The Canadian American Strategic Review was an influential Canadian think-tank that comments on Canadian Defence and sovereignty issues.[1][2][3]
The think-tank operated, for many years, from the campus of Simon Fraser University.[4]
In 2007 the Canwest News Services cited one of the think-tank's papers on the option of employing Canadian Forces smaller CH-146 Griffon helicopters to Afghanistan.[4]
In 2008 the US Naval War College's International Law Studies cited one of the think-tank's papers on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 2005 change in Defence policy.[5]
In 2009 Peter Worthington cited one of the review's papers that statistically analyzed the safety of the vehicles the Canadian Forces used in Afghanistan.[6]
In 2016, Steven Chase repeatedly quoted the Review's Stephen Priestley when The Globe and Mail reported on how Saudi Arabia used Canadian made light armored vehicles in ways that violated their export license.[7][8][9] The reporting raised questions about a new Saudi order for an additional $15 billion order. Nominally the vehicles were purchased for Saudi Arabia's National Guard, but news footage showed them being used by the Saudi army's expeditionary force, against rebel forces in Yemen, a violation of the export license.
The group's website was officially closed down on 31 December 2016.[3]
In her bibliography of Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America, Shelagh D. Grant described the think tank as one of two sources of "particular significance".[1]
Two other sources of particular significance are the Canadian Library of Parliament, which provides updated reports on the status and chronology of events for Arctic sovereignty, and the Canadian American Strategic Review (CASR), which offers detailed descriptions of current military status and procurements of the circumpolar countries.
The Canadian American Strategic Review site recently laid out the pros and cons. Here is what they write (with the link to their site below):
After fifteen years in operation, it seems like a good time for CASR staff to take stock. The consensus was that it was now time to bow out and to move on to other projects.
The Canadian American Strategic Review, a defence-oriented Internet site operated out of Simon Fraser University, points out that until July 2006 the U.S. Marines flew convoy escort duties from Kandahar airfield in Huey helicopters. Those choppers are similar to the Griffons but less powerful, the site adds. It also questioned why the marines can operate such choppers when the Canadian Forces considers the local conditions in Kandahar too extreme for the Griffons.
The measures announced by Prime Minister Harper were those contained in the "Canada First" defense plan of the Conservative Party during the 2005-2006 election campaign. For the details of the measure see Dianne DeMille & Stephen Priestley, Stephen Harper announces the new defence policy put forward by the Conservative Party of Canada...
Citing security reasons, DND won't reveal the casualty rate in Leopard II tanks in Afghanistan, or the casualty rate in vehicles. The Canadian American Strategic Review (CASR) has assessed incidents where casualties have occurred in roadside bombs, on the assumption if someone is wounded or killed in a blast, the vehicle is likely irreparably damaged.
Stephen Priestley, a researcher with the Canadian American Strategic Review, a think tank that tracks defence spending, also identified the LAVs as Canadian-made.
Stephen Priestley, a researcher with the Canadian American Strategic Review, a think tank that tracks defence spending, also identified the vehicles in all these instances as Gurkhas.
Stephen Priestley, a researcher with the Canadian American Strategic Review, a think tank that tracks defence spending, said he believes the armoured vehicles featured in the videos supplied by Shia activists are Al-Mansour machines made by a company called Saudi Groups.
