F.B.I. Temporarily Halted Cooperation With Canada Over References to 9/11
The abrupt move by Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, came as President Trump was ramping up his attacks on the country.
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The abrupt move by Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, came as President Trump was ramping up his attacks on the country.
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Sept. 18, 2026, 11:57 a.m. ET
Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, temporarily halted some cooperation with the agency’s counterpart in Canada this month after the nation’s public broadcaster reminded its journalists of a longstanding policy not to refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as “terrorism” without attribution to experts, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the event.
The extraordinary move to punish the Royal Canadian Mounted Police appears to have been short-lived, and it was specific to the F.B.I. Other parts of the U.S. government involved in intelligence-sharing continued with their operations. And not every element of cooperation between the F.B.I. and the mounted police was halted, according to the officials with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive law enforcement dynamics.
Still, the abrupt move by Mr. Patel risked disrupting F.B.I. operations with Canada and jeopardizing the organization’s relationship with Canada’s national law enforcement agency, which works closely with the bureau on a wide range of issues, including terrorism and cybersecurity cases.
It came as President Trump was ramping up pressure on Canada, hitting the longtime U.S. ally with punishing tariffs and taunting Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, whose policy on the use of the term “terrorism” drew Mr. Patel’s ire, is editorially independent from the Canadian government. The broadcaster swiftly reversed its stance on how to describe the Sept. 11 attacks once it drew attention late last month.
Nevertheless, F.B.I. officials canceled meetings with their Canadian counterparts during the halt in cooperation, saying they would be out of touch for some time, leading to a chilling between the two agencies, according to officials with knowledge of the fallout.
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Originally published by nytimes.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Glamour Canada.
