Rob Mendoza – VISS24
Senior Advisor, Department of National Defence
Rob Mendoza is completing his Master’s in War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada while serving in Canada’s Security & Intelligence Community, where he has held roles over the past 16 years. His career highlights include positions as member of a Special Advisory group to the Chief of Defence Staff and to the Deputy Minister of National Defence; Chief of Staff to the Deputy Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard; Deputy Director at the Department of National Defence; Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Coast Guard’s Director General of National Strategies; Intelligence Policy Advisor at Public Safety Canada; Legal Officer at the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Canada; and a former Federal Investigator.
In 2018, Rob was appointed as Co-Chair of the Canadian Association of Professional Intelligence Analysts (CAPIA), an organization within the Government of Canada supporting intelligence analysis standards and professional development across 34 agencies. Rob still occupies this position on an interim basis where he coordinates monthly intelligence community meetings, professional development sessions and conferences based out of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Rob leads efforts to bring together practitioners from Canada’s intelligence community with academia, to foster and improve dialogue on critical national security issues. He is currently authoring a comprehensive textbook on Canadian national security and he will be piloting an introductory national security course in 2025, at the Canadian Academy of Intelligence Analysis, based out of the Privy Council Office of Canada.
Some of Rob’s most memorable career milestones have consisted of leading negotiations with U.S. counterparts at the CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS on improving border security between Canada and the United States; co-authoring Canada’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy released in 2012, was a part of the team that wrote Bill-C51 Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act in 2015, authoring and receiving approval from the Prime Minister and Cabinet on a comprehensive proposal for a $2.5 billion dollar investment in Canada’s marine security sector, was the lead negotiator on behalf of the Department of National Defence with the National Security Committee of Parliamentarians as well as the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency when they were first established. In 2019, Rob led the establishment of the Defence Intelligence Oversight Board after he was asked by the Chief of Defence Staff to create the highest authoritative body, to approve the most sensitive and highly classified Defence Intelligence Activities undertaken by the Canadian Armed Forces.
Rob Mendoza is completing his Master’s in War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada while serving in Canada’s Security & Intelligence Community, where he has held roles over the past 16 years. His career highlights include positions as member of a Special Advisory group to the Chief of Defence Staff and to the Deputy Minister of National Defence; Chief of Staff to the Deputy Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard; Deputy Director at the Department of National Defence; Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Coast Guard’s Director General of National Strategies; Intelligence Policy Advisor at Public Safety Canada; Legal Officer at the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Canada; and a former Federal Investigator.
In 2018, Rob was appointed as Co-Chair of the Canadian Association of Professional Intelligence Analysts (CAPIA), an organization within the Government of Canada supporting intelligence analysis standards and professional development across 34 agencies. Rob still occupies this position on an interim basis where he coordinates monthly intelligence community meetings, professional development sessions and conferences based out of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Rob leads efforts to bring together practitioners from Canada’s intelligence community with academia, to foster and improve dialogue on critical national security issues. He is currently authoring a comprehensive textbook on Canadian national security and he will be piloting an introductory national security course in 2025, at the Canadian Academy of Intelligence Analysis, based out of the Privy Council Office of Canada.
Some of Rob’s most memorable career milestones have consisted of leading negotiations with U.S. counterparts at the CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS on improving border security between Canada and the United States; co-authoring Canada’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy released in 2012, was a part of the team that wrote Bill-C51 Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act in 2015, authoring and receiving approval from the Prime Minister and Cabinet on a comprehensive proposal for a $2.5 billion dollar investment in Canada’s marine security sector, was the lead negotiator on behalf of the Department of National Defence with the National Security Committee of Parliamentarians as well as the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency when they were first established. In 2019, Rob led the establishment of the Defence Intelligence Oversight Board after he was asked by the Chief of Defence Staff to create the highest authoritative body, to approve the most sensitive and highly classified Defence Intelligence Activities undertaken by the Canadian Armed Forces.
