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UPDATED YET AGAIN WITH FADDEN STATEMENT –

SHORTER PMO ON CSIS

FADDEN ALLEGATIONS: HECK IF WE KNOW.

June 23, 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/06/shorter-pmo-on-csisfadden-allegations-heck-if-we-know.html

By Kady O'Malley

UPDATED AGAIN: Richard Fadden has issued the following press release:

"Recent comments I made in the context of a special report by the CBC on CSIS have given rise to some concerns about foreign interference in Canada. The following statement is meant to place those comments in context.

All of the activities of the Service take place within the law and the CSIS Act in particular. The CSIS Act requires the Service to investigate threats to the security of Canada - including foreign interference. The Service has been investigating and reporting on such threats for many years. Foreign interference is a common occurrence in many countries around the world and has been for decades.

I have not apprised the Privy Council Office of the cases I mentioned in the interview on CBC.

At this point, CSIS has not deemed the cases to be of sufficient concern to bring them to the attention of provincial authorities.

There will be no further comments on these operational matters.

Richard B. Fadden,

Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service"

Actually, it's not even that much shorter than the original, which was received by CBC in response to a request for comment on last night's story:

We have no knowledge of these matters. CSIS directs its own operations. Questions should be directed to CSIS.

Over to you, Richard Fadden! Yes, again -- or, in this case, still. (SIRC, by the way, is also declining interviews.)

UPDATE: A colleague points out that PMO's denial doesn't exactly match up with what Fadden said during his interview with Peter Mansbridge:

Fadden: "We are in the process of discussing with the centre how we're going to inform those provinces..."

Mansbridge: "The centre being?"

Fadden: "Sorry the Privy Council Office -- the Prime Minister's department."

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