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But take a look at these photos below.

The photos above were “officially” released by Canada’s special forces command through the approval process that Sajjan talks about and were vetted for security. In these photos, released last year, all the faces of the members from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) have been blurred out….by the Canadian Forces. That was done to protect them and their families. In other photos the soldiers were positioned so their faces could not be seen or they were shown from a distance.

Contrast that to this type of photo (see below) taken by CTV of CSOR members in Iraq and approved by the Canadian Forces for release (questions are also being raised about whether the Canadian Forces had approval over what CTV and the Toronto Star reported/wrote on….and what was censored out of those media reports but that is another matter for another posting).

The Islamic State is still highly dangerous and has vowed to strike at targets in Canada. So as some Defence Watch readers have questioned…..why the change in operational security requirements now?

Sajjan didn’t explain.

There are a couple of potential reasons.

Some Defence Watch readers insist that much of the secrecy surrounding Canadian special forces is unnecessary, with one writing “SOF secrecy is primarily a function of hiding costs and lack of action. It is not “operational” in the sense of hiding future operations or unique techniques or tactics. It’s designed to allow the GOC to say “SOF are there” and refuse to answer questions.”

Others have argued that the threat from ISIL to military personnel in Canada has been overstated by the Canadian Forces and government and such changes in special forces OPSEC can be made without problems.

Military sources, however, have said that operational security was put aside for public relations value. The Liberal government is keen on showing that Canada is indeed contributing to the Iraq mission, even though the Trudeau government pulled the CF-18s out of the coalition bombing campaign. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Vance was happy to accommodate the Liberals.