{"id":14013,"date":"2026-01-09T14:45:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/investigation-of-a-complaint-regarding-the-revocation-of-a-security-clearance-by-the-chief-of-the-defence-staff\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:48:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:48:41","slug":"investigation-of-a-complaint-regarding-the-revocation-of-a-security-clearance-by-the-chief-of-the-defence-staff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/investigation-of-a-complaint-regarding-the-revocation-of-a-security-clearance-by-the-chief-of-the-defence-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation of a complaint regarding the revocation of a security clearance by the Chief of the Defence Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section id=\"gmb806d6b\" class=\"wp-block-gutentor-m4 section-gmb806d6b gutentor-module gutentor-advanced-columns\"><div class=\"grid-container\"><div class=\"grid-row\">\n<div id=\"col-gm888514\" class=\"wp-block-gutentor-m4-col col-gm888514 gutentor-single-column  grid-lg-12 grid-md-12 grid-12\"><div id=\"section-gm888514\" class=\"section-gm888514 gutentor-col-wrap\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Investigation of a complaint regarding the revocation of a security clearance by the Chief of the Defence Staff <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<!--  \n * Locate code in WPCode Snippets - title:  Investigations Summaries - NSIRA number from tags\n * Shortcode: [nsira_files]\n * Description: Extracts tags following the pattern '00-00' or '00-00-00' \n * and displays them with the \"NSIRA file:\" label.\n-->\n\r\n    <style>\r\n        .nsira-file-inline {\r\n            margin: 15px 0;\r\n            font-family: inherit; \/* Uses your theme's existing font *\/\r\n            line-height: 1.6;\r\n        }\r\n        .nsira-file-label {\r\n            font-weight: 700;    \/* Bold \"NSIRA file:\" *\/\r\n            color: #333;\r\n            display: block;      \/* Label stays on its own line *\/\r\n            margin-bottom: 2px;\r\n        }\r\n        .nsira-file-data {\r\n            color: #000;\r\n            display: block;      \/* Numbers appear on the line below the label *\/\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style>\r\n\r\n    <div class=\"nsira-file-inline\">\r\n        <span class=\"nsira-file-label\">NSIRA file:<\/span>\r\n        <span class=\"nsira-file-data\">1170-17-7<\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n\r\n    \n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Background&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;complainant was a regular force soldier who held a Top-Secret security clearance. The&nbsp;results of the complainant\u2019s polygraph examination, although not exclusively relied on, were the&nbsp;primary influence in the security assessments of the complainant prepared by CSIS and the&nbsp;DND Departmental Security Officer. As a result of those assessments, the Chief of the&nbsp;Defence&nbsp;Staff (CDS) revoked the complainant\u2019s security clearance. The&nbsp;complainant filed a complaint&nbsp;with NSIRA against the CDS over the revocation of&nbsp;the security&nbsp;clearance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Investigation&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>During the Investigation, NSIRA heard from government witnesses from DND and CSIS about&nbsp;the polygraph examination, the investigation into the complainant, and the process leading to&nbsp;the revocation of the complainant\u2019s security clearance. In addition to the oral evidence, the&nbsp;government parties filed documents and made submissions. NSIRA also considered the oral&nbsp;evidence and written submissions provided by the complainant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NSIRA reviewed&nbsp;all of&nbsp;the evidence it received to determine whether there were reasonable&nbsp;grounds for the CDS to revoke the complainant\u2019s security clearance and to ensure the accuracy&nbsp;of the information the CDS used to reach the decision to revoke.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NSIRA found several deficiencies in the way the complainant\u2019s polygraph was handled,&nbsp;reported&nbsp;and&nbsp;disseminated. In addition, NSIRA found that exculpatory facts were not&nbsp;contextualized nor placed before the CDS prior to the decision to revoke.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>NSIRA found that the information the CDS relied on to make the decision to revoke was not&nbsp;accurate. As a result, the decision to revoke&nbsp;the clearance&nbsp;was not reasonable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NSIRA recommended that CSIS apologize to the complainant&nbsp;for the manner in which&nbsp;the&nbsp;polygraph was handled, reported and&nbsp;disseminated&nbsp;and that the CDS revisit the decision to&nbsp;revoke the complainant\u2019s security clearance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7790,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-nsira-subpages.php","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[],"tags":[146,47,124,77,102],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Investigation of a complaint regarding the revocation of a security clearance by the Chief of the Defence Staff - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/investigation-of-a-complaint-regarding-the-revocation-of-a-security-clearance-by-the-chief-of-the-defence-staff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Investigation of a complaint regarding the revocation of a security clearance by the Chief of the Defence Staff - 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