Prologue

A public safety minister makes false and alarmist comments in a press conference; when pressed for details, he directs media to law enforcement, who scramble to produce evidence where there is none. An officer is tasked to produce a key briefing for top officials to help government decision-making, in only fifteen minutes. Intelligence Analysts taking cues from anonymous Twitter trolls involved in criminal harassment. Citizens’ personal information is eagerly shared with international spy agencies, even as internal reports circulate acknowledging there is no evidence of terrorist activity.

An entire country’s intelligence departments relying on a single source—a source that banks on the questionable judgement calls of inexperienced, ideologically-motivated activists cosplaying online as Nazis and Russian models to gather data and donations. A source that cloaks its researchers in anonymity and refuses to disclose their credentials, conflicts of interest, or track record, even as they are widely quoted in the media as subject matter experts.

Welcome to Canada.

Read the whole story, here.