National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Annual Report 2019

Submitted to the Prime Minister on August 30, 2019 pursuant to subsection 21(1) of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (Revised version pursuant to subsection 21(5) of the NSICOP Act)

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2020
All rights reserved.
Ottawa, ON.

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

Annual Report 2019 (Revised version pursuant to subsection 21(5) of the NSICOP Act)
CP100E (Print)
ISSN 2562-5101 (Print)

CP100E-PDF (Online)
ISSN 2562-511X (Online)

Cette publication est également disponible en français : Rapport annuel 2019 (Version révisée selon le paragraphe 21(5) de la Loi sur le CPSNR)

Annual Report 2019

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

The Honourable David McGuinty, P.C., M.P. Chair

Submitted to the Prime Minister on August 30, 2019
Revised version tabled in Parliament in March 2020

Revisions

Consistent with subsection 21(1) of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act (NSICOP Act), the Committee must submit an annual report to the Prime Minister. Consistent with subsection 21(5) of the NSICOP Act, the Prime Minister may, after consulting the Chair of the Committee, direct the Committee to submit to him or her a revised version of the annual report that does not contain information the Prime Minister believes the disclosure of which would be injurious to national security, national defence or international relations or is information that is protected by solicitor-client privilege.

This document is a revised version of the Annual Report provided to the Prime Minister on 30 August 2019. Revisions were made to remove information the disclosure of which the Prime Minister believes would be injurious to national defence and national security, international relations or which constitutes solicitor-client privilege. Where information could simply be removed without affecting the readability of the document, the Committee noted the removal with three asterisks (***) in the text of this document. Where information could not simply be removed without affecting the readability of the document, the Committee revised the document to summarize the information that was removed. Those sections are marked with three asterisks at the beginning and the end of the summary, and the summary is enclosed by square brackets (see example below).

Example: [*** Revised sections are marked with three asterisks at the beginning and the end of the sentence, and the summary is enclosed by square brackets. ***]

Chair's Message
Ottawa, ON – August 30, 2019

photo of David J. McGuinty

The past year was an important milestone for the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP, or 'the Committee'). In March, the Committee welcomed two new members from the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. In April, the Prime Minister tabled the Committee's first Annual Report in Parliament. The Committee conducted significant outreach activities thereafter, including with the media and academics. As the Chair of the Committee, I participated in the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in May 2019 to discuss oversight and review in the Canadian national security landscape. Also in May, I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, and in June I joined two Senators from the Committee to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence. Several members of the Committee and the Executive Director of the Secretariat provided presentations on the Committee's mandate and work at a number of Canadian universities. The Committee believes this outreach helps to build Canadians' understanding of national security and intelligence.

The year was marked by an ambitious agenda and significant changes. Based on its experience in drafting its first Annual Report, the Committee adjusted its approach to conducting reviews and engaged more closely with members of the security and intelligence community to develop the Committee's agenda and to identify the most relevant documents. Starting in late 2018 and continuing into January 2019, the Committee launched four new reviews, three of which are described in this Annual Report and the fourth in a Special Report to the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence. For the Committee, these reviews required significant investments of time and effort to understand topics of significant complexity and diversity. For the organizations of the security and intelligence community, they required significant work to provide documents and prepare officials for appearances. The Committee recognizes the work of all organizations in this year's review process and thanks them for their efforts.

Reflections on the past years

This Report will be the Committee's last before it is dissolved with the drop of the writ for the 2019 federal election. While much of what the Committee learned and experienced is reflected in its reports, there are a number of issues worth highlighting at the end of its term. The first is that the Committee has been gratified by the extensive feedback provided by academics and stakeholders from across Canada. This engagement reinforces for the Committee the value of reviewing issues of importance to Canadians' security, rights and freedoms, and of speaking frankly to Canadians about how the government is addressing those issues. We hope that our work this year continues to inform public debate.

Government response to the Committee's findings and recommendations

The Committee provided two reports to the Prime Minister in 2018. The first was a Special Report on allegations related to national security arising from the Prime Minister's trip to India in February 2018. That report was provided to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on October 12, 2018. The second was the Committee's Annual Report, which included its findings and recommendations from two reviews it conducted over the course of 2018: a review of how the government establishes its intelligence priorities, and a review of the defence intelligence activities of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. The Annual Report was provided to the Prime Minister on December 21, 2018. The two reports contained a total of 29 findings (18 and 11, respectively) and 12 recommendations (5 and 7, respectively). The government has responded to these reports by stating that they have resulted in reflection and analysis across the Government of Canada, and the recommendations continue to be actively reviewed and considered.

