Security Intelligence Service

• Today’s release of the threat assessment by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) is the final piece in a defence and security puzzle that marks a genuine shift towards more open and public discussion of these crucial policy areas.
• Together with July’s strategic foreign policy assessment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the national security strategy released last week, it rounds out the picture of New Zealand’s place in a fast-evolving geopolitical landscape.

Low threat of violent extremism

• If there is good news in the SIS assessment, it is that the threat of violent extremism is still considered “low”.
• That means no change since the threat level was reassessed last year, with a terror attack considered “possible” rather than “probable”.
• It’s a welcome development since the threat level was lifted to “high” in the
  immediate aftermath of the Christchurch terror attack in 2019.

Changing patterns of extremism

• But right now, at least publicly, the SIS is not aware of any specific or credible attack planning.
• And there are those motivated by identity (with white supremacist extremism the dominant strand) or faith (such as support for Islamic State, a decreasing and “very small number”).

Espionage and cyber-security risks

• There also seems to be a revival of the espionage and spying cultures last seen during the Cold War.
• There is already the first military case of espionage before the courts, and the SIS is aware of individuals on the margins of government being cultivated and offered financial and other incentives to provide sensitive information.
• The SIS says espionage operations by foreign intelligence agencies against New Zealand, both at home and abroad, are persistent, opportunistic and increasingly wide ranging.

Russia, Iran and China

• The SIS identifies Russia, Iran and China as the three offenders.
• We see these activities carried out by groups and individuals linked to the intelligence arm of the People’s Republic of China.
• We see these activities carried out by groups and individuals linked to the intelligence arm of the People’s Republic of China.

• The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is a committee that includes representatives from all recognized parties in the House of Commons and from groups in the Senate.
• "Today, I announced the appointment of Senator Duncan to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
• With Senator Duncan's appointment, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians now includes:
  The Honourable Patricia (Pat) Duncan, Senate
  The Committee was first created under the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act, which received Royal Assent on June 22, 2017.
• The Secretariat of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians assists the Committee in fulfilling its review mandate.

• One might presume this confers some obligation on the government to inform Canadians if their relations living abroad are threatened by a foreign state.
• Two years ago, Ottawa had intelligence indicating that relatives of Conservative MP Michael Chong, who were living in Hong Kong, might be targeted for reprisal by the Chinese government.
• This was in retaliation for Chong sponsoring a parliamentary motion condemning Beijing for its treatment of the Uighur minority.

CSIS admonished

• As a result, Chong was unaware of the threat to his family until the intelligence was leaked last week.
• Trudeau has admonished CSIS for failing to inform the government properly.
• He says he has now instructed Canada’s spy agency to bring any intelligence on threats to MPs to his attention.
• How should this matter have been handled if the government did take its national security obligations seriously?

Regular meetings with CSIS director

• The solicitor general was responsible for and accountable to Parliament for CSIS.
• In those days, the CSIS director met regularly, if not weekly when the House of Commons was sitting, with the solicitor general, who was Liberal Herb Gray at the time.
• These are the types of meetings in which intelligence like the alleged targeting of Chong should have been clearly shared with the minister — not buried in a memo circulating among national security officials, but rather in a verbal briefing between CSIS and its minister.

Oath of secrecy

• He is the foreign affairs critic for the Official Opposition, a former minister of the Crown and a Privy Councillor.
• Chong’s Privy Council oath of secrecy could have been invoked to ensure confidentiality.
• Vincent Rigby, Trudeau’s national security adviser, retired in June 2021 and was not replaced until January 2022.

Too easy to blame CSIS

• That means the position of National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the prime minister was a part-time gig for seven months.
• It’s easy to blame CSIS in this episode.
• But a serious national security culture comes from the top down, not from the intelligence agencies under the control of the federal government.

• OTTAWA, ON, May 2, 2023 /CNW/ - The 2022 annual report with respect to the activities of the Office of the Intelligence Commissioner was tabled in Parliament yesterday.
• It is the Honourable Simon Noël's first annual report as Intelligence Commissioner.
• The Intelligence Commissioner acts as a gatekeeper for certain national security and intelligence activities carried out by the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
• The record of the decision authorizing the activities is then provided to the Intelligence Commissioner for his review.