Erasing Afghan terror camps makes Canada safer: PM adviser

There's "no question" that the elimination of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan has made Canada safer, the prime minister's national security adviser said Monday.

But Margaret Bloodworth also said that the terror threat remains and there is no room for complacency because now home-grown radicals could be as much of a threat as international terrorists.

Bloodworth, a veteran bureaucrat and a former deputy defence minister, became Stephen Harper's national security adviser last fall. She is the key conduit linking the country's security agencies and the cabinet.

In her first appearance before the Senate committee on defence and national security, Bloodworth said she believes that the removal of the Afghan terror training facilities protects Canada.

Before the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban regime fostered the operations of a variety of terror training operations, including al-Qaida. They collapsed as the Taliban was overthrown and its leaders fled.

Bloodworth said that is a good thing.

"I think not having those provides a safer environment here and in other countries as well."

She added, however, that there is no perfect security and that Canada remains a target for the al-Qaida terror group.

"There is no question that Canada is on the list," she told the senators.

"There is no question that there are people affiliated in some way to the al-Qaida ideology that would do us harm if they saw a serious opportunity to do so. I don't think we are the prime target. There are others who would come ahead of us if they had a chance."

She said, though, she doesn't known why Canada hasn't had a major domestic terror attack, despite being on the terror hit list.

"I would be very hesitant to say we do things a lot better than our allies."

She said al-Qaida has become a more diffuse group in recent years.

"I think someone described it as like a franchise. Unfortunately, that may make it more difficult to track because some of it is home-grown radicalization. We have certainly seen that in the UK, but we are not immune to it in this country."

She pointed to the arrests in Toronto last summer of a group of men who were allegedly plotting terror attacks here.

Bloodworth, who has a direct line to Harper on security matters, also co-ordinates the efforts of security agencies ranging from CSIS and the RCMP to the secretive Communications Security Establishment.

She was asked if Canada's military presence in Afghanistan has made Canada more of a target for terror.

"It's something I watch for," she said. "I haven't seen direct evidence of that. I've heard people say it. I haven't seen any myself.

"I have seen nothing I can put my hands on and say that is evidence that the fact that we're in Afghanistan has meant somebody is plotting more here.

"I'm not saying it's impossible, I just haven't seen it."

Bloodworth was asked about possible CIA operations in Canada.

She said the U.S. spy agency has a station in Ottawa and that she would expect to be told of any of their operations here.

"I can't say I am aware of every single thing they do in Canada. I certainly would not expect them to be conducting operations in Canada unless we were aware of them and had agreed and I'm not aware of any such."

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/03/26/3837175-cp.html