{"id":626921,"date":"2026-04-25T03:28:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/626921\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T03:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:28:21","slug":"canadas-spy-watchdog-has-become-too-antagonistic-experts-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/626921\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s spy watchdog has become too antagonistic, experts warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is one of the entities that NSIRA can review.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The federal watchdog responsible for keeping Canada\u2019s spy services in check has grown so aggressive in its tactics that the agency is undermining the scrutiny role it was meant to strengthen, two national-security<\/a> experts warn.<\/p>\n

A study by Carleton University professor Stephanie Carvin and University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau, says the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency \u2013 established in 2019 to independently review Canada\u2019s intelligence agencies \u2212 has adopted what the authors describe as a \u201clemon-sucker\u201d posture. This is seen as an attitude that presumes the worst of the organizations it reviews and prioritizes conflict over constructive accountability.<\/p>\n

The phrase comes from scholarship on oversight and review of intelligence agencies that categorizes different approaches to the problem, including \u201costriches, \u201ccheerleaders,\u201d \u201cguardians\u201d and \u201clemon-suckers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Published this month in the journal Intelligence and National Security, this study of NSIRA draws on 25 interviews conducted in early 2025 with serving and recently retired officials. These ranged from mid-level managers to deputy ministers and agency heads \u2013 people who dealt with NSIRA directly, either as reviewers or as subjects of review. These people are not identified.<\/p>\n

Interviewees described NSIRA\u2019s approach as \u201cadversarial,\u201d \u201cnon-constructive\u201d and \u201cgotcha.\u201d One told the researchers that \u201cthe whole NSIRA board is geared to look for the worst.\u201d Another said NSIRA treats every problem it identifies as a maximum-severity finding: \u201ceverything NSIRA catches is a 10\/10.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked for comment, NSIRA vice-chair Craig Forcese Thursday defended the watchdog\u2019s work. \u201cFor the last seven years, NSIRA has served as the eyes and ears of Canadians, ensuring national-security activities are lawful, necessary and respectful of our rights,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a mandate of tremendous responsibility, and one that we approach with utmost professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said NSIRA \u201crecognizes and respects the essential role played by Canada\u2019s national-security and intelligence community, and we remain committed to review practices that strengthen accountability by scrutinizing the lawfulness, reasonableness, and necessity of intelligence and security activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Forcese said NSIRA welcomes feedback as its practices evolve.<\/p>\n

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Prof. Carvin and Prof. Juneau are not skeptics of intelligence review and oversight. Both have written in favour of stronger accountability mechanisms and supported the 2019 federal government reforms that created organizations such as NSIRA. <\/p>\n

Entities that NSIRA can review include the Canadian Security Intelligence Service<\/a>, Communications Security Establishment, as well as intelligence and security-related activities at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other departments and agencies.<\/p>\n

The authors said they believe NSIRA leadership has been guided by its determination to avoid becoming co-opted by the agencies they review. Interviewees on the NSIRA side said they saw CSE\u2019s former review agency, the Office of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner, as cheerleaders.<\/p>\n

The professors\u2019 argument is that NSIRA has overcorrected.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy taking this approach, NSIRA\u2019s leaders have forcefully steered the agency towards a confrontational posture, which was widely viewed beyond the agency as counterproductive,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe breakdown in trust has caused significant friction and ill will, triggered resistance, and drained large amounts of resources for an already overstretched intelligence community,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

The paper, drawing on interviews, describes an NSIRA review of the Communications Security Establishment\u2019s use of polygraphs that devolved into shouting matches, left CSE employees in tears, and prompted a senior CSE official to write to the Clerk of the Privy Council alleging inappropriate bullying. Many at CSE felt NSIRA\u2019s desire to watch videos of polygraph interviews amounted to a \u201chighly invasive intrusion into an intensely personal process.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The privacy concern eventually went before the federal Privacy Commissioner, who ruled \u201csafeguards that had been put in place significantly reduced the risk that subjects could be re-identified\u201d and that the recordings were sufficiently anonymized such that they did not reveal personal information about the polygraph subjects.<\/p>\n

Interviewees told Prof. Carvin and Prof. Juneau that the episode left what one called \u201can ulcer\u201d inside CSE.<\/p>\n

In 2022, NSIRA\u2019s chair ordered an end to director-general level meetings that staff were holding with departments and agencies \u2013 sessions that interviewees said were constructive and necessary \u2013 apparently out of concern that watchdog staff were getting \u201ctoo friendly\u201d with the bodies they review, the authors said. Officials told the authors that the practical effect was to restrict contact to more infrequent, high-level channels \u2013 making routine problem-solving far harder.<\/p>\n

The authors said NSIRA has brought benefits. All 25 interviewees agreed that the agency has produced tangible improvements since 2019, pushing departments that had never faced external review \u2212 particularly Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence \u2013 to build or improve proper internal governance structures, including dedicated secretariats, for the first time.<\/p>\n

NSIRA\u2019s reports have also prompted change in Canada\u2019s intelligence community, the authors said. Even agencies that dispute NSIRA\u2019s analysis often act on its recommendations, Prof. Carvin and Juneau noted.<\/p>\n

The paper also credits NSIRA with giving momentum to changes already under consideration within agencies or departments. Its reports, the authors noted, have \u201cattracted media attention and stimulated enhanced debate\u201d on intelligence agencies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is one of the entities that NSIRA can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":["post-626921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}