Harper fills vacant slots on national security team following Fantino ouster

OTTAWA – One day after dumping Julian Fantino as his veterans affairs minister, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has moved to beef up his national security team.

Deputy defence minister Richard Fadden, the former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, has been named Harper’s top national security adviser. Veteran civil servant David McGovern becomes Fadden’s deputy.

The positions carry an enormous amount of power in light of the ongoing military and anti-terror campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and rising tension with Russia in eastern Europe.

The top security post has been vacant since the departure of Stephen Rigby, who left to become head of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

Harper did not name a replacement for Fadden at National Defence, but did shuffle other deputy ministers, including those at Health, Public Works, and Environment.

Michelle d’Auray, who helped implement the new defence acquisition strategy at Public Works, was appointed Tuesday as Canada’s ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.