Richard Fadden, Stephen Harper's top national security adviser, is retiring

Former prime minister Stephen Harper's top national security adviser is retiring from the public service after 39 years in some of the bureaucracy's most secretivetop jobs.

Harper tapped Richard Fadden for the role in the wake of theOct. 22 attack on Parliament Hill,a timeof mounting extremistthreat levels.

He was subsequently kept in that position for the first few months of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.

"On behalf of all Canadians, I wish Dick the very best in retirement and thank him for his distinguished record of service to his country," Trudeau said Thursday in a written statement.

• RichardFaddennamed national security adviser to Stephen Harper
• Some politicians under foreign sway:CSISdirector says
• Richard Fadden'scomments anger Chinese community

A noted expert on intelligence and national security said that this sort of personnel shufflingis to be expected with the arrival of a new prime minister.

"I don't think anybody is suggesting that Fadden was pushed out or anything like that," WesleyWark, a professor at the University of Ottawa,said in an interview.

A prime minister's relationship with a national security adviser is deeply personal, Wark added, noting that a similar disposition ishelpful when dealing jointlywith pressing threats to the homeland.

"There always has to be a chemistry there.The Trudeau governmenthastaken its time in deciding who they might want. They're still feeling theirway in many respects in regards to national security policy, so I think it made a lot of sense [for Fadden to retire now]."

Comments on China caused controversy

Prior to joining Harper'sinner circle,Faddenwas thedirector of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2013.

Faddencourtedcontroversyin that role when he told CBC Newsin 2010that some provincialpoliticians had "developed quite an attachment to foreign countries."

"There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government,"Faddensaid at the time.

He had previously named China as an aggressive recruiter in Canada.

The comments angered the Chinese community, whichfelt it had been unfairlysingled out byFadden'sremarks, andprompted calls for Fadden's resignation.

CSIS head called to resign

14 years ago

Duration 1:38

A committee of MPs is calling on CSIS head Richard Fadden to resign in light of comments he made last year on The National

But his position was supported by some in the intelligence community, who saidChina has been trying to undulyinfluence government decisions.

"There is direct evidence that there is much more than just lobbying. There is evidence thatCSIShas collected that B.C. officials had been compromised, sometimes with their knowledge,occasionally without their knowledge,"Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former head of Asia Pacific Affairs forCSIS, said at the time.

Warksaidthat these efforts to bringCSIS"out into the public domain and explain some of its concerns" would mar his legacy.

"I think it proved the case that for all the wealth of experience he had, and all the good judgment I'm sure, he was not very adept at being a good public communicator aboutCSISoperations and issues."

National security experienceunparalleled

Harper respected Faddenbecause he was often "completely unfazed by anything," Warksaid, and he was respected for his diplomatic skills in dealing with the country's allies.

Fadden,unlike many other public servants of his vintage, was uniquely qualified to head up the national security branches of government.

He started his career in government in 1977during the Cold War, working in intelligence, andhe was deeply involved in Canada's response to the Sept. 11 attacks in his role as the deputy clerk of the Privy Council Office, the branch of government that directly serves the prime minister.

"It's really a career marked by the amount of time and positions of authority thathe held in the intelligence and security community," Wark said."I think that's important, because in a Canadian context there has often not been a lot of deep knowledge in the senior ranks of the civil service with critical national security issues."

"Fadden stood out," Wark said, because of his longevity working in that field, which was not seen as "the most high-flying approach if you were super ambitious."