[troodie]

since the election of the conservatives there have been rumblings that harper would establish a canadian spy agency--the Canadian Foreign Intelligence Agency-- employing personnell to gather intelligence overseas, or perhaps expand the powers of CSIS. as it stand today, CSIS has limited powers to gather foreign intelligence, and operates mostly on a national level (internally).most of our foreign intellingence comes from allies such as the US and Britain. we are quite well respected for our ability to gather sigint (signals intelligence), which both CSIS and CSE (Canadian Security Establishment--like our NSA) practice, and sigint is currently our only home-made source of foreign intel (besides the limited reports we might get from foreign diplomats, i guess).

i'd be interested to know if anyone has any opinions on this? do you think that in light of post 9/11 nervousness, and canada's increasing presence in afghanistan that this isn't such a bad idea? some believe this would be a huge waste of money, while others believe it would be relatively inexepensive, and would be a long overdue ammendment to the limited scope of CSIS. i for one, am intrigued by the idea, but would like to know how much this might cost, and what kind of powers this new agency would have.

 

[shumoon]

Canada could do 2 things to improve intelligence gathering:

1) pursue a policy of obtaining "open intelligence". This is to listen in on news broadcasts, scan newspapers in foreign countries. This is not covert operations nor high-tech signal intelligence. This is finding out the word on the street. Much of it can be done securely behind consulate walls with simple satelite dishes and getting print media delivered to the consulate door. The Canadian government could gauge the public mood in a particular country better.

Canada could find a niche in open intel gathering at a time when the U.S. is closing diplomatic missions worldwide or reducing the staff and functions at many of its consulates. The U.S. has "outsourced" much of its open intel gathering to the British Broadcasting Corporation. However, the best most reliable intel is that which can be corroborated by multiple agencies. Canada could help its allies by providing that extra set of eyes and ears, and with open intel, it wouldn't have to do it in nefarious ways.

The benefit would come if Canada were to participate in an invasion of another country: Will the troops be greeted with flowers and candy as liberators, as the dissident groups say, or will Canadian military be greeted with improvised explosive devices and rocket propelled grenades as foreign occupiers?

2) The other thing we could do is expand official cover for spies at consulates and embassies abroad. This can't be done simply by stuffing more staff in our existing consulates. That would be tip-off to the intelligence agencies of host governments that Canadians are spying on them. However, this could be achieved opening more diplomatic missions around the world. Also, expanding the functions of many of the consulates could provide cover for more spies as more functions would require more official staff. Some consulates may officially exist to only deal with Canadian citizens abroad (e.g., replacing a lost passport). Expanding the functions of the consulate could include creating trade missions or handling visa or immigration applications to Canada.

 

[dan e 1980]

but we've already had one for a long time. i remember when i was in kindergarten during the cold war, the canadian government trained me to say " i spy with my little eyes something that is red" every time i saw a communist spy. for every commie i snagged, they gave me 1L of maple syrop.

 

[troodie]

^haha, i never thought of it that way. you may be on to a massive conspiracy!


--come to think of it, we could probably convince most americans that canada is not a 'country', but a giant spy agency established by the russians to watch over the americans from our nearby perch. just look at our national colour!

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

What shumoon mentioned is what already occurs. Standard practice for foreign service officers. The only difference a foreign intel service would do would be to give the government the ability to conduct operations in a foreign country by recruiting and controlling agents or operatives working on our behalf. Should have been done years ago.

 

[bizorky]

pursue a policy of obtaining "open intelligence". This is to listen in on news broadcasts, scan newspapers in foreign countries. This is not covert operations nor high-tech signal intelligence.

This is actually done by a number of federal departments already.