Intelligence sharingCanada’s intelligence agency halts intelligence sharing with international partners
Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the country electronic signals intelligence agency, said it has stopped sharing intelligence with several close international partners after disclosing it had illegally collected the communication metadata of Canadian citizens in the process of eavesdropping on foreign communications. In a report to parliament last Thursday, CSE said the breach was unintentional, and that it had been discovered internally in 2013.
Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the country electronic signals intelligence agency, said it has stopped sharing intelligence with several close international partners after disclosing it had illegally collected the communication metadata of Canadian citizens in the process of eavesdropping on foreign communications.
In a report to parliament last Thursday, CSE said the breach was unintentional, and that it had been discovered internally in 2013.
The Intercept reports that asenior CSE official blamed a flaw in software the agency was using – a flaw which resulted in sharing the metadata of Canadians with foreign intelligence services.
The senior official stressed that the likelihood of this information being abused was “low.”
As a precaution, however, the CSE said it had suspended its sharing of metadata with its Five Eyes intelligence partners — Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and the United States — until it finds a fix to the problem.
Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s defense minister, said he was satisfied that data inadvertently shared with the intelligence alliance members before the software glitch was discovered “did not contain names or enough information on its own to identify individuals.”
He added that he accepted the conclusion of an investigation which found that the breach of Canadian privacy and national security laws was “unintentional.”
The Intercept notes that it is not clear what, if any, effect the Canadian temporary halt of cooperation with Five Eyes members would have on intelligence gathering by the group of allies.
Canada’s public safety minister Ralph Goodale said Canada’s allies have been “very supportive.” The CSE told AFP that the agency continues to have “strong and collaborative relationships” with its allies in other areas.
In a related development, the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), Canada’s spy agency watchdog, said last week that it had identified deficiencies in the way the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada’s domestic intelligence service, tries to counter “insider threats”
SIRC said it was especially worried about how CSIS prevents and investigates classified document leaks, following the Edward Snowden leak in the United States and the 2012 arrest of Canadian navy officer Jeffrey Paul Delisle for selling state secrets to Russia.
SIRC highlighted “one situation in particular [in which] SIRC found that CSIS had failed to give a case the appropriate level of attention and to take follow-up action,” but provided no details.
SIRC noted that CSIS rejected its recommendations.
SIRC also raised questions about CSIS’s use of paid al-Qaeda or Taliban informants, noting such practice was in conflict with UN al-Qaeda and Taliban Regulations which banned association with or funding of the two jihadist groups.
