In the News

Concerns about the security of Zoom, the popular videoconferencing app, has prompted the U.S. Department of Defense to declare it off-limits to personnel for any official use. The FBI recently reported that the app had seen an increase in uninvited participants.

A recent meeting of NATO foreign ministers to discuss security issues, including the fallout from COVID-19, may be remembered more for its format than anything else, according to two senior members of the Washington-based Atlantic Council. They suggest the virtual meeting could enable the alliance to respond more rapidly to crises than traditional in-person gatherings.

A $73-billion economic subsidy program designed to help businesses and employees to cope with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic was approved 11 April in an emergency sitting of Parliament. Finance Minister Bill Morneau said funds would be available within two to five weeks.

The federal government has opted against immediate use of the sweeping powers provided for in the Emergency Act to address the COVID-19 situation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed this after a teleconference with his provincial and territorial counterparts and says the 1988 replacement for the even more authoritarian War Measures Act remains a last resort for Ottawa.

Canadian Forces Intelligence Command is reported to have begun generating warnings about COVID-19 in early January. CFIC's medical intelligence cell is mandated to track global health developments with a view to predicting, with the assistance of the Five Eyes intelligence community, implications for military operations. It also was reported earlier this week that the cell’s U.S. counterpart had been tracking the initial Chinese outbreak as early as last November.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in the so-called OPEC+ group of smaller producers have agreed to cut output by some 10 million barrels a day in May and June in an attempt to counter the price slump which began in March. The cuts are supposed to be eased later in the year and into 2021.

A UN-lead coalition is warning that global financial volatility and resulting market losses could precipitate a new international debt crisis. The Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development points out that investors have moved the equivalent of US$90 billion out of emerging markets since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the largest outflow on record. It is calling for a globally coordinated stimulus package, including reversing the decline in aid and immediate suspension of debt repayment by poorer countries.

The International Monetary Fund has been asked by Iran to approve a $5-billion loan to support its fight against COVID-19, The U.S. is understood to be opposed because Iran has sufficient internal funds, but President Hassan Rouhani says “there should be no discrimination” in approving requests.

A €500-billion ($750 billion) economic support package for European Union states hit hardest by COVID-19 has been agreed to by EU finance ministers after often fractious marathon talks in Brussels. However, they did not accede to a demand by France and Italy to have other states share the cost of the crisis by issuing “coronabonds.” The package also includes €200 billion ($300 billion) in guarantees from the European Investment Bank and a European Commission project for national short-time working schemes.

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal involving Quebec’s ban on the wearing of religious. Civil rights had sought leave to challenge a provincial appeal court had dismissed a request to suspend parts of the law pending a ruling on its constitutionality. As usual, the high court did not give a reason for its April 09 decision.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended nearly a month of self-isolation by arriving on Parliament Hill 08 April for his first live cabinet meeting since his wife tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an event in Britain. He told reporters that the government is keeping current mitigation measures in place “for many more weeks” to give authorities time to consider how to reboot the economy without causing more problems.

A suggestion by President Donald Trump that the U.S. might review its support for the World Health Organization has drawn sharp criticism from its director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The U.S. contributed more than $400 million last year, about 15 per cent of the WHO budget and Trump evidently was responding to a WHO suggestion that he had given bad advice about COVID-19. The WHO head now wants unity and an end to “polititization” of the global health crisis.

Divisions within the European Union over how member states deal with COVID-19’s economic impact are seen by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as an existential threat to the EU. His warning comes as Italy and others press more fiscally-conservative member states to assume more debt through so-called “corona bonds.”

Former Vice-President Joe Biden is now the presumptive Democratic Party nominee to challenge Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency in November. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race 08 April with no realistic path to the nomination after a series of lopsided losses to Biden in key state votes in the past couple of months.

Technical issues with a recent webinar have prompted the body tasked with implementing the U.S. Department of Defence’s cybersecurity certification to rethink its approach. The webinar ended abruptly 06 April before the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Accreditation Body could present content needed for the “national conversation.” The body’s chairman has confirmed that a restructured approach would be published “shortly.”

An unidentified Israeli has been indicted on charges of spying for Iran and conspiring with that country’s intelligence apparatus to recruit Israeli Arabs for terrorist attacks. Shin Bet says that when he was arrested in March, the man was in possession of an encryption device and that he had been in contact with a Lebanese member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

After President Donald Trump railed on social media about Minnesota-based 3M exporting personal protective equipment to Canada and Latin America, the company has struck a deal with the White House that should resolve the issue. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 06 April that that Canada had been having problems for weeks with incomplete or non-delivery of COVID-19 countermeasures.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in a London hospital after his COVID-19 symptoms worsened. While he has received “oxygen support,” Johnson was not on a ventilator, and his Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, is standing in.

