Weighing the Options: Case Studies in Naval Interoperability and Canadian Sovereignty

CIAO DATE: 5/04

Richard L. Williams

June 2003

Abstract

In the wake of the American-led campaign in Iraq, old questions about Canada's military relationship with the United States have taken on a new relevance, or to be more accurate, a new visibility. These questions never really lost their relevance; they were only temporarily masked by the hopes for a post-Cold War 'peace dividend' and the myth regarding "the end of history." Now, as security questions once again dominate foreign policy debates in North America, there is a renewed focus on the age-old dilemma of Canada-U.S. defence relations: how to satisfy American security concerns while retaining an independent voice in world affairs. From the first days of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, Canadians have worried that military cooperation would inevitably mean sacrificing Canadian sovereignty. Recent events, particularly the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 and the ensuing reorganization of the American defence establishment, have drawn attention to a new entry in the North American security lexicon: interoperability. Largely because of its ambiguous meaning and ill-defined connection to larger questions of military integration and defence policy, the Canadian Force's pursuit of interoperability with the U.S. Armed Forces has come under fire as yet another threat to the touchstone of Canadian sovereignty. The combination of sovereignty, ever an emotional topic in this country, and the largely misunderstood and misrepresented concept of interoperability, has given a great deal of this criticism a distinctly ideological tone.

The purpose of this monograph is to inductively address some of the more prevalent assertions put forth by critics by attempting to explicitly define the concepts of interoperability, sovereignty, and the connection between the two in the context of Canada-U.S. defence relations to determine whether critics' claims about interoperability representing a threat to Canadian sovereignty possesses any merit. These definitions, and the hypothetical effects of interoperability upon sovereignty, will then be tested against a series of two specific case studies in Canada-U.S. (CANUS) naval cooperation. This empirical approach should serve to separate some of the ideology and nationalistic sentiments from the real questions at hand.

Table of Contents

Introduction (PDF format, 4 pages, 129.1 KB)

Chapter 4 — Conclusions (PDF format, 11 pages, 212.9 KB)