Central Intelligence Agency documents released by WikiLeaks Thursday
list Canada as one of several countries asked to assist the United
States while they spied on the 2012 French presidential election.
The
three CIA tasking orders request that current French president Francois
Hollande, then president Nicolas Sarkozy and current first round
presidential front runner Marine Le Pen all be closely monitored.
CIA
officers were asked to uncover the secret strategies of the candidates,
as well as information on internal power dynamics within the parties.
Canada is listed as one of five countries working on human intelligence
parts of the operation however there are no specifics on which parts of
the operation, if any, Canada was involved in.
The Canadian
Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment
Canada, and the Department of Global Affairs did not immediately reply
to requests for comment. Ashley Lemire, senior communications advisor at
the Department of National Defence, told the National Post: “The
Government of Canada does not comment on leaked documents.”
