June 30, 2025
The Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, P.C., M.P.
Minister
Public Safety
Subject: Notification of NSIRA’s Review of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Counter-Intelligence (CI) Targeting
Dear Minister Anandasangaree,
I am writing on behalf of the Members of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) to inform you that NSIRA has initiated a review of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) counter-intelligence (CI) targeting.
This review is being conducted pursuant to paragraphs 8(1)(a) and (b) of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency Act (NSIRA Act). The NSIRA Act grants NSIRA full and timely access to all information held by reviewed departments and agencies, including classified and privileged information, with the exception of cabinet confidences.
The review will assess CSIS’ compliance with the law and ministerial direction, as well as the reasonableness and necessity of CSIS’ targeting of threats pursuant to subsections 2(a) and (b) of the CSIS Act. The review will focus its evaluation on a small subset of targets and the associated policy and processes related to target selection.
NSIRA will engage with your officials regarding this review. As the review progresses, NSIRA’s review team will be in regular contact with them with requests for information. Such requests may involve documents, system access, written explanations, briefings, interviews, surveys, and any other information that NSIRA determines to be of relevance to this review. This review may also include independent inspections of some technical systems. NSIRA’s expectations for responsiveness are available online at https://nsira-ossnr.gc.ca.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation and support to the independent review process, which is key to transparency and democratic accountability.
Sincerely,
The Honourable Marie Deschamps, C.C.
Chair, National Security and Intelligence Review Agency
cc Tricia Geddes, Deputy Minister, Public Safety Canada
Daniel Rogers, Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service