by Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa Bureau Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: June 6, 2009 OTTAWA – The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has ordered an "exhaustive review" of all five of its security certificate cases after a Federal Court judge slammed the spy agency for withholding lie detector results that cast doubt on a source key to the effort to deport Mohamed Harkat. In a scramble to restore its credibility in the face of a tougher line coming from the Federal Court, CSIS advised in a letter the mistake in Harkat's case was "inexcusable." The agency says it is taking several steps to allay any doubts about the "integrity" of its evidence or employees. "The service is resolute in its determination to restore judicial confidence in (the agency's) integrity and credibility," lawyer Michael Duffy, senior general counsel for CSIS, wrote in a letter addressed to Chief Justice Allan Lutfy of the Federal Court. CSIS says "the incident ... is a matter of profound concern to the service," especially given its obligation to present the court with a "frank view of the human source." The federal government alleges Harkat and four other Muslim men are threats to national security, and is using extraordinary immigration warrants that permit secret evidence to be used against them in deportation proceedings. In the case of Harkat, an Ottawa pizza delivery man who was arrested in 2002, CSIS now admits it should have disclosed negative polygraph test results from 2002 and 2008 about a male source whose "loyalty to the service" was considered suspect. It acknowledged the omission in the Harkat case raises questions about whether the same has happened in the cases of the other four men subject to similar secret proceedings – Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Mahjoub, Hassan Almrei, or Adil Charkaoui.


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