Intelligence watchdog questions cyber agency's approach to international law, CSE insists it was above board
CBC
One of Canada's intelligence watchdogs has scolded the country's cyber security agency over its approach to international law.
The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency reviewed the Communications Security Establishment's activities in 2019, the first year after it received new powers. While the review was completed in 2020, its report was made public only this week.
The CSE insists it never violated international law and is calling the matter a "philosophical" disagreement with its oversight body.
"CSE, because we are the ones who deal with foreign cyber operations, did not violate international law. We did not even come close to violating international law," Nabih Eldebs, CSE deputy chief of authorities, compliance and transparency, told CBC News.
"This was not in our ethos, this was not in our thinking."
CSE is empowered to gather foreign signals intelligence and defend Canada's national security, including government of Canada servers and networks. It also has a growing role in protecting Canada's critical infrastructure, such as banks, telecommunications and the energy industry.
To do all that, the agency was granted the ability in 2018 — with ministerial consent — to launch "active cyber operations" to disrupt threats from terrorist groups, hostile intelligence agencies and state-sponsored hackers.
As an example of what this power allows it to do, CSE says it can prevent a foreign terrorist group from communicating or planning attacks by disabling their communication devices.
In its report, NSIRA wrote that when it asked CSE to explain its legal obligations when launching such operations, the agency's response was lacking.
"CSE has not sufficiently examined its obligations under international law," said the intelligence review body in its heavily redacted report.
Eldebs said the federal government was still developing its official stance on cyberspace and international law as CSE was beginning to launch these operations.
"These were our new foray into foreign cyber operations," he said.
"I think, in my belief, it was a philosophical disagreement on the approach to international law between both organizations, not the importance of international law."
The government of Canada released a public statement on international law applicable to cyber space in 2021. Eldebs said the CSE now uses that statement as a guiding principle.
A provincial child-care advocacy group says governments need to commit to pushing $10-a-day child care forward in Canada, but a conservative think tank says data shows it isn't working as intended in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Diane Sims has already written her own obituary.
Thirty years after her murder in 1994, Halifax police are still looking for Kimber Leanne Lucas's killer.
When Kevin Campbell took a 1991 Chevy truck in trade at his dealership on Moncton's Salisbury Road in early November, he didn't have it for long.
Quebec mayor says 'one-size-fits-all' language law isn't right for his town where French is thriving
English is not Daniel Côté's first language but he says it's integral to the town he calls home.
As their role in health care continues to grow, nurse practitioners across Canada are looking to Alberta, where nurse practitioners recently formed their own union — but on P.E.I., the nurses' union that represents them says it's doing its job.
As the fallout over fallen buildings in Gore Park continues, Hamilton officials will be turning their attention to other properties.
Fire crews responded to a transport truck fire on the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit.
When the government touts that its auto insurance reforms might curb premiums by $400 come 2027, the ministers and premier don't readily mention what's to come in the three years leading up to that.
Who poses the greater threat to the free speech of Conservative MPs — the Speaker of the House of Commons or the leader of the Conservative Party?
As city council prepares to vote on a temporary shelter village for people experiencing homelessness in Thunder Bay, Ont., opposition is growing among the area's business community.