加拿大华裔女子在北约总部涉间谍案：前高官国会作证承认安全审查当年不查公开资料
渥太华报道——加拿大众议院公共安全委员会本周就联邦安全审查制度举行听证。现任总理 Mark Carney 的高级外交与国际事务顾问、时任加拿大全球事务部（Global Affairs Canada）副部长的 David Morrison 10月21日作证时承认，该部当年为一名后来进入北约机构实习的女子签发安全许可时，审查环节并不包括用搜索引擎检索申请人，也不会检索其他公开资料；他同时表示，据其在全球事务部的同事称，这一环节如今已经纠正。
这名实习生是一名加拿大华裔女子，早年自中国来到加拿大。比利时当局7月下旬以涉嫌「代表第三国从事间谍活动及加入犯罪组织」对她提起指控，8月拒绝保释，她目前仍被关押在比利时。案发机构为位于比利时 Mons 的北约欧洲盟军最高司令部（SHAPE），她在那里实习。加拿大媒体将嫌疑人指认为33岁的 Biwei Zhang（亦用名 Claire Zhang），但比利时与加拿大官员均未证实或否认这一身份；相关指控尚未经法庭审理。据路透社报道，一名安全界消息人士称，她被指为中国从事间谍活动；比利时检方的正式指控只称「第三国」。
听证追问的焦点是她何以能拿到安全许可。一份2024年初公布的加拿大联邦法院判决早已披露，加拿大边境服务局（CBSA）当年发现她在求职申请中造假，拒绝录用；加拿大公务员委员会认定她在录用程序中存在欺诈行为，她要求推翻这一认定的申请被联邦法院驳回。然而，全球事务部仍向她签发了至少「机密」级别的安全许可，使她得以进入 SHAPE 实习——签发许可时，Morrison 正担任全球事务部副部长。
Morrison 在听证中提出四项改革建议，包括建立政府统一的安全许可信息库、在各级安全审查中一致采用公开资料核查、将涉及雇员诚信的人事信息纳入审查系统，以及对持证人员持续评估而非一次审批了事。他说：「如果全球事务部当时知道任何人有涉及适任性与可靠性的负面信息，我完全相信他们会据此采取行动。」保守党议员 Frank Caputo 则指出，他办公室的一名实习生两周内就查到了上述联邦法院判决；他说：「当信息就摆在公开渠道，我们却依然发出了安全许可——而且是高等级的许可——这是情报工作的失败。」
加拿大公共安全部长 Gary Anandasangaree 上个月已承认联邦安全许可审批程序存在漏洞，相关部门正在处理。众议院公共安全委员会对安全审查制度的调查仍在继续，加拿大安全情报局（CSIS）与皇家骑警（RCMP）的官员此前已就同一议题出席听证。
来源：GSM·美国
Canadian Woman of Chinese Descent Faces NATO Espionage Charges as Ex-Official Admits Vetting Skipped Open-Source Checks
OTTAWA — Canada's House of Commons public safety committee this week held hearings into the federal security screening system. David Morrison, now senior diplomatic and international affairs adviser to Prime Minister Mark Carney and formerly the deputy minister of Global Affairs Canada, testified on October 21 that when his department granted a security clearance to a woman who later interned at a NATO headquarters, the vetting process did not include searching for the applicant on a search engine or checking other open sources. He added that, according to his colleagues at Global Affairs, that gap has now been rectified.
The intern is a Canadian woman of Chinese descent who came to Canada from China. Belgian authorities charged her in late July with suspected espionage on behalf of a third country and membership in a criminal organization; bail was denied in August and she remains in custody in Belgium. She had been interning at NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium. Canadian media have identified the suspect as 33-year-old Biwei Zhang, also known as Claire Zhang, but Belgian and Canadian officials have neither confirmed nor denied her identity, and none of the charges has been tested in court. Reuters has reported, citing a security source, that she is accused of spying for China; the Belgian prosecutors' formal charge refers only to a "third country."
The hearing focused on how she obtained clearance. A public Federal Court decision in early 2024 had already revealed that the Canada Border Services Agency turned her down for a job after discovering fraud in her application; Canada's Public Service Commission found she had committed fraud in the appointment process, and the Federal Court dismissed her bid to overturn that finding. Nevertheless, Global Affairs Canada issued her a security clearance of at least the "secret" level, allowing her to intern at SHAPE — and Morrison was the department's deputy minister when the clearance was granted.
Morrison offered four recommendations, including a government-wide repository of security-clearance information, consistent use of open-source checks at all clearance levels, bringing personnel information that speaks to an employee's integrity into the system, and continuously assessing clearance holders rather than treating approval as a one-time event. "If Global Affairs had been aware of anyone that has derogatory information that would speak to that person's suitability and reliability to protect Canada's secrets or NATO's secrets, I have every confidence that they would have acted on that information," he said. Conservative MP Frank Caputo noted that an intern in his office found the Federal Court decision within two weeks: "When the information is publicly available, and we nonetheless give a security clearance — and a high one at that — that is a failure in intelligence."
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree admitted last month that there were gaps in the government's security clearance process that are being addressed. The public safety committee's study of the screening system is continuing; officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have previously testified on the same issue.
Source: GSM · America
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：位于比利时 Mons 的北约欧洲盟军最高司令部（SHAPE）总部大楼。Ex13 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，维基共享资源。 / The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) building in Mons, Belgium. Photo by Ex13, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
