Not Quite Who He Appears To Be

"[Cameron Ortis, high-ranking RCMP intelligence official has been accused of violating Canada's secrecy laws, accused of breaching the Security of Information Act and the Criminal Code]."
"[Five charges filed against him include the] unauthorized communication of special operational information, [possessing a device or software] useful for concealing the content of information or for surreptitiously communicating, obtaining or retaining information, [and breach of trust by a public officer]."

"[The unit within RCMP where Mr Ortis worked is] a fusion centre and a clearing house [for both internal intelligence and for sensitive information received from other Canadian and foreign intelligence agencies and allies]."  "[The damage could be] very serious [but] no one knows what the link between potential and real damage might be at this stage."
"The reality of his position is he would have had knowledge of a wide range of national security files. That's partly what of course worries Canada and worries Canada's allies." 
Wesley Wark, visiting professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa 

"He's basically Clark Kent in looks and in his dedication to do the right thing. He's the closest thing I know to a superhero."
"He's smarter than everybody -- I don't care who you put him in a room with."
"He wanted to be on the undisputed side of good."
"He's been offered all this money so many times to take a cushy job and he's never taken it. Unless there's some other element to it -- blackmail or gambling -- it doesn't make sense ... There's got to be more to it."
Chris Parry, former journalist, friend of 18 years

"I remember talking to him a couple of times about books people had written about crime and terrorism. I was always impressed with the academic rigour he brought to critiques of those books."
Angus Smith, retired senior intelligence adviser

"[I homed in on East Asia as the focus of study into cyber intrusion in part because of the region's] growing reputation as a breeding ground for software piracy, crackers, virus writers and lackadaisical system administrators."
"The region plays host to the most advanced use of the Internet by organized crime groups."
Introduction to PhD dissertation, Cameron Otis

Cameron Ortis in 2010. .Handout

No one, not his high school peers who were his admirers and friends at W.J. Mouat Secondary from which he graduated in 1990, the local pastor who was his father at the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, those who knew him at university as mentors and professors, much less his friends of that period and his later colleagues at the RCMP unit where he worked as a senior administrator suspected the man of being anyone other than what they saw him as; a brilliant mind, a dedicated intelligence officer, a man loyal to his country.

His LinkedIn profile reflects study at the University of British Columbia in Prince George where one of his professors laid "the groundwork for a continuing interest and passion for the study of international relations" (in his words). He completed a master's degree at McMaster University in Hamilton where his thesis title was: "The Asian economic crisis: the changing nature of the relationship between domestic institutions and the international system".

At University of British Columbia, pursuing graduate studies from 1999 through 2006 he remained fascinated with Asia. And so it made sense that field work of a number of years saw him travelling to eight cities in Asia to interview government officials, engineers and members of the "hacker community", where he described the "precarious undertaking" involved in pursuing face-to-face interviews in dealing with sophisticated crackers -- network intruders -- and not low-level "script kiddies".

His computer expertise attracted large firms, but their job offers were turned down, irrespective of the sky-high salaries on offer. He maintained a laser focus on travel and research and then in 2007 his career with the RCMP began, as a civilian analyst. The first years with the National Security Criminal Investigations program where he was a tactical/operations analyst, taking information gleaned from investigations to find linkages.

When the national police force underwent a major reorganization within its federal policing branch in 2013, a new unit was created named the National Intelligence Coordination Centre, and Cameron Ortis was elevated to the position of director-general with access to not only Canada's intelligence files but those of its allies as well, which would include the 'Five Eyes', group of the United States, Britain, New Zealand and Australia. Any breach in intelligence would include the entire group's intelligence, shared between them.

In 2015, Cameron Otis was alleged to have communicated "special operational information". There was suspicion that between September 2018 and September 2019 he began to access information -- inclusive of possessing a device or software useful for concealing or surreptitiously obtaining information to enable him to hare it with a foreign entity or terrorist organizxation; clear "internal corruption". This was revealed when the agency was involved in an investigation led by the FBI.

A probe focused on a man in Richmond, B.C., Vincent Ramos, whose company, Phantom Secure, aided in facilitating the flow of cocaine and allied drugs globally through supplying high-level traffickers with encrypted communications devices designed to throw law enforcement off their scent. Investigators appear to believe that Cameron Ortis reached out to Ramos by email with an offer of "valuable" information.

"If the allegations are proven, it would be frustrating that someone who perhaps had the highest-profile career [within the intelligence investigations branch of the RCMP] as a civilian ... has made these missteps."
"My concern would be this would be a setback to those efforts [where senior managers "sweat a lot of blood to attract people outside the core policing stream into the RCMP] because they're still important."
Allan Castle, civilian member in charge of criminal intelligence analysis, RCMP E-Division, British Columbia

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki provides an update on the ongoing investigation, arrest and charges against Cameron Ortis at RCMP National Headquarters in Ottawa on Sept. 17, 2019. Chris Wattie/The Canadian Press