Communications Security Establishment Canada The Communications Security Establishment Canada ( CSEC or CSE ) ( ) ( " CSTC " or " CST " ) is the Canadian government ' s national cryptologic agency . Administered under the Department of National Defence ( DND ) , it is responsible for foreign signals intelligence ( SIGINT ) and protecting Canadian government electronic information and communication networks . The CSEC is accountable to the Minister of National Defence through its deputy head , the Chief of CSEC . The Minister of National Defence is in turn accountable to the and Parliament . History . CSEC was established in 1946 as the Communications Branch of the National Research Council ( CBNRC ) , and was transferred to the DND in 1975 by an Order in Council . The origins of CSEC can be traced back to the Second World War where the civilian organization worked with intercepted foreign electronic communications , collected largely from the Canadian Signal Corps station at Rockcliffe airport in Ottawa . CSEC also worked with CFS Leitrim , located just south of Ottawa , which is Canada ' s oldest operational signal intelligence collection station . Established by the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in 1941 as 1 Special Wireless Station and renamed Ottawa Wireless Station in 1949 , CFS Leitrim acquired its current name when the Supplementary Radio System ( SUPRAD ) was created in 1966 . In 1946 , the station ' s complement was 75 personnel . The current strength ( 2005 ) is 450 military personnel and 28 civilian employees . This unit successfully decrypted , translated , and analyzed these foreign signals , and turned that raw information into useful intelligence reports during the course of the war . CSEC and the information it gathered and shared was secret for 34 years , when , in 1974 , the CBC television documentary entitled " the Fifth estate : The espionage establishment " focused on the organization , resulting in an outcry in the Canadian House of Commons and an admission by the Canadian government that the organization existed . CSEC is now publicly known , and occupies several buildings in Ottawa , including the well - known Edward Drake Building and the neighbouring Sir Leonard Tilley Building . During the Cold War , CSEC was primarily responsible for providing SIGINT data to the Department of National Defence regarding the military operation s of the Soviet Union . Since then , CSEC has diversified and now is the primary SIGINT resource in Canada . The CSEC also provides technical advice , guidance and services to the Government of Canada to maintain the security of its information and information infrastructures . In early 2008 , in line with the Federal Identity Program ( FIP ) of the Government of Canada , which requires all federal agencies to have the word " Canada " in their name , CSE adopted the applied title " Communications Security Establishment Canada " ( CSEC ) or ( ) ( CSTC ) . Examination Unit . The Examination Unit was established on June 1941 as a branch of the National Research Council of Canada . At that time the main station for the unit was a house near the Prime Minister ' s Laurier Avenue residence . The unit chose this location because they felt it would draw no suspicion to the enemies . The original mandate of the Examination Unit was to intercept the communications of Vichy France and Germany . Its mandate later expanded to include interception and decryption of Japan ese communications after Japan entered World War II . The unit was estimated to have had 45 staff members . In September 1945 , U . S . president Truman declared that it was vital that peacetime signal intelligence ( SIGINT ) operations be carried out . Canadian authorities came to the same conclusion in December of that same year . For this reason , the Examination Unit was renamed the Communications Branch . Role . Unique within Canada ' s security and intelligence community , the Communications Security Establishment Canada employs code - makers and code - breakers ( cryptanalysis ) to provide the Government of Canada with information technology security ( IT Security ) and foreign signals intelligence services . CSEC also provides technical and operational assistance to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and federal law enforcement and security agencies , including the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority . Signal intelligence . CSEC ’ s SIGINT program produces intelligence that responds to Canadian government requirements . At CFS Leitrim , the main military SIGINT facility in the south end of Ottawa , the establishment collects foreign intelligence that can be used by the government for strategic warning , policy formulation , decision - making in the fields of national security and national defence , and day - to - day assessment of foreign capabilities and intentions . The station at Leitrim specializes in intercepting electronic communications to and from embassies in Ottawa . Other Canadian military SIGINT facilities are located at : CFB Gander Newfoundland with a detachment from CFS Leitrim , CFS Masset , BC ( under remote control from CFS Leitrim ) and CFS Alert , Nunavut . The success of this process is founded on CSEC ’ s understanding of the leading - edge technologies used by the global information infrastructure . CSEC relies on its closest foreign intelligence allies , the US , UK , Australia and New Zealand to share the collection burden and the resulting intelligence yield . Canada is a substantial beneficiary of the collaborative effort within the partnership to collect and report on foreign communications . During the Cold War , CSEC ’ s primary client for signals intelligence was National Defence , and its focus was the military operations of the then Soviet Union . Since the end of the Cold War , Government of Canada requirements have evolved to include a wide variety of political , defence , and security issues of interest to a much broader range of client departments . While these continue to be key intelligence priorities for Government of Canada decision - makers , increasing focus on protecting the safety of Canadians is prompting greater interest in intelligence on transnational issues , including terrorism . Code Breaking Equipment . CSEC code breaking capabilities degraded substantially in the 1960s and 1970s but were upgraded with the acquisition of a Cray X - MP / 11 ( modified ) supercomputer delivered to the Sir Leonard Tilley building in March 1985 and the hiring of code breaking analysts . It was , at the time , the most powerful computer in Canada . In the early 1990s , the Establishment purchased a Floating Point Systems FPS 522 - EA supercomputer at a cost of $ 1 , 620 , 371 . This machine was upgraded to a Cray S - MP superserver after Cray acquired Floating Point Systems in December in 1991 