Home About us Who we are IG CSIS Certificate of the Inspector General CSIS -- 2003

Certificate of the Inspector General CSIS -- 2003

Submitted to:
Solicitor General of Canada pursuant to Subsection 33(2) of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act

Background

Section 33 (2) of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act requires that I submit to you a Certificate stating the extent to which I am satisfied with the Director's Annual Report to you. It also requires that I state whether, in my opinion, the Service has done anything in the course of its operational activities, in the time period covered by the Annual Report, which is not authorized by the Act, has contravened any Ministerial Directions, or has involved the unreasonable or unnecessary use of its powers.

I provide you below with this certification, as well as some further observations.

Certification: Director's Annual Report

I am satisfied with the Director's Annual Report to you for the period 2002-2003.

The matters discussed by the Director in his Report are an accurate reflection of the Service's operational activities during the reporting period. In my opinion, the Service has not acted beyond the framework of its statutory authority, has not contravened any Ministerial Directions, and has not exercised its powers unreasonably or unnecessarily.

I have come to these conclusions after a wide-ranging validation process carried out by my Office of all the statements made by the Director in his letter to you of July 28, 2003. Indeed, the planning phase of this extensive process began some six months ago, that is to say, well before the submission of the Director's section 33 (1) Report. In order to ensure that every statement in the section 33 (1) Report is fully documented, my Office reviews all relevant information and intelligence collected and retained by the Service. At a minimum, this involves examining Branch accountability reports and the 'facting' material on which they are based. In some circumstances, our regular work reviewing warrants, targets, human source management, select investigations and other areas of interest will also inform, and corroborate, our judgment.

In that connection, our annual program of review activities for this reporting period consisted of:

• reviews of samples of warrants and targets as well as of human source management;
• detailed examinations of investigations of the threat posed [--];
• review of section 16 intelligence collection;
• a special study of the Service's domestic liaison arrangements;
• comprehensive briefings on the front-end screening program of refugee claimants [--]
• the regular discussions I and my Assistant have had with senior management at Headquarters and in the field (Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax).

During the course of our review work and validation process, we uncovered various issues that required further discussion and negotiations with the Service. I am satisfied that these issues have been appropriately dealt with by the Service.

Concluding comments

In my opinion, in the nearly twenty years during which I have had some knowledge of these matters, the Service has evolved from being a rather disorganized organization with significant weaknesses, to a highly professional and effective arm of government.

Most of this substantial improvement in performance can be credited to the senior managers and staff of the Service. Without their determined and well-directed efforts, no amount of outside pressure could have achieved the same result.

Nevertheless, the existence and, from time to time, the observations of the two outside review agencies have certainly contributed to the maturing process. I hope, as I retire from active participation in this challenging environment, that no-one makes the mistake, so often made in the past, of believing that current safeguards are no longer really necessary. The low costs of the review bodies and the very special care taken in the selection of the Director of the Service are a very small price indeed to pay for a professional, effective, and virtually trouble-free security service in these dangerous times.