won and will just evolve into its next stage or enter the next wave (al Qaeda -> ISIS; New Left -> religious terrorism -> ?)
- Canada's intelligence capabilities are woefully under-developed in comparison to its allies and it needs to continue to develop these capabilities in order to contribute- Canada is currently underfire for not meeting NATO targets on defence spending, intelligence would be a great place to invest
- Politicians remain targets for "agents of influence" from other nations, as evidenced by the current ongoing investigation
- "Punching above one's weight" when it comes to military operations does not excuse poor spending/investment in integral defence capabilities such as intelligence and modernizing fleets.

Inside Canadian Intelligence does a good job of informing the layman about the state of Canadian intelligence and suggests poignant areas of improvement for the government and policy makers in regards to improving our intelligence capabilities. It would be interesting to read a new, updated edition.