Defence Minister Peter MacKay has heralded Canada’s proposed participation in the U.S. military’s Wideband Global Satcom network, pointing out that it is aimed at protecting Canada’s economy and businesses from cyber attack.
But military officers and space industry representatives it has nothing to do with foiling foreign cyber attacks or protecting commercial information from such strikes.
U.S. Maj.-Gen. Susan Mashiko, in charge of the country’s military satellite communications systems wing, has noted that Wideband Global Satcom will allow for faster communications with troops on the battlefield.
“It is primarily a satellite communications network,” added Canadian Department of National Defence spokesman Daniel Blouin.
But DND has been silent on the reasons behind the push to spend $477 million on joining the U.S. satellite program by the end of the year.
The project is not on a list of major future defence procurement projects valued at over $30 million, according to newly released records obtained by the Ottawa Citizen under the Access to Information law. It was also not on a list of DND space programs released just months ago.
Parliamentarians say they didn’t know about Canada’s intent to invest in the U.S. system until Postmedia News broke the story recently.
Opposition MPs are now objecting to the secrecy surrounding the deal and the spending of such a large amount of money with what they say is little accountability.
“There are a whole host of questions about this initiative that we’re not getting answers on,” said New Democratic Party defence critic David Christopherson. “Where did this proposal come from?”
Liberal defence critic John McKay questioned the decision to use an American satellite, noting that while Canada and the U.S. are allies, they have different interests, such as in the Arctic.
“Who will have ultimate control over this satellite?” he asked. “That is a major concern.”
Defence sources say the U.S. will control the satellites but allow Canada to transmit information over the system. The rush to sign on to the satellite program was sparked by an ultimatum given to Canada that if it wanted to be involved, it was required to sign a funding agreement by the end of this year.
Asked about how Canada’s commercial interests or companies would be protected by the U.S. satellite, DND spokesman Blouin responded: “In the sense that our satcom is transmitted over commercial networks, transitioning to a secure military satellite will kind of have a second order effect in that it lessens the threat to those commercial networks,” he explained.
For their part, Canadian aerospace firms are worried the Conservative government has not put in place a system for industrial benefits to domestic companies, in exchange for providing $477 million so that a U.S. company can build the satellite.
DND has said it cannot respond to many questions about the system because negotiations are still underway.
DND has a robust and growing space program but has refused to discuss many of the details.
Officers from DND’s directorate of space development have declined invitations from the Citizen on multiple occasions to talk about various programs.
Documents show that DND was worried the Citizen would find out about one of its space programs that had gone significantly over budget.
The budget for the Joint Space Support Project has jumped from $29 million to $43 million and DND came up with a set of strategies last year to use “if pressed on JSSP project cost increase” by the Citizen.
That strategy acknowledged that at the time DND’s space specialists came up with the original JSSP budget they “did not possess the knowledge or the intellectual expertise” necessary to determine accurate funding for the project.
Origin
Source: Ottawa Citizen
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