At a time when tensions between Russia and its Arctic neighbours are increasing, its interests and ambitions in the region for at least the next 15 years are essentially unchanged. A new paper from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, comparing Russia’s latest policy framework with one published in 2008, indicates that the Arctic remains the main resource base for economic growth.

President Donald Trump has dismissed Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community who first alerted Congress last year to the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment trial. Trump told Congress 03 April that he had lost confidence in the official, who was appointed in May 2018, and who was immediately put on administrative leave until his dismissal became official in 30 days.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it is “realistic” to expect that measures to control COVID-19 could remain in effect “for a number of more weeks, perhaps more months.” Government modelling suggests that a best-case scenario indicates that current measure continue “until at least July.” Trudeau says that while social distancing and self-isolation are effective, vigilance and more public cooperation are key to beating the pandemic.

The U.S. was warned in 2017 that it lacked adequate medical supplies and bedspace to deal with a novel corona virus outbreak. The Department of Defense predicted in a report that “the most likely and significant threat is a novel respiratory disease” of a type common around the world.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants Parliament recalled again to deal with proposed legislation which would provide for additional financial support for Canadians and businesses economically impacted by COVID-19. Meanwhile, Finance Department officials expect the support to be available in three to six weeks.

While NATO is not a humanitarian relief agency, Elisabeth Braw, who directs the Modern Deterrence program at the Royal United Services Institute in London, says it could play a key role in tacking the COVID-19. Although not the kind of “attack” foreseen in the alliance’s treaty, it is nonetheless the worst national security crisis to hit any of its member states. She suggests its “formidable” resources could play a pivotal role in not only dealing with this enemy while also proving NATO’s worth as a mutual defence alliance.

The growing uncertainty about the extent of the potential spread of COVID-19 has prompted the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries to cancel this year’s CANSEC trade show, scheduled for 27-28 May. CADSI President Christyn Cianfarani said 31 March the organization took the decision only after exploring “every possible option” with the City of Ottawa, the industry and contractors.

A federal wage subsidy announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is designed to cover 75 per cent of wages and salaries, is being made available to all employers which can demonstrate sharp drops in revenues attributable to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the PM warned 30 March that while the program largely relies on an honour system for eligibility, there would be “serious consequences” for employers who try to “game” the program.

A formal framework for safeguarding 5G telecommunications in the U.S. has been released by the administration. Its seven-page policy document sets out President Donald Trump’s “vision for America to lead the development, deployment, and management of secure and reliable 5G communications infrastructure worldwide, arm-in-arm with closest partners and allies.”

The huge numbers of employees working from home due to COVID-19 concerns, away from their employers’ IT resources, evidently are being targeted anew by fraudsters. False messages about employment insurance claims or from bogus health-related companies and government agencies are being used to steal personal data or to spread malware.

With its "Foundations of State Policy in the Arctic to 2035", Russia is seeking to persuade more people to live in its energy-rich Arctic regions as part of a 15-year strategy plan signed by President Vladimir Putin.

Flooded with thousands of phone calls and emails from Canadians stranded abroad by governments’ border closures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Global Affairs Canada is operating around the clock with extended resources. Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne says that “on any given day we likely have somewhere around 200 to 250 people and volunteers from across the department who are contributing their time and their energy."

The Bank of Canada reduced its key lending rate to 0.25 per cent 27 March in what Governor Stephen Poloz described as a bid to cushion the economic shock of the COVID-19 outbreak. Now at its “effective lower bound,” the rate has been reduced three times from 1.75 per cent at the beginning of the month.

The prospect of U.S. troops being stationed at the border with Canada is constrained by an 1878 act of Congress. The original Posse Comitatus Act limited federal use of the Army to enforce domestic policies at home and a 1956 amendment added the U.S. Air Force. Last updated in 1981, it does not apply to the Navy or Marine Corps nor does it prevent state-level use of National Guard personnel on home soil.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged in absentia by the U.S. 26 March for alleged drug trafficking. Charges also have been laid against other members of his government as well as intelligence officials and members of the Colombia-based FARC rebel group.

The answer, apparently, is a lot. It’s being reported that U.S. insistence on calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan virus” scuttled plans for a statement by the G7 Economic Summit countries to issue a joint statement on their campaign against the novel corona virus. Other foreign ministers disagreed when Secretary of State Mike insisted the virus be referred to by the name of the Chinese city where the outbreak began.