CSE is Canada's national cryptologic agency. Unique within Canada's security and intelligence community, CSE employs code-makers and code-breakers to provide the Government of Canada with information technology security (IT Security) and foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) services. CSE also provides technical and operational assistance to federal law enforcement and security agencies.
Our IT Security products and services enable our clients (other federal government departments and agencies) to effectively secure their electronic information systems and networks. CSE also conducts research and development on behalf of the Government of Canada in fields related to communications security.
Our SIGINT products and services support government decision-making in the fields of national security, national defence and foreign policy. CSE's SIGINT activities relate exclusively to foreign intelligence and are directed by the Government of Canada's intelligence priorities.
Our Mandate
In December 2001 the government passed omnibus bill C-36 into law as the Anti-terrorism Act. The new act amended portions of the National Defence Act and officially recognized CSE's three-part mandate:
- To acquire and use information from the global information infrastructure for the purpose of providing foreign intelligence, in accordance with Government of Canada intelligence priorities
- To provide advice, guidance and services to help ensure the protection of electronic information and of information infrastructures of importance to the Government of Canada
- To provide technical and operational assistance to federal law enforcement and security agencies in the performance of their lawful duties.
The Anti-Terrorism Act also strengthened CSE's capacity to engage in the war on terrorism by providing needed authorities to fulfill its mandate.
As the Second World War ground to a successful conclusion, the prospect of a Canadian peacetime SIGINT effort precipitated a political tempest in a teapot. The debate began shortly after the June 1944 Normandy invasion when an External Affairs memo expressed concerns with the concept, suggesting that Canada might be too small to support a useful modern cryptographic unit. A possible alternative was to have the British provide decrypts in return for raw Canadian intercept.
The military, for their part, were wholly in favour of continuing SIGINT. The national cryptographic centre, the Examination Unit, put forward convincing arguments to stay alive, not the least of which was: "What would the Americans think of the plans?" The US, as it turned out, was keen on Canada maintaining its contribution. The war in Europe may have been drawing to a close in the spring of 1945, but a bitter struggle was still unfolding in the Pacific.
An interim solution was worked out whereby the Examination Unit joined with the military venture to form the Joint Discrimination Unit. The actual merger took place on 1 August just in time to see the end of the war against Japan thirteen days later. A decision had to be made about the long-term future of SIGINT in Canada.
For a number of reasons all concerned parties decided to come on board. In rapid succession Canada was faced with the dawn of the Atomic Age, the prospect of being excluded from the Anglo-American club, the Gouzenko disclosures and the birth of the United Nations. To remain a world player, Canada had to contribute.
By October External and Defence jointly declared that SIGINT had an ongoing significance - formal approvals were received the following April. Out of the ashes of the Examination Unit, through the guise of the Discrimination, rose like a phoenix the Communications Branch of the National Research Council. The date was 1 September 1946.
