‘Golden boy’: Espionage suspect Cameron Ortis was a polarizing figure as he climbed RCMP ranks

As Cameron Ortis climbed the ranks of the RCMP, there was no disputing the depth of his intelligence or his ability to get to the nub of complex matters.

An American source familiar with that investigation confirmed to the Post that a search of one of Ramos’s electronic devices revealed that an RCMP employee had tried to sell information to Ramos. “You need to look at the security clearance process and the maintenance of security clearances… Are there things around that that was a gap?”The Post spoke to more than half-a-dozen people who had occupied senior positions within the force to get a fuller portrait of Ortis’s rise within the RCMP. Most agreed to speak on the condition they not be identified by name because of the unfolding court case and sensitive nature of the allegations.

“I was in charge of the strategic side. Based on his skills, we thought he’d be a match for the operational side.” Sources, however, say that Ortis, who liked to wear expensive clothes and eat out a lot, seemed to have money issues — selling a used car, for example, to help pay down debt. This was a particularly fraught time for the RCMP’s national security teams. They were in the midst of prosecuting members of the “Toronto 18” terror group that had plotted to launch a series of attacks across southern Ontario. An inquiry a couple of years earlier had concluded that faulty intelligence information supplied by the RCMP to the United States led to the deportation of Canadian Maher Arar to Syria, where he was tortured. The RCMP introduced new safeguards to prevent future incidents.

“There can be a perception that they’re trying to wall themselves off as some kind of an elite . But it is about maintaining operational security and the integrity of the information,” he said. But the promotion wasn’t a complete surprise either. Over the years, when Paulson was director-general and assistant commissioner in the national security branch, Ortis and Paulson had been seen in each other’s company — on smoke breaks, working out and drinking in the RCMP “mess” hall.

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