Brian Santarpia

Maritime Forces Atlantic
CFB Halifax
HMCS St. John's

Brian Walter Natale Santarpia is a retired Canadian naval officer and former Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic. He served in the Canadian Forces from 1986 to 2023.

Career

He joined the Canadian Forces as part of Maritime Command as a trainee MARS (Maritime Surface/Sub-surface) officer in 1986 and served in various postings before commanding HMCS St. John's from January 2007 to July 2008.^[1]^[2]

This was followed by a stint as Commanding Officer of Sea Training Atlantic.^[1] In 2009 he was promoted to captain and served as an advisor to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff before taking command of CFB Halifax.^[1]

He was promoted to commodore in July 2013 as Director General Naval Personnel.^[1] In December 2014 he commanded Combined Task Force 150.^[1] He was appointed Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic in June 2020.^[1]

In 2020, as chief of staff of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, Santarpia privately supported using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to test propaganda techniques on Canadians, saying “This is really a learning opportunity for all of us and a chance to start getting information operations into our (CAF-DND) routine."^[3]

In March 2022, he acknowledged having failed to provide effective support to a female officer who had complained of sexual harassment.^[4]

In June 2023 Santarpia retired from the Canadian Forces.

Awards and decorations

Santarpia's personal awards and decorations include the following:

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Special Service Medal	With "Expedition" Bar
	Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal
	Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal	Decoration awarded in 2012^[5] Canadian version
	Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)	with two Clasp for 32 years of services
	Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal	Decoration awarded in June 2022^[6] Canadian version - Nova Scotia version

Command Commendation

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Rear-Admiral B.W.N. Santarpia, CD". Royal Canadian Navy. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
^ "RAdm Santarpia takes over as new Commander of MARLANT and JTFA". Royal Canadian Navy. July 27, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
^ "Military leaders saw pandemic as unique opportunity to test propaganda techniques on Canadians, Forces report says". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
^ "Two senior female officers quitting the navy over military's handling of sexual misconduct case". CBC News. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
^ "The Diamond Jubilee Medal List". The Governor General of Canada.
^ "The Platinum Jubilee Medal List" (PDF). Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.