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Vance suspended Norman in January 2017 after the RCMP briefed the general about the allegations against him. They RCMP did not charge Norman until March 2018.

Asked for comment Tuesday about Henein’s court filing, Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said that “as this matter is still before the courts, it would be inappropriate to provide comment at this time.” Vance previously declined Postmedia’s request for information about which officials in the prime minister’s office he briefed on the Norman case.

Photo by Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press

Henein is also seeking details about Vance’s policy of having senior military commanders develop behind-the-scenes relationships with select journalists in an effort to produce media reports favourable to the Canadian military. Such information could play into Norman’s defence as Henein pointed out in her court filing that “The Crown alleges that ‘using’ the media to convey government information on an ‘off the record’ basis is improper.”

Henein contends that Norman, like his fellow senior officers, had Vance’s approval to discuss issues during off-the-record sessions with journalists.

Shortly after becoming chief of the defence staff in 2015, Vance launched what some military public affairs officers have called the “weaponization of public affairs,” a communications strategy that sees military officers developing close relationships with journalists and analysts deemed friendly to the Canadian Forces and providing them with specific views and information to influence news reports.

In a September 2015 interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Vance acknowledged using the term but denied the policy was about strategically leaking information.

Henein has requested Vance’s “non-official communications” with journalists, including “electronic communications such as text messages or Blackberry PINs, between CDS Vance and any media since July 2015.”

• Email: dpugliese@postmedia.com | Twitter: davidpugliese