CCISS Background

Canada’s Security and Intelligence (S&I) community is composed of four specialized intelligence (collection) agencies, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP Criminal Intelligence Directorate), and the Intelligence Division (J2) of the Department of National Defence/Canadian Forces, working together with the relevant units of the departments of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, Citizenship and Immigration (CIC), Foreign Affairs, Justice, National Defence (DND), Natural Resources Canada, Transport, and with specialized operational agencies like the Canada Border Services Agency, Canada Revenue Agency, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, and Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (Fintrac). Policy coordination and intelligence assessment are undertaken by the Privy Council Office (PCO) through its Security and Intelligence Secretariat and International Assessment Staff, respectively, and by the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC) for integrated, all-agency assessments of terrorist threats. The accountability framework for Canada’s S&I community includes the Inspector-General of CSIS, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, and the CSE Commissioner with respect to their specific services.

The Canadian S&I community plays a salient role in protecting public safety and national security, in contributing to the international campaign against terrorism, and forestalling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Yet, there remains a paucity of academic capacity in Canada’s universities devoted to teaching and research on Intelligence and Security Studies. Currently only a handful of Canadian universities, Carleton among them, offer any undergraduate or graduate courses in Intelligence Studies. Most other university programs in the fields of international relations, foreign policy, conflict studies, or Canadian history contain little or no reference to the role of intelligence. Christopher Andrew, the distinguished Cambridge historian of intelligence, once described Intelligence Studies as the “missing dimension” of international relations, a characterization that seems especially apropos the Canadian university scene. By way of contrast, academic programs on Intelligence Studies are expanding and flourishing at American, Australian, British and European universities.