On the weekend, I spotted an article from the National Post where they talk about Canada's intelligence agency, the Canadian Security Establishment (CSE). They offered a rare look inside their facilities. Most people haven't heard of this agency because they're very secretive and they'd prefer it that way.
In either case, the National Post offers some interesting peeks inside the secret world of intelligence. Apparently the National Post is the only media company that has ever been given a tour of their facilities. From the National Post's article, "
Listening in on the enemy":
Inside a bland brick building that could pass for a high school, past two security checkpoints, down a hall decorated with the office bowling trophy, a red sign hangs on a beige door.
"Restricted Area," it warns.
Beyond the door, noisy fans whirr, cooling row after row of computers the size of refrigerators that are carrying out the most secretive and sensitive tasks of the Canadian government: hunting down the phone calls of suspected terrorists, reading their e-mails, breaking their codes and more -- all in the name of national security.
This climate-controlled room in a government building in south Ottawa is the brawn of the Communications Security Establishment, the federal agency charged with defending Canada in ways that are as formidable as they are unknown.
From its headquarters near the Rideau River, the CSE operates a vast electronic eavesdropping system that works with allies in the United States, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand to analyze intelligence on foreign adversaries.
A civilian branch of the Department of National Defence, the CSE specializes in "signals intelligence," or SIGINT, which means searching out, intercepting and analyzing electronic communications around the world that relate to threats to Canada's security.
Canadians can be excused for being unfamiliar with the CSE. The agency was once so secret the government would not acknowledge its existence. At one time, it was not even listed in government phone books.
But it has been slowly coming out of the shadows, and the National Post was recently allowed to tour its Ottawa facilities -- believed to be the first time a media outlet has ever been allowed inside.
"There's been a willingness really since the Anti-Terrorism Act was passed just to let Canadians know who we are and what we're doing," said Adrian Simpson, the agency's spokesman. "The chief feels very strongly that the Canadian taxpayer has a right to know what we're doing here and why it's so very important."
Up to a point.
During a tour of a CSE building that cannot be identified, there were long pauses as an official who cannot be named was asked for examples of what the agency does. He could not get into details, he resolved.
From time to time there are hints of what the CSE is up to. Signals teams deployed in Baghdad played a role in the March 23 rescue of one British and two Canadian hostages in Iraq, for example. The agency has also saved the lives of Canadian troops in Afghanistan by intercepting details on enemy attack plans. But the agency's work goes mostly unnoticed -- which is how the CSE prefers it.
[...]
The CSE is said to have the highest ratio of PhDs in government. Its staff consists of computer scientists, translators, analysts, mathematicians, engineers, and program developers, among others.
Their job: collect foreign intelligence related to security threats such as terrorism and weapons proliferation; protect government computer systems; and help law enforcement and security agencies.
But their work depends on technology, particularly an army of computers that perform more tasks on any given day than those of all of Canada's banks combined.
[...]
The computers are engaged in four main tasks, said Prof. Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University.
They are maintaining "dictionaries" of the names and phone numbers that are being targeted, scanning the flow of telecommunications to identify messages of interest, analyzing and decrypting coded communications and collecting, sorting and retrieving data needed for intelligence products.
The CSE occupies three buildings at its headquarters complex and has space in a fourth, in addition to listening posts in Ottawa, Alert, Gander and Masset that are run by the Canadian Forces Information Operations Group, known as the "291ers."
Two large portables have recently gone up near the CSE headquarters, an indication of the expansion the agency has been quietly undergoing. It has grown from about 1,000 employees before 9/11 to about 1,600 today.
According to Mr. Almand, despite all this the CSE has not demonstrated that it has had any tangible successes. "We haven't heard of anybody that they've caught." But that may say more about the agency's secretive nature than its effectiveness.
Were the CSE too candid about its home runs (and those who work in the field of counter-terrorism insist there are many), terrorists would just adapt their tactics. In other words, the story of the CSE and its role in Afghanistan and the Baghdad hostage rescue might never be told.
Pretty neat stuff. It's also interesting that they were involved in
rescuing hostages in Iraq which I covered earlier. It's also amazing that they have more computing power than all of the banks in Canada. As a computer geek, I drool.
In either case, a salute to our intelligence services that work behind the scenes and safeguard our freedoms and interests both domestically and internationally. It must be tough to be doing great work and having no one acknowledge the good that you're doing. I appreciate that.
