Jack Hooper

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Jack Hooper is the former deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He retired from the service in 2007, when he was replaced with Luc Portelance, following a long-standing enmity between Hooper and Director Jim Judd.[1]

A former RCMP officer, Hooper transferred to CSIS after a camera crew caught him turning a protestor upside down and "bouncing his head off the asphalt", during a protest at Simon Fraser University where the part-time tactical team officer was studying for his Masters Degree in Criminology.[2]

In 1997, Hooper was tasked to fly to Lima, Peru to bribe Peruvian security agents to protect the Canadian embassy, and also carried out missions in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen during his 22-year career in CSIS.[1]

Hooper contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2003 to tell them that it was not in Canada's interests to demand that the United States return Maher Arar, rather than deporting him to Syria.[3] In 2007, as part of the investigation into government foreknowledge of the torture, it was revealed that Hooper had sent an earlier memo on October 10, 2002 that included the reference "I think the United States would like to get Arar to Jordan where they can have their way with him", which was the first conclusive evidence that CSIS, and not just the RCMP, knew that a Canadian was going to be tortured at the request of the United States.[4]

In May 2006, he raised controversy when he admitted that CSIS was unable to screen more than 90% of immigrant applicants from Pakistan and Afghanistan, which he said "may be inadequate".

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Michelle Shephard, "Ex-top spy breaks silence", Toronto Star, 26 May 2007 (accessed 29 September 2007).
  2. ^ Shephard, Michelle, "Guantanamo's Child", 2008
  3. ^ Simon Doyle, "CSIS didn't want Arar returned to Canada", The Hill Times, 24 September 2007 (accessed 29 September 2007).
  4. ^ "CSIS Suspected Arar Could Face Torture: Documents", Canadian Press, 10 August 2007.
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