The arrest of a top Canadian police officer on charges of leaking secret information could hurt intelligence operations by allied nations, the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Monday.

Cameron Ortis, a director general with the RCMP's intelligence unit, was charged on Friday under a 2012 security of information law used to prosecute spies.

"We are assessing the impacts of the alleged activities as information becomes available," RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said in a statement. "We are aware of the potential risk to agency operations of our partners in Canada and abroad and we thank them for their continued collaboration."