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The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has a mandate to advise government on activities that may constitute a threat to the security of Canada. The scope of its mandate, as well as its duties and functions, were defined in the CSIS Act adopted by Parliament in 1984. One of CSIS' duties established under the CSIS Act is to provide government departments and agencies with security assessments on government employees and contractors, and on prospective immigrants and citizens in Canada.
CSIS' Security Screening Program is the Service's most visible function. In the course of performing screening enquiries, CSIS personnel come into daily contact with the general public. The Service completes thousands of security assessments per year. Security assessments fall into three program categories: Government Screening, Foreign Screening and Immigration and Citizenship Screening.
The Government of Canada requires that its employees and contractors who, in the regular performance of their duties or tasks have access to sensitive information and assets, be assessed for their loyalty and associated reliability as those relate to national security concerns. CSIS conducts investigations and provides security assessments on demand for all federal government departments and agencies under Sections 13 and 15 of the CSIS Act, with the exception of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Department of National Defence (DND), who do their own field investigations.
The Government Security Policy (GSP) establishes three levels of security clearance corresponding to the designated level of sensitivity of the information or assets: LEVEL I (CONFIDENTIAL); LEVEL II (SECRET); and LEVEL III (TOP SECRET). Checks are performed for each of these levels and include the verification of personal, educational and employment data and references, criminal records, fingerprint and credit checks. LEVEL III security clearances also include an assessment of reliability with former employers and references, and field investigations. Personal background checks normally cover a period of 10 years back from the time of the application (or as far back as the applicant's 16th birthday, whichever comes first). Security clearances for LEVEL I and LEVEL II are valid for a 10-year period before they need to be renewed, while LEVEL III clearances are valid for a five-year period before renewal is required.
The Departmental Security Officer (DSO) of the client department or agency determines the screening requirements according to the highest level of information and assets that will be accessed by the employee or the contractor. The completion of security assessments by the Service involves accessing various records containing personal information on individuals. Written consent from these individuals is required and provided to the Service by the DSO, prior to any check being performed by the Service.
In preparing security assessments under this category, CSIS must comply with the legislation and policy that specify what a security assessment must address. Section 2 of the CSIS Act defines a "security assessment" as an "appraisal of the loyalty to Canada and, so far as it relates thereto, the reliability of an individual". The GSP integrates "threats to the security of Canada" with loyalty and related reliability criteria to effectively protect sensitive government information and assets. CSIS investigators and analysts must discern if an individual being considered for a security clearance could be susceptible to blackmail or otherwise persuaded to engage in activities that could compromise national security.
In the course of their duties, security screening investigators may talk to former employers, neighbours and friends of the individual requiring the security clearance for government employment. During the course of these enquiries, every effort is made to explain the purpose of the questions being posed. Participation in these interviews is voluntary.
Each assessment is done on a case-by-case basis. All information collected during the process is taken into consideration and thoroughly analysed according to the set criteria. The individual may be interviewed so as to have the opportunity to clarify or confront any adverse information obtained by the Service in the course of its enquiries. CSIS provides an assessment that contains an appraisal of the loyalty and reliability of the individual. The decision whether or not to grant the security clearance is left to the head of the client government department or agency.
In 1996-97, CSIS provided a total of 63,605 security assessments under the Government Screening program. The average time required to process LEVEL I applications was 14 days. LEVEL II applications required an average of 23 days to process, while it took an average of 101 days to process LEVEL III applications.
The GSP also provides guidelines for situations when an individual's duties require access to sensitive government-related sites or facilities while not allowing access to classified information. In limited and specific circumstances, security assessments for site security clearance may be conducted. For the purpose of this element of the Government Screening program, personal background checks cover a five-year period. Again, a personal history form and written consent is required from the applicant prior to processing the application. Once its checks are completed, CSIS provides its security assessment to the client department, which decides whether or not access is granted.
This program covers work sites or facilities that are designated, on the recommendation of the Director of CSIS, as ones which could reasonably be expected to be targeted by those engaging in activities that may constitute a threat to the security of Canada as defined in the CSIS Act. The Parliament buildings and Official Residences have been designated such sites.
Site security clearance can also be required by statute or regulation. The Airport Restricted Area Access Program falls under this category. It was established in 1987 to improve security at major Canadian airports. The Service provides a security assessment on persons requiring access to controlled areas in order to perform such duties as baggage handling and food services. In 1996/97, the Service processed 28,319 requests in relation to this particular program.
CSIS has reciprocal screening agreements with the governments of foreign states, foreign agencies and international organizations under which it provides them with security assessments. These agreements are all approved by the Solicitor General after consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).
