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The only regular foreign media presence on those trips has involved the Chinese, including the country’s official news service and — in 2013 — a representative of a major daily, both of whom are accredited members of the gallery in Ottawa.

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Capt. Travis Smyth said the military intelligence branch has a legal responsibility to protect the Forces. The Arctic exercise, despite being within the country’s borders, is “highly visible and the potential for threats to security exist.”

He would not say what potential threats were posed in the remote region, citing it as an operational security matter.

When asked directly whether the media was targeted, Smyth replied in an en email: “For reasons related to operational security, any individuals or groups that may have been under investigation cannot be publicly released.”

Another unusual aspect is the fact the Canada’s top brass has for years insisted that the country faces no significant military threat in the Arctic.

Yet, a series of briefing documents released to The Canadian Press under access to information legislation show the counter-intelligence team was ordered — both “prior to and during” the exercise — to “detect, identify and mitigate the threats of espionage, terrorism, sabotage and subversion” against the military, its personnel, equipment and infrastructure.

The group was told to focus on “direct threats” within the “immediate area of operations,” which would involve both a few hundred regular and reserve force soldiers camped on the tundra and a handful warships supporting them in empty inlets.