Senior Canadian military officer removed from post over alleged security leak

Canada's second-highest-ranked military commander was removed from his post over allegations that technical information related to the country's multibillion-dollar shipbuilding program may have been leaked, local media reported Tuesday.

Vice Chief of the Defense Staff Mark Norman, who was removed from his post Monday, was involved in the alleged leak of classified information on the building of new warships for the Royal Canadian Navy, The Globe and Mail newspaper quoted a source as saying.

The leaked information included technical evaluations of shipbuilding proposals and the allegations involved the period of time when Norman was in charge of the navy from 2013 until he was promoted to the current position in August 2016, the report said.

The source could not say how or why information might have been leaked.

Norman, 53, was responsible for security within the military. Chief of Defense Staff Jonathan Vance, who heads the Canadian armed forces, gave no explanation for Norman's removal.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that he backed the removal of Norman, but declined to elaborate on why it was necessary.

Canada's 30 billion-Canadian dollar (23 billion-U.S. dollar) national shipbuilding program is supposed to oversee the building of new fleets for the Navy and the Coast Guard. But projects have fallen behind, and some are now over budget, according to the media. Endi