Dr. Rob Huebert joins today's Expert Series podcast to discuss the implications of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement that Canada is exploring participation in the United States' “Golden Dome” defence initiative, unveiled by Donald Trump earlier this week. The Golden Dome, designed to intercept hypersonic, ballistic, and space-based threats, would mark a major expansion of American missile defence capabilities, echoing Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

Dr. Huebert explains the technical ambition and geopolitical motivation behind the Golden Dome, contrasting it with Israel’s Iron Dome, noting the far greater complexity required for continental-scale coverage. While Canada has historically abstained from joining U.S. missile defence programs, evolving threats posed by Russia and China mean that Canada's defence posture is under renewed scrutiny.

Huebert suggests that participation in the Golden Dome may now be strategically necessary, despite ongoing concerns about Trump’s remarks about Canadian sovereignty. Canada must exercise caution, but has to realize that it needs to protect itself from the other geopolitical threats, while managing its relationship with an increasingly unpredictable United States.

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What do recent changes in the United States’s strategic posture mean for the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance?

Over the past several months, allies within the Five Eyes have flagged an alarming level of polarization within the U.S. intelligence community. While the alliance has faced challenges before, new difficulties regarding intelligence-sharing dynamics, as well as domestic politics, and bilateral relationships between individual partners have raised concerns.

Today, we meet with Vincent Rigby, former national security advisor to the Prime Minister; Dan Stanton, former CSIS intelligence officer and current Director of the National Security Program at the University of Ottawa; and Artur Wilczynski, Senior Strategy Advisor at Samuel Associates, to discuss the challenges Canada faces amidst these shifts. Although the Five Eyes will likely remain the cornerstone of Canada’s contribution to global security through intelligence, Canada benefits from considering opportunities to diversify relations with new regional alliances and partnership blocs.

With a new government in Ottawa, policymakers must increase the capabilities of the Privy Council Office and other relevant areas of the national security apparatus, as well as transparency surrounding it to Canadians. Canada must prioritize its own strategic autonomy and national interests in an increasingly tumultuous international system.

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The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

Learn more: CDA Institute

Don’t miss an episode – subscribe to the CDA Institute newsletter today:
https://bit.ly/40ykggq

The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

Learn more: CDA Institute

How should Canada increase its engagement in the Indo-Pacific region?

The South China Sea has become a global flashpoint for economic and military tensions. Despite Canada itself being a Pacific nation, our regional engagement and relations with regional partners remain limited. Jonathan Berkshire Miller and Stephen Nagy joined the Expert Series to discuss the challenging context Canada now faces in developing its Indo-Pacific posture.

Of the challenges presented, Berkshire Miller focuses on the current geopolitical dynamics of the South China Sea. He outlines ways in which Canada has so far worked to uphold the rule of law within it through support for smaller regional powers. Nagy focuses on the implications of changing Canada-U.S. and U.S.-China relations for regional events, and the need for Canada to divest economically from the U.S. to preserve autonomy in its own engagement within the region.

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The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

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Faced with heated threats in the Arctic and American uncertainty in bilateral cooperation, Arctic sovereignty and security has emerged at the forefront of security concerns in the recent Canadian federal election.

We met with Dr. Andrea Charron and Dr. Whitney Lackenbauer to discuss Canada’s answer to the Arctic question. With the 51st narrative still looming high on Canada’s mind, NORAD cooperation— tasked with protecting the Canadian-American Arctic air space—now faces new threats and stipulations that require the collaboration of Arctic Council allies and definitive Arctic infrastructure development.

Investment in the Arctic’s infrastructure promises to benefit local communities and advance military development, but Lackenbauer and Charron emphasize that development must involve Indigenous communities in order to respect centuries of Arctic safety. As climate change exposes new pathways for adversaries to send surveillance technologies into newly passable terrain, Canada must look towards its Nordic allies to grow its potential for Arctic Security and diversity Canadian security.

Canada is facing a pressing security issue independently with the unique opportunity to prioritize security issues without the influence of American guarantees; how Canada chooses to move forward will govern its approach to security issues in the future.

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The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

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What is driving Canada's ongoing military recruitment and retention crisis, and how can the CAF address the challenges that are preventing it from meeting its personnel needs in an increasingly unstable global security environment?

In this Expert Series episode, Charlotte Duval-Lantoine outlines the underlying causes of the CAF’s personnel crisis: outdated recruitment processes and delayed security clearances for permanent residents, to poor housing, healthcare access, and dissatisfaction with career management are keeping personnel processing numbers low despite an uptick in public interest. Charlotte emphasizes that fixing the problem isn’t just about funding—it requires political will, cultural change, and personnel policies that reflect modern realities.

“Every time we have this conversation [on eligibility criteria], we tend to cling to an older idea of the military and say we're lowering standards. [In WWII,] the physical test was, can you run properly, do you have healthy teeth? Standards were very different. We need to ask ourselves: are we expecting a military strength that is like what we see in Hollywood movies?”

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The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

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In today’s episode of the Expert Series, moderator Benjamin Ofosu-Atuahene talks with Dr. David Black, Dr. Marie-Joelle Zahar, Dr. Yolande Bouka, and Dr. Andrew Grant about the highs and lows of Canada’s Africa Strategy.

Amidst talk of Canada diversifying its alliances, Canada’s Africa Strategy sets the scene for potential expansion of Canada’s relationships. An opportunity arises for Canada to do its part in creating global security; Africa, rich with natural resources, could lead to a more green and secure future.

Topics to note include Canada-Africa relations, regional specificity of security issues from the Sahar to South Africa, continued interest in Africa’s critical mineral wealth and the potential risks that could be posed to the continent by Canadian adversaries.

If Canada wants to make an impact in the region, they will have to invest in technological capacities and diplomatic relations guided by the African Union and relinquish a uniform approach of democratic growth.

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The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

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In today’s episode of the Expert Series, we meet with Egidijus Meilūnas, Ambassador of Lithuania to Canada. Through conversations regarding Lithuania’s current defence buildup, Ambassador Egidijus Meilunas highlights the ways in which Canada-Lithuania defence cooperation can transform the alliance’s north.

As Lithuania plans to increase its GDP spending on defence to nearly 5-6% by 2032, it is poised to serve as a model for other NATO allies. Particularly for other member states with direct borders with Russia, such as Canada and the rest of the Nordic-Baltic region, Lithuania demonstrates how focusing on deterrence is key to combatting rising hybrid threats.

With shared threats on their Arctic borders, Canada’s deeper integration with Nordic-Baltic European allies is no longer optional—it’s essential.

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The CDA Institute is a non-partisan think tank that conducts research and education programming on defence and security.

Learn more: CDA Institute