Secret data-sharing network to be developed to deal with crises
JIM BRONSKILL

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government is laying plans for a secret electronic network to ensure confidential information-sharing following a terrorist strike or natural disaster.
The Public Safety Department hopes to spearhead a three-year pilot project this spring that will link as many as 500 security and emergency personnel.
"This is essentially about being able to transfer electronic documents at the secret level," said Shawn Dearn, a department spokesman.
"So, who would have this? Our operational centres across government are certainly a priority, to make sure that they're all connected with other partner organizations."
The network would build on existing systems to allow agencies to trade briefs about terrorist and criminal threats, and would prove particularly useful for the "quick and secure transfer of data" during an actual catastrophe, said Dearn.
Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan hinted the project was in the works last March, when the initiative was at an early stage.
"If you're going to prevent various kinds of terrorist attacks, the better your intelligence, the better prepared you are," she said at the time. "And you also need to be secure around making sure that those communications are shared."
McLellan suggested existing government systems were quite secure, but formed a piecemeal network of different technologies that sometimes made communication a challenge.
The pilot project would connect the Public Safety Department and its portfolio agencies, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.
"The project proposals have been developed and they've been submitted for approval," said Dearn.
Internal notes, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, show the project has been discussed by officials from Public Safety, the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board, Public Works and the Communications Security Establishment, the electronic spy service that is also heavily involved in securing federal networks.
The notes suggest the project could be dubbed The Canadian Secret Network, based on a model put forward by CSE and Public Safety's Integrated Justice Information Secretariat.
Last March, Auditor General Sheila Fraser called the lack of a government-wide system for sharing secret information a "significant weakness."
There is already a means of exchanging top-secret data, but not one for more routine, but still highly sensitive, materials.
The initiative will make use of some technology already in place across government.
"It's not so much about creating a new network as it is about linking existing networks that would be able to work at this secret level," said Dearn.
The planners want to avoid having two or three computers, each with a different function, sitting on a security official's desk.
"We want to make sure that whatever is put in place is user-friendly. So we need to make sure that we're able to integrate all of these networks as best we can."
Funding for the project will be decided by the cabinet, he added.
The internal notes indicate the initiative could involve upgrades to the government's Secure Channel system, intended to create a common standard for federal digital networks.