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That Clement would engage in such risky pursuits and put himself in a situation where he could be successfully blackmailed was breathtakingly dumb.

Rennie Marcoux, executive director of the secretariat established to support the new National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, said each member was given a “comprehensive” security briefing by the Privy Council Office and other security agencies. Perhaps the imprudence of sending penis pictures by email to someone you don’t know was so obvious it was overlooked in the briefing.

But it is concerning that someone who appears to have been an accident waiting to happen was not flagged by the security services.

Marcoux said all committee members and staff at the secretariat were subject to the same “stringent” security and confidentiality requirements as the security and intelligence community.

The incident is likely to signal an undignified end to a near 30-year career in politics for Clement

Yet Ellis said in his experience security checks for politicians are “superficial,” lacking the depth and breadth of top-secret security checks applied to others. He said regular security-clearance checks include a full search of social media and interviews with friends and colleagues going back at least 10 years.

Stephanie Carvin, a former national security analyst with CSIS who now teaches at Carleton University, said MPs and senators were vetted for committee membership but there would have to be serious some red flags flying before the security agencies would intervene to block a parliamentarian.