The head of Canada’s spy agency has impressed upon the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference that his experts have been busy applying redactions to documents for the commission instead of collecting intelligence to protect national security.
“They’re being taken away from doing that work” for the “extremely important” work of the commission, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault told the inquiry on Feb. 1.
The inquiry is conducting hearings this week to receive expert advice on how to balance its mandate of releasing as much information as possible to the public while not jeopardizing national security. Mr. Vigneault was testifying alongside other top security officials from the Privy Council Office and the Communications Security Establishment.
The panel was the first with officials currently in function appearing, bringing the issue outside the realm of the theoretical, historical, or anecdotal. Previous panels this week have included law professors and former top security officials.
Commission counsel Gordon Cameron explained that the inquiry submitted 13 documents to the government as a sample to see what it could expect in terms of how redactions would be applied for public disclosure.
The documents came back with a letter from the Department of Justice saying that 200 person-hours were required to redact the documents.
Mr. Cameron asked the panel to explain what appears like a “quite exceptional amount of work” to process documents only a few pages long.
Deputy National Security and Intelligence Advisor (NSIA) Dan Rogers explained that the documents were produced for an “ecosystem of cleared individuals in the national security community and not intended for public disclosure.”
Mr. Vigneault noted that a number of the documents submitted by the commission originate from CSIS, the purpose of which is to “have secrets, which is different than transparency.”
The CSIS head echoed that the 200 hours required to process the documents is a “very significant amount of resources.” He implied that those affected by this task have been intelligence officers, who are typically involved in recruiting and running human sources.
‘Raw Intelligence’
Mr. Cameron presented some of the returned documents originating from CSIS to Mr. Vigneault and asked him to explain why some were completely redacted whereas others with paragraphs classified above Top Secret have been disclosed.Mr. Vigneault explained that one document contains “raw intelligence” whereas another is assessed intelligence, which he says is easier to release because it is less specific.
“Chinese intelligence services would be able to make deduction, and be able to make analysis of what we know, what we’re interested in, and this is at the root of why we are protecting information,” he said.
He also pointed out the date on the documents and said that with the assessment being older, there is less potential for injury to national security if it’s disclosed.
The CSIS assessment shown at the commission is dated July 2021 and titled “PRC Foreign Interference in Canada: A Critical National Security Threat.”
The “Key Assessments” or main takeaways from the assessment include that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the “foremost perpetrator” of foreign interference (FI) activity in Canada and “pragmatically targets all levels of government ... diasporas groups, media entities, dissidents, activists, elites, elected officials and academics.”
CSIS also says Canada is a “high-priority PRC FI target” with the Chinese Communist Party intending to “use Canada and Canadians to proactively support PRC interests.”
Transparency Concerns
The panel of officials was questioned by lawyers representing various individuals and interest groups, many of which raised concerns about whether there would be anything of value coming out of the inquiry given the national security considerations.Christian Leblanc, who represents a coalition of major legacy media companies, mentioned the letter accompanying the redacted documents and said it mentions the redaction process is very time-consuming and that it’s not sustainable.
“To be clear, and practically speaking for the commission and the Canadian public, can you reassure us that if your organization is asked by the commission to do that type of exercise, it will do it,” asked Mr. Leblanc.
Mr. Vigneault said CSIS would abide by the terms of reference of the inquiry. “You have my personal commitment that we'll do everything we can to support the commission.”
Minister LeBlanc is set to cap the first week of hearings on Feb. 2. The next phase of public hearings should take place in March and will focus on the main mandate of the inquiry, which is to look into interference in the two previous federal elections.
