Kurt F. Jensen argues that Canada was a more active intelligence partner in the Second World War alliance than has previously been suggested. He describes Canada’s contributions to Allied intelligence before the war began, as well as the distinctly Canadian activities that started from that point. He reveals how the government created an intelligence organization during the war to aid Allied resources. This is a convincing portrait of a nation with an active role in Second World War intelligence gathering, one that continues to influence the architecture of its current capabilities.
Kurt F. Jensen is a former Canadian diplomat whose assignments included work with foreign intelligence. He also teaches political science at Carleton University.
Jensen’s work will prove to be a significant historiographical foundation on which future scholars will undoubtedly build their own studies of intelligence in the later Cold War and post-9/11 periods.
Kurt Jensen’s well-researched Cautious Beginnings: Canadian Foreign Intelligence 1939-51 sets out the historical case for Canada’s decision in 1951 to not create its own clandestine foreign intelligence service.