A special ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Canadian Forces Base Kingston on Friday with a large number of the Canadian Forces Intelligence community on hand.

“This is a huge day for us and we’re super proud of Joint Task Force X (JTF X) and very happy that they have this new home,” Rear-Admiral Scott Bishop, commander Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, said. “As we continue to see the importance and impact of credible intelligence in military operations, it’s essential to equip our personnel with the tools they need to do their jobs.”

When it comes to gathering intelligence for the Canadian Armed Forces operations, that’s where JTF X steps in as Canada’s modern-day human intelligence unit, with its men and women who gather the human intelligence used in keeping our troops and operations safe.

The federal government invested $51.9 million into this infrastructure project.

“Investing in defence intelligence is a key component of Canada’s defence policy, strong, secure, engaged,” Harjit S. Sajjan, defence minister, said in a release. “This new facility will help our intelligence professionals carry out their vital work for years to come.”

Mark Gerretsen, MP for Kingston and the Islands, was in attendance on behalf of the defence minister.

“This is just one of those examples of making sure that our military personnel have the tools that they need in order to do the jobs that we’re asking them to do,” Gerretsen said. “It’s an important investment and is required, especially in today’s world where the threats are continuing to change and evolve. ”

The new facility for JTF X at CFB Kingston was also officially named after Sir William Samuel Stephenson.

“The building will also honour the memory of Sir William Stephenson, a distinguished Canadian war hero,” Sajjan said.

“Human intelligence is really basic,” Rear-Admiral Bishop explained. “It’s about talking to people and finding out what they know about the environment that we’re operating in. It sounds very simple but the information that people give us is very important to our ability to do our operations. It helps our commanders in the field understand the environment better and helps them make better decisions. Having a better understanding of what we call the human geography around you is super important to that ability to keep our people safe.”

It’s taken more than 10 years to see the state-of-the-art building design and construction come together.

“Kingston is a great city for intelligence,” Bishop, said. “Within the Canadian Armed Forces, we call Kingston the home station for intelligence. It’s has a long history of producing intelligence professionals for the Canadian Forces. Our school of military intelligence is located right here in Kingston. This is the hub for our intelligence community.”

The facility offers a number of specialized spaces including:

• A small arms training room with uses a weapons simulator system that “allows unit members to practice and confirm weapons drills, immediate actions, and marksmanship principles under photorealistic simulation conditions with untethered Bluetooth connected weapons.” The weapons simulator system also allows for instant feedback and can provide analytics to show unit progress over an extended period of time.

• Adaptable close quarter battle range.

• Vehicle maintenance.

• Classrooms.

“It’s also going to help us recruit a lot of new people because it’s a world-class facility and people are really excited about the opportunity to work in this new building,” Rear-Admiral Bishop said.

jmckay@postmedia.com

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