Bi-Weekly Briefing- November 23-December 13, 2020
Canadian national security review body releases first annual report, outlines issues including CSIS’s use of geolocation
The National Security Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) released its first annual report. Formed in July 2019 as part of Canada’s renewed accountability framework, NSIRA is an independent and external review body that reports to Parliament on the legality, reasonableness, and necessity of national security and intelligence activities. Charting the agency’s review work between July 2019 and December 2019, the report also summarizes (albeit briefly) previously unreleased reviews by two predecessor organizations, the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) and the Office of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner (OCSEC).
The report provides a number of important insights into ongoing legal issues such as CSIS’s duty of candour to the Federal Court. It also identifies concerns (both legal and policy) about CSIS’s use of certain technologies, including polygraphs for employee security screening, as well as geolocation and metadata surveillance tactics on targets.
The biggest headline from the report is NSIRA’s conclusion that CSIS’s use of publicly available geolocation data without a warrant “risked breaching s 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.” (p 26) In particular, NSIRA took issue with the lack of policies and procedures within CSIS to ensure the spy agency sought legal advice before risking potentially unlawful uses of data.
Other notable aspects of the NSIRA report include an analysis of whistleblower protection in Canada. The report identifies a procedural gap in the Security of Information Act and the “public interest defence” that is available to Canadian whistleblowers. NSIRA identified a need for future legislative amendments to enhance current protections, and that “[i]n the interim, NSIRA will be implementing internal procedures to address concerns brought forward by members of the security and intelligence community.” (p 65)
Two women charged with terror-related violence against railroad near Canadian border
United States federal authorities have laid charges against Samantha Frances Brooks, 27, and Ellen Brennan Reiche, 23, after video surveillance allegedly shows them placing “shunts” on a Bellingham, Washington railroad belonging to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company. Shunts are a series of wires and magnets that can interfere with signals and potentially derail trains. As the target is a railroad close to the Canadian border, this has raised questions about whether the event is connected to Coastal GasLink Pipeline opposition in British Columbia. Railroad blockades have become a common form of anti-pipeline protest.
The charges, which fall under Title 18 of the United States Code, §1992, paragraphs (a)(2) and (5), refer to “terrorist attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and against mass transportation systems on land, on water, or through air.” The crime carries a prison sentence not exceeding 20 years and a $250,000 fine.
According to the court documents, some of the 41 shunt incidents since January 2020 may have been motivated by anti-pipeline demonstrations in Canada. A claim of responsibility on the anarchist website It’s Going Down implies that at least one shunt was placed “in solidarity with Native American tribes in Canada seeking to prevent the construction of an oil pipeline across British Columbia, and with the express goal of disrupting BNSF operations and supplies for the pipeline.” As a result, CBC reporting suggests a link between the December 2020 incident with the two women, anti-pipeline demonstrations, and support for Indigenous communities. However, the criminal complaint makes no such connection and at this stage does not speak to their motive.
CSIS report claims Iran wired millions to Canada using Toronto company, violated economic sanctions
A classified report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) obtained by Global News alleges that a Toronto currency exchange company assisted “the government of Iran in the clandestine wiring of monies into Canada.” The December 2019 report on Alireza Onghaei, the owner of Toronto-based ONG Currency Exchange Inc., accuses the investor of aiding Iran in transferring money through Dubai in an attempt to circumvent sanctions. CSIS has assessed that the amount of funds exceeds one million. The report directly cites at least one transfer of $600,000.
The CSIS report does not specify particular threats to national security caused by these money transfers, although it more generally connects it to “foreign influenced activities . . . that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive.”
The actions CSIS accuses Mr. Onghaei of committing, which he admits to the spy agency spanned at least three years, represent one piece of a broader effort by Iran to work around international sanctions by funnelling cash first through the United Arab Emirates and then using companies like ONG Currency Exchange to get the funds into Canada.
Back in 2006, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolutions 1696 and 1737 which imposed sanctions on Iran to censure and prevent development of its nuclear activities. Ultimately, four rounds of UNSC resolutions up until 2017 enhanced sanctions on individuals and entities connected to Iran’s nuclear program. Likewise, many countries such as Canada in 2010, put in place their own sanctions based on Iran’s failure to uphold international peace and security by way of the Special Economic Measures Act as well as the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations. Sanctions include prohibitions on transactions involving property with certain Iranian individuals; the freezing of Iranian-owned assets; and travel bans.
The money transfers allegedly violate these sanctions and may pose other threats to national security. The Iranian-controlled Bank Saderat is accused of transferring funds to listed terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. But as Stephanie Carvin explains to Global News, the transfer to Canada is “different from what we would normally associate with financial activity that’s considered to be a national security threat . . . Often when we look at threat financing, we think of Canadians sending money overseas for the purpose of violent extremism.” At face value, the transfer of funds represents some foreign influence that Iran attempts to hold on Canada through financial means.
CSIS accuses Russia, China, and Iran of spreading COVID-19 disinformation
In a declassified report entitled COVID-19: Global Effects and Canadian National Security Interests, Canada’s spy agency outlines how certain countries have targeted the West through the spread of disinformation.
The report notes that Russia, China, and Iran promote disinformation but often for divergent purposes. CSIS assesses that Russia’s disinformation is intended to foster discord in Western democracies, by fueling conspiracy theories online. China disseminates propaganda that “protects its own reputation and domestic legitimacy while touting its pandemic aid abroad.”
CSIS recognizes both state-sponsored online attacks and disinformation campaigns as examples of foreign interference. The COVID-19 report comes shortly after the Communications Security Establishment’s National Cyber Threat Assessment, which also spoke explicitly about the particular threats that Russia, China, and Iran pose to Canadian national security including disinformation tactics.
While these attacks are primarily committed online, Canada has also been increasingly cautious on the ground as its supply of vaccines emerges as a possible target of theft or sabotage. However, no actual attacks have been reported. Canadian agencies have yet to provide information on any specific plot let alone attribute one to a foreign government. Nevertheless, the provincial health officer of British Columbia claimed that there were “credible” security concerns that individuals may attempt to interrupt the cold chain or sabotage immunization programs. The Department of National Defence committed in a Public Health Agency news release to protecting the vaccines.