Significant challenges encountered by the security and intelligence community

Over the past two years, the Committee had numerous opportunities to hear from security and intelligence officials about the challenges they face in executing their respective and collective mandates. While the Committee did not conduct reviews of these issues, four are worthy of mention here:

  • Countries around the world continue to adapt their cyber operations to serve their national interests and to protect their own information assets. Over the past several years, Canada has made significant changes to its own cyber posture in response to evolving threats and new technologies.
  • The ability of intelligence organizations to provide intelligence to other government organizations for subsequent use (for example, to pursue a criminal investigation) continues to be impeded by significant legal, policy, operational and organizational challenges (intelligence to evidence).
  • The capacity of federal police and security organizations to address increasingly complex, global and sophisticated crime has diminished with the diversion of resources to other priorities, notably terrorism, the attrition of experienced police investigators, and rapid changes in information and other technologies.
  • The ability of police and intelligence organizations to obtain information under existing legal authorities has steadily diminished with the evolution of information technology, eroding those organizations' ability to investigate and disrupt or prosecute criminal and security threats.

These issues may merit review in the future.

A work in progress

The Committee has had the opportunity to reflect on the lessons, challenges and highlights of the past two years. Canada is one of the last G7 countries to have set up a Parliamentary review body, with access to classified information to examine national security and intelligence activities from a strategic perspective. The foundations of broad, independent review of national security and intelligence in Canada are still being established and will be further expanded with the recent creation of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency. In that context, the Committee expected that some 'growing pains' would accompany its establishment. In its first Annual Report shortly after its creation in 1984, the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) acknowledged that while " its function may create an adversarial relationship [with CSIS] in certain circumstances, it is also very conscious of the need to establish a solid foundation of trust between the two organizations." Footnote 1

NSICOP’s efforts to establish this trust with the security and intelligence community has required constant monitoring, dialogue and regular stock-taking. From the first meetings with the Committee, senior government officials have indicated their support for the mandate and work of NSICOP and have been readily available to meet on specific reviews and more general wide-ranging discussions.

The legislation that gives NSICOP its mandate, its right of access to information needed to conduct its reviews, and the limitations to that right of access, is clear. Sub-section 13(1) of the NSICOP Act states, "... the Committee is entitled to have access to any information that is under the control of a department and that is related to the fulfilment of the Committee's mandate." However, the NSICOP Act does not give the Committee authority to impose deadlines or force the provision of information, relying instead on the good faith of the organizations under review, and a clear and common understanding of the Committee's mandate. In most cases, departments provided the requested information in a comprehensive and timely manner. However, the Committee has faced a number of challenges in accessing information based on reasons that are inconsistent with NSICOP’s enabling legislation. Some organizations provided summaries of information requested rather than the original records, inconsistently applied the restriction of information subject to Cabinet Confidences, or failed to provide records that the Committee considered relevant to its reviews.

As has been observed on many occasions, the Committee is conscious that its work plan and schedule have placed significant demands and pressure on the individual organizations. In the future, adjustments on both sides will be necessary.

The challenges outlined above have been communicated to the National Security and Intelligence Advisor (NSIA) to the Prime Minister. As the coordinator for the security and intelligence community, the NSIA is in a position to ensure that the community has the capacity and consistent approach to meet its responsibilities and obligations towards the Committee. For its part, NSICOP is committed to taking stock of lessons learned and to formalizing the procedures for Committee meetings and reviews. The Committee remains hopeful that the conduct of its reviews will continue to improve and takes due notice of the issues above in contemplation of the mandatory five-year review of the NSICOP Act in 2022.

Acknowledgements

Committee members would like to express their sincere thanks and appreciation to the staff of the Secretariat. Their role is, to quote the NSICOP Act, to "assist the Committee in fulfilling its mandate." Without their dedication and professional support, the Committee would not have been able to meet over 70 times, nor produce two Annual Reports and two Special reports, within a two-year period.

In closing I would also like to acknowledge and thank my Parliamentary colleagues on the Committee. On behalf of all Canadians, members shared a common commitment to improving the performance and accountability of the security and intelligence community, and in doing so, demonstrated the value of a non-partisan approach to issues of profound importance to Canadians: their security, personal rights and freedoms.

The Honourable David McGuinty, P.C., M.P.
Chair
National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

  • The Hon. David McGuinty, P.C., M.P. (Chair)
  • The Hon. Percy Downe, Senator
  • Mr. Emmanuel Dubourg, M.P.
  • The Hon. Diane Finley, P.C., M.P.
  • The Hon. Hedy Fry, P.C., M.P.
  • Ms. Gudie Hutchings, M.P.
  • The Hon. Frances Lankin, P.C., C.M., Senate
  • The Hon. Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
  • Mr. Murray Rankin, M.P. (resigned August 1, 2019)
  • Ms. Brenda Shanahan, M.P.
  • The Hon. Vernon White, Senator

March 9, 2020

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister:

On behalf of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, it is my pleasure to present you with our Annual Report for 2019. The Report includes the three substantive reviews completed by the Committee in its second year of activity, namely diversity and inclusion in Canada's security and intelligence community; the government response to foreign interference; and, the national security and intelligence activities of the Canada Border Services Agency. The unanimous Report includes nineteen findings and eight recommendations to improve the accountability and effectiveness of national security and intelligence in Canada.

Consistent with subsection 21(5) of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act, the Report was revised to remove information the disclosure of which would be injurious to national security, national defence or international relations, or is information subject to solicitorclient privilege.

Yours sincerely,

David McGuinty (signature)

The Honourable David McGuinty, P.C., M.P.
Chair
National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

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