Three Liberal cabinet ministers say they do not believe the abrupt resignation of Tony Clement from a key intelligence-oversight committee has put national security at risk.

Clement had served on the secretive National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), which oversees the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, since its creation in 2017.

He abruptly resigned from the committee, and as the Conservative Party of Canada’s shadow justice minister, on Tuesday evening. He said he fell victim to an extortion attempt after sending explicit photos of himself to a “consenting woman.” He was removed from the Conservative caucus Wednesday afternoon. Lisa Raitt has assumed the post of shadow justice minister in his stead.

Earlier today, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he was not aware of any security breach, and confirmed the matter was being investigated by the RCMP. “Certainly, there is nothing to my knowledge that would suggest that. Obviously, the RCMP are investigating.”

Goodale insisted the committee had not been undermined by Clement’s actions.

“What these incidents demonstrate is that we have to be very careful about all of the work of the committee, about the integrity of the committee, about the standards that go into the review process in advance and, indeed, on the part of political leaders who may be nominating people for these roles,” the public safety minister said.

Andrew Leslie, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, agreed. In response to reporters asking him on his way out of a Liberal caucus meeting if national security was at risk in light of Clement’s revelations, he answered “no.”

Meanwhile, Bill Blair, the minister for organized crime and border security, told journalists after caucus he had faith in the RCMP’s investigation.

“I have great confidence in the law-enforcement agencies who have been tasked with looking into this,” he said.

Despite reassurances by Liberal cabinet ministers, at least one Canadian security expert is concerned.

“Maybe a side issue, but this is extremely unfortunate for NSICOP,” said Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor at Carleton University and former national security analyst, on Twitter. “It’s the kind of thing security agencies REALLY worry about in terms of blackmail material.”

“Can I also just note that NSICOP is in its formative year. Like Year One,” she continued. “They are in trust-building mode with a skeptical national security community that is wary. Having an MP on the committee that engages in black-mailable behaviour is NOT OKAY.”

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer told reporters Wednesday that Clement had been booted from caucus — just hours after he’d said Clement would remain within the party fold. Clement has been nominated in his riding for the 2019 federal election.

Scheer said his decision to remove Clement from caucus was because of reports on social media of other allegations. Earlier Wednesday, he refused to “speculate” about whether Clement had been explicitly targeted because of his ties to the national security committee.

Clement said in a statement Tuesday night he had sent sexually explicit photos of himself to what he thought was a “consenting woman” online. Instead, the “recipient was, in fact, an individual or party who targeted me for the purpose of financial extortion,” Clement said.

The alleged extortionist reportedly demanded 50,000 euros ($75,000) or the material would be released to the public.

“The RCMP are currently investigating the matter to determine the identity of the party responsible for the extortion attempt,” the Clement said.

The NSICOP, which is not a committee of the House of Commons or the Senate, is comprised of MPs and senators from all three major political parties. The committee oversees the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

MPs who sit on the committee agree to waive their right to parliamentary privilege and are subjected to a strict vetting process. The committee is chaired by Liberal MP David McGuinty.

Clement’s resignation means there is only one Conservative Party member sitting on the 11-person committee: Sen. Vernon White. Conservative MP Gord Brown had sat on the committee until his death in May 2018.

Other members of the committee include: Sen. Percy Downe, Sen. Frances Lankin, MP Emmanuel Dubourg, MP Hedy Fry, MP Gudie Hutchings, MP Murray Rankin, and MP Brenda Shanahan.