A former Canadian intelligence chief has been found guilty of leaking state secrets.
The former chief of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) intelligence unit is Cameron Ortiz (51).
A jury found Cameron guilty on Wednesday. This is the first time a Canadian citizen has been found guilty under Canada’s data protection laws. Cameron’s lawyers have asked for a 20-year prison sentence.
Cameron was found guilty of three counts of breaching the Data Protection Act last year, jurors said. He was also found guilty of another charge of attempting to violate this law. He was also found guilty of breach of trust and fraudulent use of computer.
What Cameron did is being called one of the biggest breaches of state secrets in Canadian history.
This leak of state secrets has worried members of the Panchnetra (Five Eyes) network. The member countries of this network are – Canada, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Countries share intelligence among themselves.
Cameron is accused of leaking classified information (state secrets) to three people in 2015. He tried to do another similar thing.
Cameron has denied all the allegations against him.
Cameron was arrested in 2019 after a lengthy investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Defending himself at the hearing, Cameron told the court he was acting to protect his country from an undisclosed serious threat. As part of this, he offered to supply secrets as a means of seducing the target. His arrest ended his life.
Lawyers said Cameron had no authority to release classified state information. Moreover, he did not act as part of any undercover operation authorized by the authorities.
