A senior police intelligence officer arrested last week for allegedly stealing sensitive documents had access to information from Canada’s foreign allies, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Monday. Cameron Ortis, who was arrested Thursday, served as the Director General of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Centre and “had access to information the Canadian intelligence community possessed,” the RCMP commissioner said in a statement. “He also had access to intelligence coming from our allies both domestically and internationally,” said Commissioner Brenda Lucki. “We are aware of the potential risk to agency operations of our partners in Canada and abroad,” the statement said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Lucki did not specify which foreign organizations may have been exposed to the theft of secrets, which allegedly took place between 2016 and 2019, though Canada is a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance with Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States. Ortis had access to material that could cause a “high” degree of damage to the country and its allies if released, CBC reported, citing a report prepared by Canadian intelligence services. “Analysis of the contents of the reports could reasonably lead a foreign intelligence agency to draw significant conclusions about allied and Canadian intelligence targets, techniques, methods and capabilities,” the report said.
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