Canada ponders 'top secret' data cloud as allies push ahead with intelligence-sharing plans

Australia is joining the United States and the United Kingdom in developing top-secret cloud networks to exchange highly classified defence, national security and intelligence data with each other — a concept Canada has just begun to think about.

Experts say that, unless the gap is closed quickly, Canada's lack of such digital infrastructure will have a profound impact on new military hardware the federal government has committed to purchasing, such as F-35 stealth fighters, MQ-9 Reaper drones and long-range P-8 surveillance planes.

The gap is also putting Canada at a disadvantage in negotiations to become part of the high-tech portion of AUKUS, the trilateral defence and technology partnership involving the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The AUKUS nations are also part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — New Zealand and Canada are the remaining partners. So three out of five countries in Canada's most important intelligence alliance are now exchanging highly classified information in secure cloud-based systems to which Canada has no access.

While Defence Minister Bill Blair acknowledged the government «has some work to do» on the problem, he insisted it's being taken seriously and said it's vital for Canada to continue holding and protecting its most sensitive data.

«I want autonomy. I want control over our data,» Blair told CBC News in a recent interview.

«I don't want Canada's most sensitive data stored in another country. I want Canada to be able to control its own data and to know with confidence that it's secure.»

Right now, Blair said, Canada's secret data is stored on physical servers in this country. To get a secure cloud network of its own, Canada would have to hire a major foreign tech company