Agents of Influence

By Walter Derzko

Every so often, a new term or name gets introduced into the media lexicon.  The public first heard the phrase “agents of influence” when Canadian Security Intelligence Service head Richard Fadden uttered the term in a nation-wide broadcast on CBC on the eve of the G8 Summit.  He admitted that two BC provincial cabinet ministers and several municipal politicians and public servants were suspected of being under the influence of foreign regimes, implying Beijing.  His accusations have been supported by the subsequent US spy network swap a week later, when ten Russian spies were exchanged for four “Western” spies held captive by Moscow.

What’s surprising is not Fadden’s claim, but the reaction of many Canadian politicians to Fadden’s revelation.  It’s naive of ordinary Canadians and politicians to imagine that Canada has been free of foreign interference and that it has been making independent policy decisions all along.  Canada has been a victim of “agents of influence” not just for decades but centuries.  Canada was pulled into both World Wars and into NAFTA by agents of influence.  NASA, Boeing and the US military industrial complex have Canada to thank for their top notch world ranking, as a result of the Canadian governments’ decision to scrap the Avro Arrow and the resulting brain drain southward.  The Canadian military gets proportionately far fewer recruits from the Jewish Diaspora (who hold dual citizenship) than most other ethnic groups. Why?  Because of the success of Israeli groups who successfully recruit teens to serve in the Israeli military instead of the Canadian Armed Forces.  The only difference being that these various overt groups are considered registered lobbyists while covert spies are “illegals” and unregistered.

The obvious big question that many Canadians are asking themselves is: Are there still Russian spies in Canada?  The answer most certainly is a resounding yes and not just Russian spies.
There are numerous reasons why Canada is an attractive and easy target of several foreign intelligence agencies.  Canada is a G8 country, an energy superpower, a developed world economy, ranked in the top 10 in R&D and a NATO member.  Consequently, Canada has information of global significance that foreign governments desire.  The yearly economic loss to Canada from espionage is staggering.  In their 2009 book, Nest of Spies, former RCMP and CSIS intelligence officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya and investigative journalist Fabrice de Pierrebourg offer some revealing statistics. The book asserts that in addition to the Chinese and Russians, intelligence officers and spies from at least 20 other nations including our allies - odd, just like the G20 - operate clandestinely on our shores.  These agents of influence or infiltrators are stealing annually an estimated 20 to 30 billion dollars worth of: cutting-edge research in products, services and technologies; military secrets; and other scientific, political, nuclear, business know-how.  The German government recently said that Russian industrial spies are a bigger threat to Germany than terrorism.  “Canadian business people must realize that the world has changed, that people are extremely aggressive now and that Canadian companies are in the forefront of their targets because it’s easy to spy here,” warns Juneau-Katsuya.  “They know they won’t be punished if they’re caught and that we have the advanced technology they want.”  Imagine that a Canadian high technology firm is negotiating an international deal, when its bid gets compromised or undercut because of the efforts of these agents of influence. Just recently, another Russian spy was caught working at Microsoft Corporation head office and deported back to Russia.

So how many Russian spies are on Canadian soil?  The estimates vary.  Bruce Craig, an espionage historian at the University of Prince Edward Island was quoted in The Globe and Mail saying that there could be “…as many as 50 of these ‘illegals’.” That number is likely an underestimate.  Juneau-Katsuya reveals in his book that Soviet hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak was “ticketed” by CSIS as not just an informer but a “talent scout”, who helped recruit hundreds of sympathizers here in Canada to work for the Russian foreign intelligence service, the SVR, successor to the KGB.  Supposedly, these hundreds of sympathizers are still active since their cover has yet to be compromised.
Should the Ukrainian community be concerned?  US Court documents from the case on the 11 (one still at large) Russian spies in the US outlines their modus operandi.  University student groups and professors are prime targets for agents of influence, so the Ukrainian Diaspora all over the world needs to be ever vigilant.
But an even bigger threat to Canada beyond military, industrial and political spying is the real threat of Cyber-terrorism which includes our utility infrastructure.  The Estonian and Georgian governments have been successfully attacked by Russian hackers in the past.  The Toronto community has not been immune either.  Denial-of-service attacks crippled Ukrainian community web sites before and during the Orange Revolution.

Walter (Wolodymyr) Derzko is a Senior Fellow at the Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab), Ontario College of Art & Design, and a lecturer in the MA program in Strategic Foresight and Innovation, OCAD, Toronto.