and used the Folklore Operating System supplied by the NSA in the US . These machines are now retired . Little information is available on the types of computers used by the CSEC since then . However , Cray in the US has produced a number of improved supercomputers since then . These include the Cray SX - 6 , early 2000s , the Cray X1 , 2003 ( development funded in part by the NSA ) , Cray XD1 , 2004 , Cray XT3 , Cray XT4 , 2006 , Cray XMt , 2006 and Cray CX1 , 2008 . It is possible that some of these models have been used by the CSEC and are in use today . - note : Distinctions should be made between Cray Research , Inc ( acquired by SGI ) and Cray Computer ( a different company founded by Seymour Cray after he left Cray Research ) . IT Security . Formerly known as communications security ( COMSEC ) , the CSEC ’ s IT Security Program grew out of a need to protect sensitive information transmitted by various agencies of the government , especially the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ( DFAIT ) , Canada Border Services Agency ( CBSA ) , DND , and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( RCMP ) . As a result of this critical and urgent need , the IT Security program ’ s strategic stance has made possible a shift to that of a predictive nature allowing the program to provide relevant knowledge based upon sound practices and forward looking solutions . CSEC ’ s IT Security Program has earned highly valued global respect and a reputation of technical excellence . It now extends its expertise past its traditional technical clients to those within the Government of Canada who are responsible for the formulation and implementation of policy and program managers , and is committed to ensuring cyber networks and critical infrastructures are trustworthy and secure . CSEC also conducts research and development on behalf of the Government of Canada in fields related to communications security . Mandate . In December 2001 the Canadian 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 CSEC ' s three - part mandate : The Anti - Terrorism Act also strengthened CSEC ' s capacity to engage in the war on terrorism by providing needed authorities to fulfill its mandate . CSEC is forbidden , by law , to intercept domestic communications . When intercepting communications between a domestic and foreign source , the domestic communications are destroyed or otherwise ignored ( however , after the September 11 , 2001 attacks on the United States , CSEC ' s powers expanded to allow the interception of foreign communications that begin or end in Canada , as long as the other party is outside the border and ministerial authorization is issued specifically for this case and purpose ) . CSEC is bound by all Canadian laws , including the Criminal Code of Canada , the Charter of Rights and Freedoms , and the Privacy Act . Commissioner . The Office of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner ( OCSEC ) was created on June 19 , 1996 , to review CSEC ' s activities for compliance with the applicable legislation , accept and investigate complaints regarding the lawfulness of the agency ' s activities , and to perform special duties under the ' Public Interest Defence ' clause of the Security of Information Act . Once a year , the Commissioner provides a public report on his activities and findings to Parliament , through the Minister of National Defence . As of 2010 , there have been five Commissioners : New Facilities . With the rapid expansion in the number of CSEC personnel since the 9 / 11 attack in the US , the existing CSEC facilities are no longer sufficiently large . A new C $ 880 million , 72 , 000 sq . m . facility is being built in SE Ottawa , immediately west of the headquarters building for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service . Construction began in early 2011 and it is expected that it will be completed in 2015 . Plans indicate that there will be a secure physical connection between the two buildings allowing for the passage of personnel between them . Communications data . In Proceedings of the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence , CSEC Chief John Adams , indicated that the CSE is collecting communications data when he suggested that the legislation was not perfect in regard to interception of information relating to the " envelope " . ECHELON . Under the 1948 UKUSA agreement , CSEC ' s intelligence is shared with the United States National Security Agency ( NSA ) , the British Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ ) , the Australian Defence Signals Directorate ( DSD ) and New Zealand ' s Government Communications Security Bureau ( GCSB ) . Along with these services from the United States , the UK , New Zealand and Australia , CSEC is believed to form the ECHELON system . Its capabilities are suspected to include the ability to monitor a large proportion of the world ' s transmitted civilian telephone , fax and data traffic . The intercepted data , or " dictionaries " are " reported linked together through a high - powered array of computers known as ‘ Platform ’ . Controversies . A former employee of the organization , Mike Frost , claimed in a 1994 book , " Spyworld " , that the agency eavesdropped on Margaret Trudeau to find out if she smoked marijuana and that CSEC had monitored two of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher ' s dissenting cabinet ministers in London on behalf of the UK ' s secret service . In 1996 , it was suggested that CSEC had monitored all communications between National Defence Headquarters and Somalia , and were withholding information from the Somalia Inquiry into the killing of two unarmed Somalis by Canadian soldiers . In 2006 , CTV Montreal ’ s program " On Your Side " conducted a three - part documentary on CSEC naming it “ Canada ’ s most secretive spy agency ” and that “ this ultra - secret agency has now become very powerful ” , conducting surveillance by monitoring phone calls , e - mails , chat groups , radio , microwave , and satellite . In 2007 , former Ontario lieutenant - governor , James Bartleman , testified at the Air India Inquiry on May 3 that he saw a CSEC communications intercept warning of the June 22 , 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 before it occurred . Two former CSEC employees have since testified that no CSEC report was ever produced . In 2013 , a coalition of civil liberties associations launched a campaign directed against the government ' s perceived lack of transparency on issues related to the agency , demanding more information on its purported domestic surveillance activities . Further criticism has arisen surrounding the construction costs of the agency ' s new headquarters in Ottawa . The project is slated to cost over $ 1 . 1 billion CAD , making it the most expensive government building in Canadian history .