The phrase "People have been shot for less" may sound glib, but in the case of navy Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle, that is most certainly the case.
The man may just be the worst traitor Canada has ever seen. In wartime, the scope of his betrayal to his country would have drawn a firing squad in most countries.
Perhaps it is precisely because we do not have firing squads or hangmen for such offences in Canada anymore that he broke after just an hour of questioning. And though I generally don't believe in the death penalty, my gut tells me in this case, perhaps an exception can be made.
What strikes me here is some parallels to my own service. Delisle was a navy sub-lieutenant, the equivalent rank of an air force lieutenant, my rank when I mustered out. Delisle told police, "I can't deploy because I'm diabetic. I never sailed." Ditto. That's the reason I couldn't become a career air force officer right out of high school.
In my case, it meant the only way I ended up in uniform was as an air cadet instructor in a component of the reserves known as the Cadet Instructor Cadre, a position with very little actual training and zero security clearance that I am aware of. Delisle, on the other hand, had one of the highest security clearances possible. He worked in intelligence, at a military establishment so secret I never even heard of it until the news broke of his betrayal.
An officer for 16 years, at his lowly rank of sub-lieutenant, it's clear he was going nowhere in his career. His wage at that rank wasn't going to make him rich by any means. Apparently his wife cheating on him was enough for him to sell out his country, to which he had sworn an oath, for a measly $3,000 a month or so.
For that $3,000, he gave away the keys to the castle.
The man, a naval officer, mind you, actually walked into the Russian Embassy and offered his services. They must have thought manna from heaven had just landed on their desk.
He didn't use dead drops or microfilm like spy novels. He cut and pasted files, then carried them out on floppy disks, transferred them to USB sticks, and sent them as e-mails.
It's one thing for a civilian to become a spy; it's quite another for an intelligence officer to do so. There is no higher level of betrayal. When courts pass sentencing, they always temper those sentences by considering "Is this the worst offender doing the absolute worst thing?" In this case, clearly the answer is "yes." About the only thing that could be worse is if this happened during a shooting war.
Oh, wait, it did. Canada has been in a shooting war in Afghanistan since the fall of 2001, and we most definitely had troops in the field in 2007. Indeed, our deployment was still ramping up at that time. And he wasn't just feeding Canadian secrets, but that of our allies as well.
The Globe and Mail reported, "The information was mostly military but also contained reports on organized crime, on political players, on senior defence officials. It included e-mails, phone numbers and contact list for members of the intelligence community."
The long and short of it is Delisle deserves to be dragged into the street and shot. Since we're Canadians, he's probably eligible for parole in a few years. If there is any justice in this land, he should never see the light of day as long as he lives. Delisle should be thankful the rifles aren't being loaded - five with live rounds, and one blank.
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