All persons affected by this procedure provide their agreement in advance. The requests for foreign screening typically fall within two categories: database checks and enquiries on Canadian residents wishing to take up residence in another country; or field checks and occasional field enquiries on former and current Canadian residents who are being considered for classified access in another country. In the latter case, the foreign agencies manage their own security clearance program according to their own relevant procedures and legislation. Consequently, any possible recourse for a former or current Canadian resident who was denied a security clearance in a foreign country should follow the complaint procedure established in the relevant legislation of that foreign country.
In 1996/97, the Service processed 806 requests for security assessments in its Foreign Screening program.
Under the authority of Sections 14 and 15 of the CSIS Act, the Service may investigate and provide the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration with information relating to security and criminal matters that is relevant to the exercise of any power or the performance of any duty or function by that Minister under the Immigration Act or the Citizenship Act.
The screening of potential immigrants to Canada is a complex process which involves several government departments and agencies such as Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Health Canada (HC), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and RCMP and CSIS, each of whom has specific responsibilities.
CSIS provides advice to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration on prospective immigrants and refugee claimants. Such advice relates directly to the security inadmissibility criteria contained in Section 19(1) of the Immigration Act, with the final decision resting with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
Amendments to the Immigration Act introduced in 1993 have had a significant impact on the security screening of prospective immigrants. The amendments have broadened the scope of Section 19(1) of the Act by including the word terrorism, the notion of membership, and more significantly, the inclusion of past activity as grounds for inadmissibility. These amendments represent an attempt to bring Section 19(1) into closer alignment with the definition of "threats to the security of Canada" found in Section 2 of the CSIS Act.
The screening of prospective immigrants wishing to resettle in Canada has been streamlined since 1991 and the Service gets involved only in cases where an applicant's background presents security concerns. This determination is done on the basis of analysis and experience, and in cooperation with CIC officers posted abroad.
Queries with foreign agencies are sometimes necessary but the Service remains ever-vigilant to sources of information operating from a self-serving agenda. Any information supplied to the Service by a foreign agency is evaluated against what the Service already possesses and the previous reliability of the supplier. It must also be considered that reliance on foreign agencies for criminal and security checks can result in lengthy processing delays.
All relevant information collected by CSIS under the Immigration Screening program, on either prospective immigrants or refugee claimants, is thoroughly analysed in order to assist CIC in its subsequent decision as to whether they are inadmissible under the Immigration Act.
In 1996/97, the Service processed 50,444 requests from CIC under the Immigration Screening program, including 7,779 applications from refugee claimants. The Service's average processing time was 42 days, with approximately 50 percent of all cases completed within this time-frame. The remaining 50 percent averaged 177 days to complete. Less than one percent of all cases took longer than 12 months to process.
CSIS also provides CIC with security assessments on applicants for Canadian citizenship. Under new arrangements in place, CIC forwards all applications for citizenship to CSIS for review. The Service advises CIC if any security concerns relating to a particular application surfaced in the course of its checks, and provides CIC with a relevant security assessment in that particular case.
The implementation of the new arrangements was completed in 1996/97 and during this period, CSIS received 91,873 requests in relation to the Citizenship Screening program.
CSIS regularly receives verbal enquiries, including telephone calls, from individuals regarding the status of either government screening, immigration screening or citizenship screening files. The Service cannot disclose personal information over the telephone due to privacy concerns, nor does it discuss the nature or the extent of any security assessment provided to a client department or agency.
There are, however, procedures in place for individuals to enquire about the status of the security assessment request forwarded by a client department or agency to CSIS. Individuals requesting such an update should adopt the following procedures.
Under the Government Screening program, employees (or prospective employees) who wish to know the status of their security clearance application should contact the DSO of the department or agency from which the security clearance application originated, and ask the DSO to contact CSIS to determine the status of the application. The DSO is also responsible for providing the individual with the appropriate response.
Individuals who offer goods or services to government through contract work and wish to know the status of their security clearance application should contact Public Works & Government Services Canada (PWGSC), Personal Security Clearance Section, at (613) 956-3696.
Individuals wishing to know the status of a security assessment request received from CIC under either the Immigration Screening or Citizenship Screening programs should contact the officer managing their file at CIC. This officer can check with CSIS to determine if the assessment process has been completed or is still ongoing.
The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) is an independent agency created by Parliament in the CSIS Act. SIRC's role is to guard against any infringement upon human rights and freedoms by CSIS.
Under Section 42 of the CSIS Act, SIRC has a mandate to receive and investigate complaints from individuals whose security clearance has been denied or revoked in the case of public service employment, or in the supply of goods or services to the government of Canada.
SIRC may also review reports concerning immigration applications and citizenship applications that have been rejected on security or criminal grounds.
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