{"id":345875,"date":"2025-12-15T02:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T02:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/345875\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T02:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T02:36:09","slug":"canadian-forces-member-accused-of-espionage-was-in-long-dispute-with-military-over-disciplinary-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/345875\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Forces member accused of espionage was in long dispute with military over disciplinary action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canadian Armed Forces<\/a> member charged in early December with passing secrets to a foreign entity had been in a protracted dispute with the military leading up to his arrest \u2013 dating all the way back to October, 2024.<\/p>\n

Master Warrant Officer Matthew Shawn Robar, who worked in the Forces\u2019 intelligence-gathering unit, had also been arrested previously this year. In October, he was taken into custody for 24 hours and then released without charges but subject to certain conditions.<\/p>\n

The following day, MWO Robar was told in general terms about the types of offences he was suspected of committing, including breach of trust, disobeying a lawful command and improper firearms storage, according to Rory Fowler, one of his lawyers.<\/p>\n

But search warrants executed on his house in connection with the arrest listed a different set of alleged offences, including the espionage charges ultimately laid in December, according to Mr. Fowler.<\/p>\n

In the months prior, MWO Robar had filed a formal grievance after receiving what the military calls a \u201crecorded warning\u201d for conduct it deemed not to have lived up to standards.<\/p>\n

After his Dec. 10 arrest, the Forces intelligence operator was placed in custody at the military police detachment in Petawawa, Ont. He has been waiting to appear before a military judge, who will decide whether he remains in jail or is released with conditions.<\/p>\n

Canadian Forces member charged in foreign interference probe<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in October, 2024, MWO Robar learned he was the subject of a disciplinary investigation. At the time, he was placed on administrative duties and informed that he was suspected of alleged insubordination or disobedience of a lawful command, contrary to the National Defence Act, according to Mr. Fowler.<\/p>\n

In April, 2025, MWO Robar was informed he would be issued a \u201crecorded warning\u201d for deficient conduct. In May, he was told his security clearance was suspended, Mr. Fowler added.<\/p>\n

Mr. Fowler said his client was kept in the dark about the specific allegations related to the disciplinary investigation. A superior officer told MWO Robar, \u201cI think you know what we\u2019re talking about,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n

The military told the Forces member this recorded warning on his record stemmed from activities that constituted a \u201cconduct deficiency\u201d between May 11 and 20, 2024, and Sept. 9 and 21, 2024.<\/p>\n

In July, 2025, MWO Robar filed his grievance against the recorded warning. He said the military had improperly used administrative action to deal with his case instead of the Forces\u2019 Code of Service Discipline process, which he said then impaired his ability to fend off the allegations levelled against him.<\/p>\n

In the five months after MWO Robar filed this grievance, the matter escalated into the charges filed against him this month.<\/p>\n

CAF member charged with leaking secrets is an intelligence operator who advised military leadership<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Fowler would not speculate on whether the military had elevated the case because his client formally grieved his treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cA reasonable and objective person approaching this from the outside, looking at just the information that\u2019s publicly available, I think could reasonably and objectively conclude that the timing is highly suspect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy was this initially dealt with as a recorded warning in an administrative process? So either they failed to grasp the significance of it back in October of 2024, or they\u2019re exaggerating the significance now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of National Defence did not immediately offer comment.<\/p>\n

MWO Robar, who is in his 40s, has served in the military for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

The tip that led to him being charged with leaking information came from a 2024 complaint within the Forces rather than from Canada\u2019s allies, the military said Friday.<\/p>\n

This is different from 2012, when another Canadian Forces intelligence staffer, Jeffrey Delisle, was charged with communicating secrets to a foreign entity. It later emerged that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had tipped off Canada about Mr. Delisle, who later pleaded guilty and was jailed.<\/p>\n

Colonel Eric Leblanc, deputy commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, on Friday declined to reveal which foreign country or foreign entity was allegedly involved in this case.<\/p>\n

None of the accusations have been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Among the charges MWO Robar faces are \u201ccommunicating special operational information\u201d and \u201cbreach of trust in respect of safeguarded information\u201d under the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act, the military and RCMP said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n

The first charge is under Section 17 (1) of the act, which deals with communicating \u201cspecial operational information to a foreign entity or to a terrorist group.\u201d The act says everyone who commits an offence under this subsection is \u201cguilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arrest and charges stem from a joint operation between the Canadian Forces Military Police and the RCMP that the two organizations described Thursday as a probe into \u201cforeign interference and security of information.\u201d<\/p>\n

This case emerges at a time of heightened concerns about foreign interference from Russia, China, Iran and India, among other countries. The accusations could invite scrutiny of how effectively Canada safeguards not only its own military secrets, but those of allies shared with Canada through the Five Eyes network, which includes the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. <\/p>\n

Jody Thomas, a former deputy minister of national defence who later served as national security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister, has said Canada is likely calling allies now to inform them of the extent of the breach, and of the damage assessment and efforts to mitigate any damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canadian Armed Forces member charged in early December with passing secrets to a foreign entity had been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-345875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}