David Harris (lawyer)

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David B. Harris is a Canadian lawyer. He is the former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Now working as a consultant, he is a regular commentator on issues of terrorism. He is currently a Senior Fellow for Terrorism and National Security at the Canadian Coalition for Democracies.

Notably, Harris has suggested that Canada's immigration policy encourages the use of Canada as a base for terrorists, and has consistently advocated for harsher Canadian laws to combat terrorism. He is an outspoken defender of the Canadian government's use of security certificates to detain terrorism suspects without trial.

[edit] Public statements

In an October 2001 interview with PBS, Harris was sharply critical of Canadian immigration policy. He stated that "Montreal is the place you probably want to be if you are an Algerian extremist" and that Canada's then-current immigration policy was "making Canada a kind of Islamic extremist aircraft carrier for the launching of major assaults against the U.S. mainland." ^[1]

In a June 2002 interview with 60 Minutes, Harris stated that there were at least 50 terrorist groups then operating within Canada, including the Irish Republican Army, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al Qaeda. ^[2]

In an April 2006 interview, Harris expressed his support for the Conservative government's apparent willingness to crack down on terrorism, and praised the antiterror legislation introduced by the previous Liberal government. ^[3]

While commenting on a Pentagon report claiming that Americans with high security clearance visiting Canada had been bugged with Canadian coins equipped with tracking devices, Harris was quoted as saying that "You could almost, by handing a coin to somebody, achieve the equivalent of the Mafiosi's last kiss on the cheek." ^[4]