The mystery of who at the Defence Department has been vandalizing information on a Wikipedia website critical of the Conservative government’s decision to spend billions on a new stealth jet is now centred on the busiest fighter base in the country.
Defence Department information technology specialists haven’t yet been able to determine where the computers being used to alter the Wikipedia site are located, according to department officials in Ottawa.
But using a readily available search engine on the Internet, the Citizen has tracked the locations of the three computers to CFB Cold Lake, Alta. The base is expected to be a major centre for the Joint Strike Fighter (or JSF) the Harper government wants to buy.
Nine attempts were made July 20 and 21 to alter the online encyclopedia’s entry on the Joint Strike Fighter, including the removal of any information critical of the Conservative government’s plan to spend at least $16 billion on the new fighter aircraft.
Defence Department computers were also used to insert insults, aimed at Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, into the Wikipedia Joint Strike Fighter page. Ignatieff has questioned the proposed purchase.
Quotes from news articles outlining opposition to the arms deal by University of British Columbia professor Michael Byers, a former NDP candidate, were also removed.
Wikipedia recorded the alterations as having come from three computers registered to Defence Research and Development Canada’s Ottawa offices and has labelled the alterations as vandalism.
Defence Research and Development Canada spokesman Martin Champoux confirmed the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for computers used to access the Wikipedia site were registered to DRDC. But he added that other Defence Department computers are associated with those addresses as well.
Software that provides the locations of particular computers based on their IP addresses showed that the three computers in question are at CFB Cold Lake.
The attempts to change the web page, made during government work hours, stopped when Wikipedia administrators temporarily locked down the entry on the new plane. That allowed only recognized editors to work on the page. That particular Wikipedia site is popular, with more than 78,000 page views in the first three weeks of July.
On Friday night, a Defence Department spokeswoman said DND is still investigating the incident and, at this point, does not have any further details.
A DRDC spokeswoman said Friday that the organization does not have staff or computers at Cold Lake.
Meanwhile, after the Wikipedia JSF site was re-opened for editing by the wider public, new attempts were made to remove information critical of the Harper government’s decision on the fighters. Those are linked to a downtown Calgary location.
The Harper government wants to purchase 65 Joint Strike Fighters. But opposition members of Parliament point out that the military just months ago received the last of its modernized CF-18 fighters, which are supposed to keep flying until at least 2017. They question why the Harper government is rushing now to spend billions on new fighters.
The Bloc Québécois, NDP and Liberals have all voiced their concerns, noting that there was no competition for the most expensive military procurement in Canadian history.
Ignatieff has said a Liberal government would review the deal, for which a contract has yet to be signed.
On Friday, the Conservatives circulated talking points criticizing Ignatieff for his stance on the JSF.
Cold Lake expects to receive some of the new fighters, also known as the F-35.
“Alberta and Cold Lake will certainly figure prominently in the life of the F-35,” Edmonton Centre MP Laurie Hawn said shortly after Defence Minister Peter MacKay made the announcement about the proposed fighter deal.
“When we get the new fighters delivered in 2016, the first ones will probably end up going to Cold Lake, as happened with the CF-18 program. We’ll wind up with airplanes at Cold Lake — probably a couple of squadrons. All that is to be determined.”
Hawn said the aircraft will operate in the Arctic and intercept Russian airplanes.
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