Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, I joined the Army Cadets at 12 left at 19 but then joined a very conservative Muslim group which took me to Pakistan and Afghanistan where I was bitten by the Jihadi bug.

I became a supporter of violent extremism until 9/11 when I began questioning if this was really what Islam was about. So I moved to Damascus for two years going over every verse I used to hate and fight and re-visited their interpretation with a new found competency in Arabic and Islamic Studies -- I was very grateful to be Muslim in Canada, which was far better than any so-called Muslim country.

I came back to Canada in 2004 and volunteered to join the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as a "walk-in." I remained "under development" for two years, infiltrating several surveillance worthy groups. In late 2005 I was tasked to "get close" to a group which expressed their desire to commit acts of terrorism.

I then traversed to the RCMP as an Agent and collected all the necessary evidence to eventually participate in five legal hearings at the Superior Court over four years. Eleven were convicted, seven had charges stayed, three are serving life.

Using my practical experience as both a former radical who self-deradicalized using Islamic sources and "work experience", I have added to the skillset by completing a number of courses in Intelligence Analysis, Criminal Investigative Analysis, Assessing Extremists and Terrorists, Radicalization and have since completed a Master of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (MPICT) from Macquarie University.

I remain an active trainer of military and security intelligence outfits.

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