Canadian Foreign Intelligence Agency - Military Intelligence

Military Intelligence

The main intelligence service of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces is the Intelligence Branch. The Intelligence Branch is a Personnel branch with the mandate to provide correct and up-to-date information to Defence policymakers and commanders. In order for them to comply with this mandate, they conduct operations, covert or overt, at home or abroad. In such conditions and environments abroad such as Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Afghanistan or environments in Canada such as the Quebec ice storms or the British Columbian wildfires.

The interception of foreign radio and communications, commonly referred to as signals intelligence or SIGINT, is in the mandate of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), an agency that is located within the portfolio of the Department of National Defence. The agency is also responsible for providing technical advice and guidance to the federal government and the ensure the security of Canadian government communications. The CSE was establish as the Examinations Unit of the National Research Council on June 1941 and was headquartered at the Laurier Avenue residence or the Prime Minister. The government had chosen this headquarters because they felt it wouldn't draw undue public attention. At its establishment, the Examinations Unit had been mandated to intercept communications of Vichy France and Germany. When Japan entered the Second World War, the unit's mandate expanded to include the interception of Japanese communications. In a 1944 estimation, the unit had 45 staff members. It was later rename to the Communications Branch.

The Military of Canada has had intelligence operatives on the ground in Afghanistan since Canada started contributing to Operation Enduring Freedom. This was confirmed by Brigadier General Denis Thompson, on the same day that it was revealed that the Canadian Forces had established a new, specialized unit, called the Human Intelligence Company, to conduct intelligence operations in Afghanistan. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation obtained documents saying that the Canadian Forces spent over $20 million on the new unit, which was reported in 2008 to be actively recruiting new soldiers.