Margaret Purdy
University of British Columbia, Canada

Margaret Purdy is one of Canada’s most knowledgeable and experienced national security experts. Currently, she is a Resident Scholar with the Centre of International Relations at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. During her 28 years with the federal public service, she undertook a wide range of policy, operational and senior management assignments in Canada’s security and intelligence community. Most of her work had a counter-terrorism focus, but she also provided leadership on cyber security, emergency management, transportation security, critical infrastructure protection and protective policing.

Margaret started her career as a print journalist in Nova Scotia and Ottawa. She moved into public service in 1975 and initially spent about a dozen years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where she worked as a criminal intelligence analyst on several significant international terrorism investigations. Another highlight of her public service career came in 1994 with her appointment as Director General of Counter Terrorism with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Margaret’s first Deputy Minister-level appointment was as the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet responsible for Security and Intelligence in the Privy Council Office. Later, she served as Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence and as Special Advisor on Security with Transport Canada.

A native of Nova Scotia, Margaret has academic credentials in journalism (Carleton), education (Dalhousie) and national security (National Defence College). In 2003-2004, she spent an academic sabbatical at the University of British Columbia, where she conducted research and lectured on a variety of national security issues. Margaret has published articles on such topics as the root causes of terrorism and the evolution of Canada’s counter-terrorism policy, and she has given dozens of presentations and lectures in North America, Europe and Asia.

In January 2007, Margaret was appointed interim Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the Crown corporation responsible for aviation security screening in Canada. She is also serving a two-year term as Vice President of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies.

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