MLI author Scott Newark is available to comment on the announcement about the 11-member National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians
OTTAWA, Nov. 7, 2017 – The government has named an 11-member panel of parliamentarians to oversee national security and intelligence.
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, headed by Ontario Liberal MP David McGuinty, will include as members Senators and Liberal, Conservative and NDP MPs.
Scott Newark, a former security and policy advisor at the provincial and federal levels, is the author of an MLI study on the legislation establishing this committee. He applauded the government for implementing a system of Parliamentary review of the government’s national security policies, but also warned about giving the Prime Minister too much power in the process.
More recently, he wrote a piece that describes some of the issues and cases that the committee should explore.
To arrange an interview with Scott Newark, please contact David Watson, managing editor and director of communications, at 613-482-8327 x103 or email at david.watson@macdonaldlaurier.ca.
“This Committee has great potential to be a significant contributor to enhanced national security effectiveness as well ensuring both institutional accountability and the appropriate balancing of societal interests in these increasingly important areas,” says Newark.
“The key will be their ability and inclination to ask the right questions of the right people and thereafter make targeted and substantive recommendations to support the public interest. Ever the optimist, I think this is a very positive development.”
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Scott Newark is a former Alberta Crown Prosecutor and currently an Adjunct Professor in the TRSS Program in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
For more information, please contact David Watson, managing editor and director of communications, at 613-482-8327 x103 or email at david.watson@macdonaldlaurier.ca.
