The first in a trilogy of one-hour films on Canada's national security operations and civil liberties during the past half-century. In 1946, Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet cipher clerk in Ottawa, fled his embassy with documents unveiling his nation's spy network in Canada. It was Canada's first spy case and confusion reigned in official reaction. Counter-intelligence agencies in the United States and Britain became alarmed at the possible leak of the new atom bomb secrets, so man-hunts soon reached international proportions. In Canada, the government ordered the arrest of many suspected citizens, civil rights were suspended, and the ensuing events became a blot on the nation's history.

The second part of a trilogy of films on Canada's national security operations and civil liberties during the past half-century. When Winston Churchill called for a grand alliance against Soviet communism, after World War II ended, it signalled the beginning of the Cold War, with universal tensions and distrust. Spies, counter-spies, and double agents dominated the world scene. Canadians reached for a security blanket and the ensuing secret witch-hunts left a trail of deception, despair and death. Civil servants were put through strict security checks, and two diplomats died while under suspicion. This climate of deception climaxed in Quebec in 1970, when the FLQ crisis revealed the confusion besetting governments and police forces in their dealings with national security and civil liberties.