canadian security intelligence service

 

  • The resulting investigation, known as the McDonald Commission, published its final report in 1981, with its main recommendation being that security intelligence work should
    be separated from policing, and that a civilian intelligence agency be created to take over from the RCMP Security Service.

  • At the time, it was also decided that the activities of this new agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, should be subject to both judicial approval for warrants
    and to general review by a new body, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, as well as the office of the Inspector General (which was disbanded in 2012).

  • [citation needed] On March 31, 2009, CSIS lawyer and advisor Geoffrey O’Brian told the Committee on Public Safety and National Security that CSIS would use information obtained
    by torture if it could prevent another attack such as 9/11 or the Air India bombing.

  • [8] Agency overview: Formed: June 21, 1984; Preceding agency: RCMP Security Service; Jurisdiction: Government of Canada; Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 45.4374°N 75.6139°W;
    Employees: 3,200+ (2020)[1]; Annual budget: $649.9 million (2020–21)[2]; Minister responsible: Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety; Agency executive: David Vigneault, Director; Parent department: Public Safety Canada History Prior to
    1984, security intelligence in Canada was the purview of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

  • [36] These regions are responsible for investigating any threat to Canada and its allies as defined by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act.

  • [46] The previous agency that handled all oversight of CSIS, the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) was replaced by a new agency, the National Security & Intelligence
    Review Agency (NSIRA), which now includes oversight of all national security and intelligence activities undertaken by any agency of the Government of Canada.

  • “[13] Meanwhile, in May 2023, according to a CSIS intelligence assessment which provided an overview of Chinese government foreign interference in Canada, it was claimed that
    China sees Canada as a “high-priority target” and employs “incentives and punishment” as part of a vast influence network directed at legislators, business executives and diaspora communities.

  • While not an intelligence agency, it is responsible for the security of Global Affairs Canada personnel around the world.

  • The reforms also included the creation of a new Intelligence Commissioner who reports to Parliament and has quasi-judicial oversight of all national security matters.

  • As a result of these allegations, Justice David McDonald was appointed in 1977 to investigate the activities of the RCMP Security Service.

  • Canadian police, military agencies (Canadian Forces Intelligence Branch), and numerous other government departments may maintain their own “intelligence” components (i.e.

  • Previous law stated that CSIS was only allowed to collect this intelligence within Canada but due to an updated law in 2016 they are now allowed to collect that intelligence
    abroad as well.

  • [59] Prominent Canadian national security lawyer Barbara Jackman has also been critical, categorizing the research by CSIS as “sloppy” and that its officers are “susceptible
    to tunnel vision”.

  • As Canada’s contributor of human intelligence to the Five Eyes, CSIS works closely with the intelligence agencies of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New
    Zealand.

  • [32] There is no restriction in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act on where CSIS may collect “security intelligence” or information relating to threats to the
    security of Canada.

  • [5] The agency is responsible to Parliament through the minister of public safety, and it is overseen by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency.

  • [26] Mission and operations CSIS is a federal national security agency which conducts national security investigations and security intelligence collection.

  • [10] At first, the main emphasis of CSIS was combating the activities of various foreign intelligence agencies operating in Canada.

  • Controversies In 1997, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police collaborated with CSIS on Project Sidewinder, a study alleging China had set up a foreign influence network in Canada.

  • The institutional focus of CSIS returned to state actors (such as Russia and China) after a February 2021 speech by the CSIS director, David Vigneault, warned that the Chinese
    “strategy for geopolitical advantage on all fronts — economic, technological, political and military” uses “all elements of state power to carry out activities that are a direct threat to our national security and sovereignty.

  • Global Affairs Canada maintains a Security and Intelligence Bureau to review and analyze overtly acquired information.

  • However several weeks later their Director David Vigneault would appear in front of Canada’s Parliament to testify regarding the act.

  • [3] The agency also reports to and advises the minister of public safety on national security issues and situations that threaten the security of the nation.

  • [42] Secret Court According to L’Hebdo Journal, it is reported that some senior officials of the service would go to a bunker in Ottawa to file and discuss warrant applications
    with judges designated by the Federal Court.

  • [citation needed] Training CSIS Intelligence Officers are required to complete the Intelligence Officer Entry Training (IOET) program at CSIS HQ in Ottawa, Ontario, followed
    by a three-year development program.

  • David Vigneault 2017–present Insignia CSIS is one of several federal agencies (primarily those involved with law enforcement, security, or having a regulatory function) that
    have been granted a heraldic badge.

  • [citation needed] The commission found that US authorities sent Arar to Jordan and then Syria (his country of birth) based on incorrect information which had been provided
    by the RCMP to the US government.

  • However, during the 1970s, there were allegations that the RCMP Security Service – the predecessor to CSIS – had been involved in numerous illegal activities.

  • CSIS is subject to review by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) as well as other legislative checks and balances.

  • CSIS, like counterparts such as the UK Security Service (MI5) and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is a civilian agency.

  • When the story became public knowledge, the press aired concerns that he had not only been one of the founders of the Heritage Front group, but that he had also channelled
    CSIS funding to the group.

  • [31] The agency is also responsible for the security screening program.

  • CSIS is neither a police agency nor is it a part of the military.

  • CSIS collects and analyzes intelligence, then advises the Government of Canada on issues and activities that may threaten the security of Canada and its citizens.

  • It is widely speculated that CSIS employees similar to Security Intelligence Officers are posted at Canadian Embassies abroad in order to collect foreign intelligence.

  • Under the post-World War II Quadripartite (UKUSA) Agreement, intelligence information is shared between the intelligence agencies of these five countries.

 

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Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shaury/4757448834/’]