Since the end of the Second World War, Canada has been part of an intelligence arrangement where a loose consortium of spy agencies from English-speaking countries freely trade their state secrets.
Spymasters argue that Canadian taxpayers' $300-million-a-year commitment to CSEC is a bargain.
And Canadian prime ministers can get jittery if someone threatens to turn off the intelligence tap, as shown in correspondence that surfaced in the recent WikiLeaks data dump. Paul Martin is said to have lobbied U.S. president George W. Bush to keep Ottawa in the intelligence loop, amid fears Canada would be cut off for refusing to send soldiers to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Ottawa “is aware that we are creating a separate U.S.-U.K.-Australia channel for sharing sensitive intelligence, including information that traditionally has been U.S. eyes only,” reads a 2004 U.S. State Department briefing to Mr. Bush.
Canada “has expressed concern at multiple levels that their exclusion from a traditional ‘four-eyes' construct is ‘punishment' for Canada's non-participation in Iraq and they fear that the Iraq-related channel may evolve into a more permanent ‘three-eyes' only structure.”
A threat to national security? Some CSEC staff argue contracting out jobs leaves Canada at risk
One of the more alarming criticisms about the new signals-intelligence complex is that it's a threat to our national security.
Part of the plan involves contracting out about 90 government jobs to the private-sector consortium that will manage the new buildings over the next 34 years. These contractors will do the less sensitive work – such as laying cables around the building, running an information-technology help desk or working as security guards. They will not be cryptographers or signals spies.
Even so, the plan has incensed some CSEC staff who argue that top secrets are at risk, given that a rotating cast of contractors will be less loyal than sworn-to-secrecy federal employees.
“I have to go to my grave with my secrets, but there's a real possibility these people will WikiLeak real secrets,” said one retired CSEC employee, who asked not to be named because he said he feared “retribution.”
“Public sector employees are under a lot more disciplined scrutiny,” said John MacLennan, head of the Union of National Defence Employees.
In an interview, CSEC chief John Adams dismissed the concern about privatization, saying any outside contractors would be vetted for appropriate security clearances. Signals-intelligence agencies in Britain and the United States have used large numbers of private-sector contractors without problems, he said, adding that CSEC already contracts out some jobs.
