DND cracks down, tells staff to withhold even non-sensitive information

OTTAWA – Members of the Canadian military have been told to tighten the screws and withhold information, even though it may not be sensitive or a threat to national security.

The unusual directive, known as a CANFORGEN, was written last year by the country’s deputy top commander in response to a media story that examined financial uncertainty facing National Defence.

The story, in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper on April 29, 2011, looked at lapsed funding — cash the department was unable to spend on capital projects — and came at the height of the last federal election campaign.

It was deemed to have contained “information that was not meant for wider or public consumption,” but the data had not been designated either secret or protected.

That prompted Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson, vice chief of defence staff, to instruct those handling information to give everything that passes over their desks — or posted on the internal department system — a second glance with an eye to keeping it hidden.

Critics say it is an attempt to keep embarrassing information from making it to the public.