Months Of Leaks Rattle Canada’s Spy Agency

A sign outside the CSIS headquarters in Ottawa. Photograph: Chris Wattie/Reuters  

The Guardian: ‘This is very bad for them’: months of leaks rattle Canada’s low-profile spy agency  

Allegations of attempted meddling by China put uncomfortable spotlight on publicity-shy CSIS 

Most Canadians have no idea where the country’s spy agency is located, nor do they know much about its daily operations. This is not because the Canadian Security Intelligence Service operates in a particularly clandestine fashion, it’s because most Canadians don’t care. 

The CSIS, a civilian-run organisation based in a triangular structure of concrete and glass on the outskirts of Ottawa, lacks the intrigue of Britain’s MI5 and the notoriety of America’s Central Intelligence Agency. 

“I look nothing like Daniel Craig, and I did not arrive here in an Aston Martin. I’m just as disappointed as you are – on both fronts,” its director, David Vigneault, said in a speech in 2018, poking fun at the service’s largely uncharismatic reputation. “Most of you remember the movie Fight Club. And you will know that the first rule of Fight Club is ‘don’t talk about Fight Club’. Well, the first rule of CSIS has always been ‘don’t talk’. Period.”  

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WNU Editor: No one really knows where these leaks are coming from. But it is clear that there is at least one person in the national security bureaucracy who is not satisfied with the complete lack of response from the Canadian government on intelligence reports that China is interfering in Canada's elections.