National Defence committee  Thanks, Deputy. The only thing I would add is that the specific infrastructure investments associated with the NORAD modernization plan are to be located at existing Canadian Armed Forces locations, the forward-operating locations that NORAD uses and also some existing fighter infrastructure in southern Canada.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. In this case, we're working closely with the United States to pull together a layered system of surveillance systems with over-the-horizon radar stationed in Canada and the U.S. I don't want to say with certainty that it would be 100% of our territory, but the combined effect would be a vast improvement over what we have today.

National Defence committee  As the minister said earlier today, it's a 20-year program of investments. We're moving as urgently as possible, as quickly as possible, sorting out details for the first highest-priority investments, as we speak, in close collaboration with the U.S.

National Defence committee  Feel free, Admiral, to supplement. I would say that's a great question. It's certainly a concern, but it's not a Canadian Armed Forces mandate. We have other agencies within the federal family that would play a lead role in, I think, what you're referring to there. CSIS, I think, would jump to mind as a more appropriate entity to tackle that side of the coin.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, if I could, I would share Admiral Carosielli's view. Our colleagues from CSE responded in very much the same way that we did. As I understand it, it was perhaps a witness from academia who shared a potentially contradicting view, which was that maybe there wasn't, from the public's view, as much close collaboration between DND, CAF, and CSE as in fact there is.

National Defence committee  I am not an expert on the components that go into the Canadian Armed Forces' capabilities. My suspicion is that there probably are some components of the Canadian Armed Forces' capabilities that have components that were manufactured in China, but I'm not an expert on that. I'm sorry.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, I'll start, and the admiral may have something to add. It's a great question. It is a complicated space. There are lots of players across government in this area. In terms of the Canadian federal lead for cybersecurity—ensuring the security of government networks, providing assistance to holders of networks in critical infrastructure and that sort of thing— Public Safety has the overall lead.

National Defence committee  I'll start and then hand it over to the admiral in case he'd like to add something. The Canadian Armed Forces have the authority to conduct offensive cyber-operations in the context of approved military missions. In those, it's the Canadian Armed Forces leading and conducting offensive cyber-operations under their own authorities, often with assistance from colleagues at the Communications Security Establishment.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. Absolutely, attribution of cyber-attacks and malicious cyber-activity is a challenge. By their very nature, they tend to be intended to be covert action. Canada's position in the statement I alluded to on our interpretation of international law in the opening remarks is really just to be transparent and hold ourselves to account in Canada and to set a standard for our own behaviour in cyberspace and to lay out our interpretation of law.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. I would say that among our allies and like-minded countries there's a concerted effort to be transparent. Again, I'm slightly outside of my lane—it's a Global Affairs lead—but as I understand it, I think that publication of various states' interpretation of international law as it relates to cyberspace began as a G7 initiative, if I'm not mistaken.

National Defence committee  It's no problem. I was simply going to add that Admiral Carosielli has outlined the really close operational ties and relationship between DND, CAF and CSE. I was going to add that the close relationship also extends to the policy sphere. I work extraordinarily closely with my counterparts at CSE on policy questions, and we're fully joined.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll have a few opening remarks and then turn the floor over to Admiral Carosielli for a few more. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to speak to you today as part of your study on cybersecurity and cyberwarfare. My name is Jon Quinn.

National Defence committee  Thank you, sir, and thanks, Mr. Chair, for the question. All I'll say on this one is that we're monitoring the facility carefully. There are instruments in place to make sure that—

National Defence committee  Thanks very much, sir, and thanks for the question, Mr. Chair. To supplement what Admiral Auchterlonie said, we have been in the process of leading up to the proposal to government on NORAD modernization, and since Minister Anand's announcement in June we have been having some engagements with Canadian industry associations.

National Defence committee  It's an important question, indeed. It's admittedly a little bit outside of my area of expertise, but I can assure you that all of those measures are in place. In addition, I would say as well to the intellectual property rights of Canadian companies, we will also be concerned about economic security and making sure that those advancements we're generating in Canada and North America don't fall into the wrong hands.