Covert Entry
admin | March 5, 2008
The CIA and other shadowy U.S. intelligence agencies are notorious for their secrecy, but Canada teems with armies of government spies whose operations are even more mysterious. Andrew Mitrovica’s Covert Entry is one of the first in-depth looks inside this clandestine world. A reporter at The Globe and Mail, Mitrovica tells an astonishing story of bumbling worthy of Inspector Clouseau, rampant lawbreaking and corruption, wasted resources, and a sorry lack of accountability or oversight. The book revolves around John Farrell, an ex-street gang leader who went on to become a star agent of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Before joining CSIS, Farrell worked as a prison guard and Canada Post security officer. While at Canada Post, according to Mitrovica, Farrell was ordered to engage in illegal spying on the leaders of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, including rifling through their garbage. (The book’s allegations led the union to demand an independent inquiry.) After leaving Canada Post, Farrell joined CSIS, where he worked from 1991 to 1999 for a secretive “dirty tricks” unit called Special Operational Services. There, he helped run a mail-snooping operation in Toronto with the peculiar name Operation Vulva, intercepting letters and parcels sent to far-right extremists and Russian spies. Farrell’s street skills were put to use breaking into targets’ houses and vehicles–including that of a disgruntled CSIS employee–and doing other “special assignments.” Throughout, Farrell was repeatedly amazed by the graft, waste, and incompetence seemingly widespread in the agency. Farrell decided to sue CSIS after it ignominiously let him go without coughing up overtime pay he claims to be owed. Mitrovica’s portrait of the former agent and his employer provides a rare and engrossing look inside one of Canada’s most enigmatic government agencies. –Alex Roslin –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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