National Defence committee  I won't be able to talk about what was topical back then because I wasn't involved back then, but definitely since “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, cybersecurity is at the forefront for both the Canadian Armed Forces and the CSE. We have seen that with the CSE's standing up of the Canadian cybersecurity centre and its responsibilities for Canada in general.

National Defence committee  As I indicated earlier, the recruitment of personnel that represent the diversity in Canada is very important to us, not only from the diversity aspect but from an operational aspect, because having multiple languages helps us. As one who speaks three languages, I know it definitely is advantageous, and that is something that we do.

National Defence committee  Yes, we do have embedded personnel with the Americans. We have embedded personnel with the United Kingdom. We have personnel as part of NATO, as you would know, on exchange. We have—

National Defence committee  As I indicated, one of our primary raisons d'être as the Canadian Armed Forces cyber force is to defend our networks and IT systems. We have protocols to defend and ensure that we have access to our data.

National Defence committee  As I have previously indicated, Canada already acts in the cyber domain space. We will continue to co-operate with our allies to defend Canada and our allies as required.

National Defence committee  Canada, working with our allies, would deal with the cyber and conventional efforts put against it.

National Defence committee  The F-35 program is definitely one aspect that the cybersecurity force, as well as the CIO of Canada, is working on with the RCAF to ensure that they are capable of receiving the aircraft when they're delivered.

National Defence committee  We currently share intelligence. Now that we have signed the contracts for the F-35, we will increase the number of discussions. The intent is there to ensure that the Royal Canadian Air Force is ready to fully utilize the aircraft when they are delivered.

National Defence committee  Obviously, in this room, at this security classification, I would not be able to talk about the gaps and risks, as that is information that would be useful to adversaries.

National Defence committee  Absolutely, Canada has definitely taken a very specific posture in supporting our allies, in that we ensure they maintain control of their networks. We provide them with the support that they need, either through engineering tools or throughout an intelligence perspective. That said, we have capabilities that are improving consistently.

National Defence committee  Thank you. I had not understood that aspect of your question. We provide general training to all members of the Canadian Armed Forces and to people in the public services. We just finished safety week. There are formal safety courses that they have to pass. There are also the usual messages sent out to counter phishing.

National Defence committee  I would not be able to give you the relative size. As I indicated, I don't know the size of the CSE team, as I'm relatively new. I've been in the chair since the summer, but it's not something that has come up in conversation. I would not be able to answer that question.

National Defence committee  The Canadian Armed Forces cyber team works on Canadian missions, Canadian Armed Forces missions, so we would not be collecting any information on Canadians. As you would have heard in testimony from CSE, their mandate does not allow them to collect information on Canadians or personnel on Canadian soil as well.

National Defence committee  To the best of my understanding, it doesn't fall within the scope. I have not heard of that activity being conducted.

National Defence committee  As I indicated earlier, the Canadian Armed Forces are already providing support for Ukraine and Latvia. We are conducting operations with our American and Five Eyes partners as it is, and we continue to conduct exercises with them to improve our capabilities and align and exchange best practices with each other.