‘White nationalism’ a threat the Canadian Armed Forces aren’t equipped for: watchdog

[Navy_Pete]

I had that situation happen to me recently, submitted the paperwork civilian side after the military side. Got it fairly quickly civilian side. Found out months later that my orderly room had never submitted my paperwork and had to start the process over again.

If it makes you feel better my last submission took 3 attempts; 1st was missing some info (my fault), and the second one they rejected something because my email included an apostrophe and got flagged as an illegal character or something (constant problem after email rules got updated to form fields with rejection criteria that weren't updated). I think in total took 2-3 years to get a submission in the system, and another year to clear for a level 2 renewal.

So I did an entire deployment with my clearance 'under review' or whatever the status is. Makes sense to me though; there was no gap in my record, and unless I lost my security clearance for some reason, should be pretty routine. I doubt they checked much more than my credit score and employment record when they finally got to my file, just took years to get to it.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I think there are bigger 'obstacles' that that

Military sounds alarm over recruiting problems as Canadians steer clear​

Military sounds alarm over recruiting problems as Canadians steer clear

The Canadian Armed Forces is sounding the alarm over a severe shortage of recruits to fill thousands of vacant positions, with the shortfall so bad that senior officers are now calling it a crisis.

www.ctvnews.ca

That's a good article.


'We're not sure why numbers are so low'.

'We've also turned off the largest recruiting pool . Recruiters are given targets to meet such as minimum targets for female recruits and maximums for men'.

'There is also a high-level push for what the military still refers to as "visible minorities" and Indigenous people'.

 

[Remius]

That's a good article.


'We're not sure why numbers are so low'.

'We've also turned off the largest recruiting pool . Recruiters are given targets to meet such as minimum targets for female recruits and maximums for men'.

'There is also a high-level push for what the military still refers to as "visible minorities" and Indigenous people'.

The influx of perm résidant applicants will likely help mitigate some numbers as well as the visible minority issue I would presume.

 

[CBH99]

You could but that requires manpower and adding manpower seems to be a point of contention for some.

If someone already has a security clearance with the federal government, they shouldn’t have to apply for another security clearance with the same federal government just because they transfer to a different department.

By eliminating the requirement to apply for another security clearance when one already has one, it wouldn’t require more manpower. It would be less applications going to CSIS, not more.


And for the most part, a lot of security clearances are done via automation anyway. Some get rejected, others get follow-up by CSIS investigators - but by & large, a vast majority get approved just using the standard automated system.

 

[QV]

That's a good article.


'We're not sure why numbers are so low'.

'We've also turned off the largest recruiting pool . Recruiters are given targets to meet such as minimum targets for female recruits and maximums for men'.

'There is also a high-level push for what the military still refers to as "visible minorities" and Indigenous people'.

Applying the evolutionary psychology lens would help them figure out the problem. But here we are.

 

[Eaglelord17]

I think there are bigger 'obstacles' that that

Military sounds alarm over recruiting problems as Canadians steer clear​

Military sounds alarm over recruiting problems as Canadians steer clear

The Canadian Armed Forces is sounding the alarm over a severe shortage of recruits to fill thousands of vacant positions, with the shortfall so bad that senior officers are now calling it a crisis.

www.ctvnews.ca

A big thing with people wanting to be somewhere is pride. When you start looking desperate (which is how the CAF looks at the moment) people tend to avoid that.

Its just like dating, the confident people tend to have no issues getting dates. The ones who are desperate looking whether or not they are is the ones who struggle the most.

When you see article after article talking about how bad the CAF is, and very little counter info it doesn’t look good. When the CAF puts out statements saying how desperate they are it just adds to the appearance.

 

[Remius]

If someone already has a security clearance with the federal government, they shouldn’t have to apply for another security clearance with the same federal government just because they transfer to a different department.

By eliminating the requirement to apply for another security clearance when one already has one, it wouldn’t require more manpower. It would be less applications going to CSIS, not more.


And for the most part, a lot of security clearances are done via automation anyway. Some get rejected, others get follow-up by CSIS investigators - but by & large, a vast majority get approved just using the standard automated system.

I’m not disagreeing with you. But it still takes humans to process these things.
Some departments though will not accept security clearances obtained from certain departments and some will. It’s the ones that deal with high level security and sensitive subjects that do that. DND, CSIS, CSE, RCMP etc. It would be good if the whole thing could be streamlined. Not sure how they can make that happen.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I’m not disagreeing with you. But it still takes humans to process these things.
Some departments though will not accept security clearances obtained from certain departments and some will. It’s the ones that deal with high level security and sensitive subjects that do that. DND, CSIS, CSE, RCMP etc. It would be good if the whole thing could be streamlined. Not sure how they can make that happen.

