Lieutenant Colonel Nick Torrington-Smith
LCol Torrington-Smith joined the military in 1990. He graduated from RoyalRoadsMilitaryCollege in Victoria BC, with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics in 1993.
After completing his trades training at the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics, he was posted to 14 Wing Greenwood as the Telecommunication Services Officer in 1994. He spent four years at 14 Wing in a number of roles including almost two years on and off as the Acting Wing Telecommunications Officer.
In 1998, LCol Torrington-Smith was selected to attend Post Graduate Training at RMC and graduated with his Master of Engineering in Computer Engineering in May 2000.
After his holiday at RMC, LCol Torrington-Smith was posted to National Defence Headquarters in the Directorate of Aerospace Program Management (Radar and Communication Systems) as the Life Cycle Material Manager for the CAF inventory of meteorological equipment. After a very brief two months as an LCMM, he then assumed the role of Air Defence Radar Supervisor where he managed the life cycle functions of all the Air Defence Radar systems in the Canadian Forces including the North Warning System, Canadian Coastal Radars and the Tactical Control Radars.
In 2002 LCol Torrington-Smith assumed command of the NATO Satellite Ground Terminal F-18 in Folly Lake Nova Scotia. Promoted out of this command position, he was “forced” back to NDHQ and began work within the Directorate of Space Development in 2003.
For the next three years, LCol Torrington-Smith managed the Navigation Warfare program for the Canadian Armed Forces. This program was designed to protect Canadian and allied use of the GPS navigation system while denying its use to the adversary.
In 2006 LCol Torrington-Smith was posted to the Canadian Forces Network Operations Centre as the Network Operations and Security Officer responsible for the daily operation and security of the computer networks employed by the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence. It was in this capacity that his interest in all things cyber was born.
In 2007, LCol Torrington-Smith was deployed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of the Canadian Task Force supporting the United Nations Mission in the DRC. During this six month tour, he was employed as the Eastern Division Information Operations Officer, responsible for the information operations conducted by four multinational brigades in the eastern part of the country.
After the mission, he returned to the Canadian Forces Network Operations Centre and assumed the position of Deputy Commanding Officer.
After another year-long academic holiday at the Canadian Forces Language School in 2008, LCol Torrington-Smith was posted in 2009 to 76 Communication Group where he assumed the position of Deputy Commander.
After one year in 76 Communication Group, LCol Torrington-Smith was promoted to his current rank in 2010 and subsequently posted to the Canadian Forces Information Operations Group for a brief stint as the Deputy Commander until the fall of 2011 when he was posted to the Canadian Forces College in Toronto to attended the Joint Command and Staff Programme.
Upon successful completion of this course in 2012, LCol Torrington-Smith assumed the position of the Team Lead for the inaugural Joint Cyber Operations Team in the newly formed Canadian Joint Operations Command. In this capacity, he was responsible to incorporate cyber thinking into the Operational Planning Process, providing cyber advice and situational awareness to the CJOC Commander and key staff, and providing cyber intelligence inputs into the operational level intelligence products generated by CJOC.