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Annual Report 1995-1996 - An Operational Audit of CSIS Activities
4. Security Screening
In the course of performing screening enquiries, the Service's investigators come into daily contact with the public, thus making the Security Screening Program the Service's most visible function.
The Service's security screening activities fall under sections 13, 14, and 15 of the CSIS Act, supplemented by Ministerial Direction and Service policy. The Service may conduct such investigations as are required for the purpose of providing security assessments to departments of the government, and security advice to the responsible Minister in the area of citizenship and immigration.
This year, the Minister issued a Ministerial Direction to the Director on security screening and assessments, and, in conformity with subsection 6(2)of the CSIS Act, we received a copy. This Direction identifies the prevailing Government Security Policy (GSP) as the minimum standard required of the Service, and sets out general principles and guidelines to govern the provision of security assessments. It states that security assessments should be timely, accurate, and complete. Where there are reasonable grounds to doubt the loyalty or reliability of an individual, the concerned person should be given an opportunity to resolve such doubts. It also emphasizes that it is of paramount concern that the Service ensure the accuracy of the information contained in security assessments.
We noted that the Ministerial Direction leaves the collection, reporting, handling, and separate retention of information pursuant to security assessments, to be governed in accordance with approved Service operational policies and procedures.
(a) Government Security Screening
Upon request by a government department or agency, the Service conducts screening investigations in order to provide security assessments for these employees of the Public Service who require a security clearance, except those employed by the Department of National Defence (DND), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). These two agencies conduct their own field investigations. Security assessments are also provided for persons in the private sector under contract to government institutions.
A security assessment is required in all instances where a person's duties require access to classified information or assets.
The CSIS Act defines a security assessment as an appraisal of an individual's loyalty to Canada and, insofar as it relates thereto, the reliability of that individual. Therefore, a clear causal relationship between loyalty and reliability must be seen to exist before reliability becomes a concern of the Service.
For the year under review, CSIS processed a total of 56,886 government security assessments. The time required to process government screening Levels 1 (confidential), 2 (secret), and 3 (top secret) were: one, forty-two, and one hundred and thirteen days respectively. For the 1994-95 fiscal year, the Service provided 39 information briefs5 and three rejection briefs to its clients.
The Government Security Policy and the Ministerial Directive on the provision of security assessments establish the “evidentiary standards, tests, and rejection criteria
” by which a person can be denied a security clearance. Upon completion of its screening investigations, the Service provides not only information but also an assessment of the individual's loyalty to Canada, and a clear recommendation to the requesting department advising whether the clearance should be granted.
(i) Application of the “normally ten year rule
”
A decision to grant or deny a security clearance must be based upon adequate information in terms of both quantity and quality covering the last five continuous years (or to age 16) for restricted site access, or the last ten continuous years (or to age 16) for all three levels of security clearances. In the majority of the Canadian Human Rights referrals we have had to investigate over the years, we commented on the fact that, in our opinion, there was sufficient flexibility under the “ten year rule
” to allow applicants with less than 10 years of Canadian residence to provide alternative means of verification, such as personal interviews or the provision of references. We concluded these cases with a recommendation that “departments apply the government security policy in a flexible and humane manner, bearing in mind the intent and purpose of the policy relating to protecting security.
” Therefore, we were pleased that in late August 1995, Treasury Board issued a security policy implementation notice to all security coordinators indicating that the number of years for background coverage should be considered flexible, with the emphasis being placed on adequate quantity and quality of information. The policy also reminded them of the assistance the Service could provide in evaluating security assessment information.
(ii) Incomplete Assessments
Under the revised GSP, when the Service is unable to obtain sufficient information to renew a security assessment, an “incomplete assessment
” is issued to the department. In these cases, and in keeping with the fact that the authority to revoke or to deny a security clearance remains with Deputy Heads, the department is responsible for determining if there are any security concerns and for making the final decision with respect to the clearance renewal. If the department has any security concerns, the Service can further be consulted.
The majority of “incomplete assessments
” last year were provided to four principal departments or agencies: Transport Canada, Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (C & IC).
Almost all Transport Canada's “incomplete assessments
” are in the site access program of the Airport Restricted Area Access Clearance Program (ARAACP). Under this program, the Service conducts background checks for only the past five years. Out-of-country security and police checks are not conducted under the ARAACP. In cases where the individual has lived in Canada for the past five years, CSIS is able to obtain adequate information to make a security assessment in almost every case. Where an individual has not resided in Canada for the full period and because the five year period is a minimum period on which to base a security assessment, an “incomplete assessment
” is returned to the department.
The “incomplete assessments
” that CSIS issues to the other three departments, DFAIT, CIDA and C & IC are predominantly security clearance updates on personnel who are serving, or have served, abroad for most or all of the past five years. The GSP requires that CSIS conduct indices checks and out-of-country checks, when an applicant has resided outside Canada. Security and police checks with foreign agencies are not conducted on Canadian personnel as part of the update process, because it would be inappropriate to request a foreign agency to investigate a Canadian. CSIS indices checks are conducted but these checks rarely indicate anything, because the individual was living abroad. Under the revised GSP, subject interviews, which are the responsibility of individual departments, are recommended for Level 3 updates in such circumstances, and are mandatory for Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) access.
(b) Immigration Screening
With the acceptance of the concept of risk management in the processing of security checks on possible immigrants, the Service's role focuses on those applicants who, on the basis of analysis and experience, are most likely to present a security risk. The advice provided by the Service assists the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in determining whether prospective immigrants are inadmissible persons under the Immigration Act. In the coming year we will devote considerable research resources to the Service's role in immigrant security screening and the degree to which it cooperates with other agencies in the assessment of potential immigrants. Various posts abroad will be visited to provide the most accurate possible basis for this study.
In 1995-96, the Service received 51,010 applications from the department of Citizenship and Immigration. Of these, 2,769 were applications for citizenship, 9,585 were under the Refugee Determination Program (RDP ongoing), and 129 requests were under the RDP backlog program.
The Service's average processing time for such requests is 62 days; fifty-one percent of all cases were completed within this time frame. The remaining forty-nine percent of requests averaged 110 days to complete. Less than one percent of all cases took longer than twelve months as compared to a little more than one percent of all cases in 1994-95. In the Fall of 1995, the Service's screening branch introduced a greater degree of automation which should be reflected in next year's processing times.
(c) Citizenship Screening
The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada maintains a registry, called the Security Flag System, with the names and biographical data of permanent residents about whom the Service has identified security concerns. This registry triggers an in-depth review by the Service at the time of an individual's application for citizenship. Of the cases so far referred to the Service for such an in-depth investigation, very few are still unresolved.
(d) Screening on behalf of Foreign Agencies
The Service, with the approval of the Solicitor General who must, in turn, consult the Minister of Foreign Affairs, may enter into an arrangement with the government of a foreign state, a foreign agency, or an international organization, to provide security assessments.
In this fiscal year, the Service processed 779 such requests by foreign agencies. Of these, 179 required a field investigation, resulting in 19 detailed information briefs.
5 The Service defines an information brief as “a detailed assessment outlining the threat or potential threat to national security posed by individuals in the areas of government security screening pursuant to the Government Security Policy.
” The information contained in such a brief addresses the loyalty to Canada and, as it relates thereto, the reliability of an individual, or any relevant matter uncovered during verifications and investigations.