Hell they can't even align harassment and diversity courses with each department, you expect them to take a risk on a security clearance for a reliability status for a clerk. (So what if she is dating an HA and wants to work on CPIC)

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

"Diversity is what we're after," Clark says.
"The shortfall is expected to exacerbate the current personnel shortage, with about one in 10 of the military's 100,000 positions unfilled."

Unfriggin' real that with all the numbers games the CAF likes to play with when its wants to, why they just don't count the empty spots as the "diverse" ones?? Problem solved,.....just take my fee out of the next McKinsey cheque please.

 

[Remius]

Hell they can't even align harassment and diversity courses with each department, you expect them to take a risk on a security clearance for a reliability status for a clerk. (So what if she is dating an HA and wants to work on CPIC)

Criminal records and credit hits don’t necessarily lead to a denial. So someone in one department or agency can get cleared for a position or type of work depending on what the hit was for, time elapsed, severity etc etc. But what they were risk managed for at one department wouldn’t fly at another for a different position where access to more sensitive things or facilities would be an issue.

Which is likely why some departments won’t accept a security clearance at face value.

As far as the harassment courses, lol, DND civy side made me do a bunch of that stuff despite me having done it on the CAF side. I even had to do DND 101 to learn all about the CAF. I’ve done respectful workplace courses now at three different departments or agencies. Trust me, I’d love to see some alignment.

 

[Good2Golf]

Unfriggin' real that with all the numbers games the CAF likes to play with when its wants to, why they just don't count the empty spots as the "diverse" ones?? Problem solved,.....just take my fee out of the next McKinsey cheque please.

 

[Navy_Pete]

The influx of perm résidant applicants will likely help mitigate some numbers as well as the visible minority issue I would presume.

One issue some people have is the security clearance for out of country getting done, depending how long they've been in Canada. I doubt they have added extra resources on for doing that stuff, or necessarily have anyone with the various languages for different countries available. If we have people waiting for a year or two for domestic clearances and then walking, I can't see it being shorter for perm residents if the review period includes going back to a different country.

I think it's a great idea but again doubt we did anything to help the execution succeed after the idea was written down, which is a shame.

 

[Remius]

One issue some people have is the security clearance for out of country getting done, depending how long they've been in Canada. I doubt they have added extra resources on for doing that stuff, or necessarily have anyone with the various languages for different countries available. If we have people waiting for a year or two for domestic clearances and then walking, I can't see it being shorter for perm residents if the review period includes going back to a different country.

I think it's a great idea but again doubt we did anything to help the execution succeed after the idea was written down, which is a shame.

Depends on the country and how long they’ve been in country and how old they are. But yes, security clearances for some will be an issue.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

I just chuckle at the CAF now.... it was exactly a year ago today that I put my release in

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

A big thing with people wanting to be somewhere is pride. When you start looking desperate (which is how the CAF looks at the moment) people tend to avoid that.

Its just like dating, the confident people tend to have no issues getting dates. The ones who are desperate looking whether or not they are is the ones who struggle the most.

When you see article after article talking about how bad the CAF is, and very little counter info it doesn’t look good. When the CAF puts out statements saying how desperate they are it just adds to the appearance.

It's called a 'Winners Mentality'. The CAF isn't about 'Winning' atm, in fact I'd wager that winning isn't particularly important to the CAF.

 

[Navy_Pete]

It's called a 'Winners Mentality'. The CAF isn't about 'Winning' atm, in fact I'd wager that winning isn't particularly important to the CAF.

It's hard to sell a Winners Mentality when you have a fleet of clapped out Tauruses which are more bondo than sheet metal. Sadly the ground effects, speakers and tint kits aren't fooling anyone.

We somehow do a lot of things despite all of this, but in a lot of cases seem like a coin toss away from potential disaster, and a risk assessment doesn't make structural hull paint keep the sea out any longer (unless you fibreglass the paper in place I guess).

In good conscience I'd have a hard time recommending to someone to start a career in the Navy right now. I think the next few years are going to be telling, and don't see any real prospect of change that will get us to at least a sustainable spot we can rebuild from. I would not be surprised if we had a few CPFs 'self retire' regardless of what the Navy wants, which is a better option than losing a ship at sea.

 

[Good2Golf]

I would not be surprised if we had a few CPFs 'self retire' regardless of what the Navy wants

…as part of the FFG to SSK conversion program?

 

[daftandbarmy]

I just chuckle at the CAF now.... it was exactly a year ago today that I put my release in

Winning in the CAF be like....

 

[Jarnhamar]

The influx of perm résidant applicants will likely help mitigate some numbers as well as the visible minority issue I would presume.

Yep that might help.

I guess white guys wanting to get in could say they're Trans or pull a Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond too.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Just tell them your a double gay Trans that cross dress as a man