RCMP official accused of leaking secrets goes to trial in September 2022

The senior RCMP intelligence official accused of leaking secrets will head to trial in September 2022, three years after his arrest.

Cameron Jay Ortis,who led the force's national intelligence co-ordination centre,was arrestedon Sept. 12, 2019 in Ottawa and accused ofrevealing secrets to an unnamed recipient and planning to give additional classified information to an unspecified foreign entity or terrorist group.

He is charged with multiple Security of Information Act violations,breach of trust and a computer-related offence

In Superior Court today,Ortis'slawyerIan Carterand the Crown announced plansfor aneight-week jury trial starting Sept. 6, 2022.

According to documents viewed in the immediate aftermath of his arrest, the classified intelligence material Ortis is accused of preparing to share included some of Canada's most closely heldnational security assets, and its dissemination would have threatened Canada's relations with its allies.

That assessment, completed in the immediate aftermath of his arrest by CSIS andthe Communications Security Establishment (CSE), concluded that the"information is among the most highly protected of national security assets, by any government standard, and goes to the heart of Canada's sovereignty and security."

Given the nature of the secretinformation involved,Ortis's case hasbeen tied up in Federal Courtas officialsworkout how the trial canproceed while protectingclassified intelligence.

That hearing is slated to begin in January.