Canada was under 'pressure' from allies to stop sales of encrypted phones, Ortis trial hears

Canada's Five Eyes allies were disappointed that Canadian police were unable to stop companies from selling encrypted phones to criminals, an RCMP witness told the trial of a former intelligence official charged with breaching Canada's secrets law earlier this week.

Retired RCMP staff sergeant Guy Belley testified over two days this week about "Project Saturation," an RCMP investigation launched in response to concerns among Canada's intelligence allies about Canadian companies selling encrypted communications devices to transnational organized crime operations.

The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance made up of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Belley's testimony came as the Crown continued to present its case against Cameron Ortis, a former RCMP intelligence director accused of leaking sensitive information to police targets.

According to the agreed statement of facts in Ortis's case, Project Saturation was meant to provide an intelligence assessment of Canadian companies and individuals linked to sales of encrypted phones, including the British Columbia-based firm Phantom Secure and its CEO Vincent Ramos.

RCMP reports entered into evidence show the RCMP created a profile of Phantom Secure in 2014. Belley said after Project Saturation reported on the overall "infrastructure" of companies linked to encrypted phone sales in Canada, it "went silent" and eventually "lost [its] energy."

"It was well known, obviously, that our Five Eyes partners and maybe other partners were very disappointed that Canada was not able to make more progress in Project Saturation," said Mark Ertel, one of Ortis's lawyers, during his questioning of Belley.

"I think it's a fair assessment," Belley replied.

Project Nightspot

With Belley on the stand, Ertel suggested that a new project was created in Project Saturation's wake. Project Nightspot was run out of the RCMP's National Intelligence Coordination Centre and the goal was to disrupt Phantom Secure, he said. 

"Really the genesis or the starting point for the new Project Nightspot was this disappointment that these other countries were expressing and this became a big priority in the Five Eyes," Ertel said.

Belley said it was that "international pressure" that brought the issue "back from the dead."

When Ertel asked if Ortis had created Project Nightspot, Belley said he didn't know. 

Ortis's lawyers have not made their full case to the jury but have indicated they will argue in court he had authority to take the actions he did.

Ortis was the director of operations research within RCMP National Security starting in 2013. He was later promoted to director general of the National Intelligence Coordination Centre in 2016.

A detailed job description for Ortis's position as the director of the national police force's operations research group in 2013 was entered as an exhibit in his trial. The unit was tasked with assembling and developing classified information on terror cells, transnational criminal networks, cybercrime actors and commercial espionage.

Trial resumes Wednesday 

The Crown has said it was the FBI's eventual arrest of Ramos that tipped off the Mounties that someone from within their organization had been leaking information.

Ortis, 51, is accused of three counts of sharing special operational information "intentionally and without authority" and one count of attempting to share special operational information. He also faces two Criminal Code charges: breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer.

Ortis has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.

The trial will resume on Wednesday.