Security, Intelligence and the Global Health Crisis

A CIGI Essay Series

Aaron Shull Wesley Wark Mark Agnew Perrin Beatty Joe Burton John Cadham Mel Cappe Neil Desai Greg Fyffe Ralph Goodale Michael S. Goodman Peter Kasurak Filippa Lentzos Christian Leuprecht Bessma Momani Kent Roach Irvin Studin Patrick F. Walsh Calder Walton

August 24, 2020

The impact of COVID-19 both globally and in Canada has raised important questions about best practices with regard to global and domestic health surveillance, early warning and preparedness. Critical to an understanding of these issues is a clear-sighted appreciation of the interface between health security and national security. As the world embarks on an intense effort to explain the onset of the pandemic and to learn lessons from the global response, it will be vital to develop and sustain a public policy debate about the role of security and intelligence institutions in protecting societies against pandemic outbreaks. This essay series — designed to bridge academic and practitioner knowledge — aims to make a high-impact contribution to that debate.

Introduction

Preface: Lessons from the Pandemic
Ralph Goodale

Pandemics: The Need for New Thinking on Security
Aaron Shull and Wesley Wark

International Perspectives

US Intelligence, the Coronavirus and the Age of Globalized Challenges
Calder Walton

Building a Better Pandemic and Health Security Intelligence Response in Australia
Patrick F. Walsh

Battles of Influence: Deliberate Disinformation and Global Health Security
Michael S. Goodman and Filippa Lentzos

“Go Hard, Go Early”: Human Security, Economic Security and New Zealand’s Response to COVID-19
Joe Burton

Implications for Canadian National and International Security

The System Was Not Blinking Red: Intelligence, Early Warning and Risk Assessment in a Pandemic Crisis
Wesley Wark

COVID-19 and Geopolitics: Security and Intelligence in a World Turned Upside Down
Greg Fyffe

Governance: Institutions, Processes and People
Mel Cappe

A New Canadian National Security Doctrine Requires Wider and Deeper Public-Private Collaboration
Neil Desai

The Canadian Armed Forces and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief: Defining a Role
Christian Leuprecht and Peter Kasurak

Pandemics and the Civil Liberties Dog that Barked Softly
Kent Roach

New Dimensions of Economic Security

Economic Resiliency and National Security in the COVID-19 Era
Mark Agnew and Perrin Beatty

Building Resiliency in Supply Chains Post-COVID-19
Bessma Momani

Looking toward the Future

Toward a Term-setting Future: Five Moves to Devassalize Canada
Irvin Studin

COVID-19 and Climate Change
John Cadham

About the Authors

Aaron Shull

Aaron Shull is the managing director and general counsel at CIGI. He is a senior legal executive and is recognized as a leading expert on complex issues at the intersection of public policy, emerging technology, cybersecurity, privacy and data protection.

Wesley Wark

Wesley Wark is a CIGI senior fellow.

Mark Agnew

Mark Agnew is the senior director of international policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Perrin Beatty

The Honourable Perrin Beatty, PC, OC, is the president and CEO of the 200,000-member Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canada’s largest and most representative national business association.

Joe Burton

Joe Burton is senior lecturer in international security at the New Zealand Institute for Security and Crime Science, University of Waikato, New Zealand.

John Cadham

John Cadham is an independent researcher, consultant and project facilitator, and an instructor in the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs at Carleton University.

Mel Cappe

Mel Cappe is a professor in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

Neil Desai

Neil Desai is a CIGI senior fellow and an executive in residence with the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst.

Greg Fyffe

Greg Fyffe served as executive director of the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat in the Privy Council Office from 2000 to 2008 and was President of the Canadian Association of Security and Intelligence Studies from 2012 to 2021.

Ralph Goodale

Ralph Goodale was a member of Parliament for more than 31 years, serving in both government and opposition in Ottawa and also at the provincial level in Saskatchewan.

Michael S. Goodman

Michael S. Goodman is professor of intelligence and international affairs, head of the Department of War Studies and dean of research impact at King's College London.

Peter Kasurak

Peter Kasurak is an independent researcher focused on military history and defence studies, and an adjunct professor in the Division of Continuing Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada.

Filippa Lentzos

Filippa Lentzos is a senior research fellow with a joint appointment in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine and the Department of War Studies at King's College London.

Christian Leuprecht

Christian Leuprecht is the Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership in the Department of Political Science and Economics at the Royal Military College of Canada.

Bessma Momani

CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani has a Ph.D. in political science with a focus on international political economy and is a full professor and associate vice‑president, international at the University of Waterloo.

Kent Roach

Kent Roach is professor of law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Irvin Studin

Irvin Studin is the founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of Global Brief magazine, and president of the Institute for 21st Century Questions.

Patrick F. Walsh

Patrick F. Walsh is a former intelligence analyst who has worked in Australia’s Office of National Intelligence and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

Calder Walton

Calder Walton is assistant director of the Applied History Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.