the removal of several hundreds of German-, Italian- and Japanese-born Canadians to detention camps in Canada's hinterlands until the surrender of the Axis powers. In 1945, Higgitt was a principal investigator of Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada who defected on September 5, three days after the official close of the War, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in Canada and the United States. Higgitt was in charge of liaison with the special Crown prosecutors at the series of criminal trials related to Gouzenko and had control of the exhibits and documents. Gouzenko's defection was one of the major catalysts for the beginning of the Cold War, and compelled Higgitt and other RCMP leaders to organize a special counter-espionage section of the RCMP, which Higgitt headed until 1952. This was a forerunner of the RCMP's Security Service, a branch of the RCMP that had responsibility for domestic intelligence and security in Canada. In 1952, Higgitt was commissioned as an officer and became Inspector and Personnel Officer in Ontario. He moved to western Quebec two years later to serve as Inspector at "C" Division, then was transferred to Montreal to take charge of the RCMP's Montreal Subdivision and supervise the RCMP's investigation and enforcement of the Canada Customs Act. He was posted to the RCMP's Security and Intelligence in Ottawa in 1957, specializing in counterintelligence. With the Security Service, Higgitt was involved in the investigations of Soviet KGB agents Nikolai Ostrovsky and Rem Krasilnikov, and the double-agent Yevgeni Brik. Three years later he was assigned to London, England, where he served as Liaison Officer with British Intelligence and, later, with Western Europe via the Canadian Delegation to the General Assemblies of Interpol. He remained at this post for three years, travelling extensively and working closely with police organizations and intelligence agencies throughout Europe. He returned to Ottawa in 1963, taking the position of RCMP Security Service Superintendent. In 1967, Higgitt became RCMP Assistant Commissioner and Director of Security and Intelligence. In this capacity he worked closely with counterparts in the United States and Europe to monitor communist movements. Two years later, he was promoted to Deputy RCMP Commissioner and became Director of Operations for all Criminal and Security Service matters throughout Canada, and shortly afterward, on October 1, 1969, at the height of the Cold War, he was appointed RCMP Commissioner by Prime Minister Pierre