Intelligence watchdog's delayed report says Global Affairs program risks blowback

Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly makes her way to the podium in the Foyer of the House of Commons, Tuesday, December 12, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA -

Canada's intelligence watchdog says a program that has diplomats collecting sensitive information abroad runs the risk of blowback from foreign states.

The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency warns that the Global Security Reporting Program isn't adequately monitored, and has at times caused Canada's allies to confuse diplomats with spies.

Global Affairs Canada runs the program by posting roughly 30 diplomats abroad to interview people such as activists, journalists and armed opposition groups. 

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The program's officers are "accredited and declared diplomats" who since 2002 have collected information "overtly, through networks of government and non-governmental contacts," according to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

Canada does not have a covert spy agency operating abroad, similar to the American CIA, but the information diplomats gather is often shared with Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. 

The watchdog found a lack of clarity when it comes to the role the Canadian program plays vis-à-vis the spy agency's work.

It also found there was inadequate training and understanding on how to avoid breaking international rules that forbid diplomats from spying, and a lack of safeguards to protect sources facing surveillance. 

"There was no evidence of a consistent understanding among officers on what assurances could be offered to contacts, or if contacts fully understood what would be done with the information they provided."

The watchdog report warns these gaps could lead to strained relations with foreign states and risk the safety of people who speak with Canadian officials.

The report is dated December 2020, but it was only published online Wednesday afternoon.

The agency did not respond when asked to explain the delay, but said in a March 2021 letter presenting the report to the government that it would not be made public at that time "owing to the implications of a foreign state reading this review."

People undertaking the job think of themselves as automatically distinct from spies because they have accredited roles at diplomatic missions, the report says.

But "whether the actions of the GSRP officer are 'overt' or 'covert,' and whether or not they task or pay contacts, is not determinative when assessing for an abuse of privileges and immunities" under the Vienna Convention that governs diplomacy, it says.

"In fact, many cases where interference activities have attracted the attention of receiving states were clearly overt."

The watchdog raised concerns about governance, saying officials overseeing the program "indicated that a policy suite was unnecessary given that officers 'are doing what diplomats have always done,'" quoting from an interview with a program manager.

The agency found that just four people were in charge of managing a team of roughly 30 agents and the roughly 2,000 reports the team issues in a year, preventing "adequate quality control." 

And it found communication wanting, with policies sent to officers by email and information sometimes staying within embassies rather than being logged in Ottawa. 

The agency recommended "more robust governance and accountability structures, additional oversight and attention to information-management best practices."

Marta Morgan, the former bureaucratic head of Global Affairs Canada, responded to the agency in early 2022 saying its report gave "inadequate consideration" to the transparency of the program.

She said its "well-established mandate" complies with Canadian and foreign conventions, and pushed back on its contention that the program has "the potential to cause unnecessary reputational and political harm to the government of Canada," saying there has been no such harm in its two decades of operation.

Her letter to the agency said an advisory committee had been formed to look at the program's governance and that the department would aim to do a better job managing data and update its legal training.

Morgan added that the department would ask its legal team "to clarify and document the program's legal authority to operate as part of the overseas diplomatic reporting apparatus."

Global Affairs Canada added in a Wednesday statement that it is prioritizing "new accountability mechanisms." It said the program relies on foreigners "voluntarily" sharing information, and diplomats operate "openly, overtly, legally and in full compliance with the Vienna Convention."

The review agency's website indicates a response from the foreign affairs minister has yet to be made public.

Wesley Wark, a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said the watchdog report shows no evidence the program is straying from its role "to dabble in the underworld of covert spy tradecraft and intelligence gathering."

Wark, who served on national security advisory panels under former prime minister Stephen Harper, said in a blog post Wednesday that the review didn't speak to the value of the program, which he said is high. 

The report notes states have leeway to expel diplomats without a need to fully explain their rationale, and Wark said there are rewards as well as risks. 

"The question of whether a putative reputational risk is worth it is nowhere asked or answered," Wark wrote. 

Last month, the Globe and Mail reported that Michael Kovrig, whom the Chinese government detained for more than 1,000 days, had worked as an officer in the program in China before that country detained him and accused him of espionage.

Kovrig said in a Wednesday email that he did work for the GSRP during his term at Canada's embassy, from 2014 to 2016. He noted that his detention took place two years later, when he was working as an adviser for the International Crisis Group.

"All of my duties were conducted in full compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the directives covering Canadian foreign service officers and embassy staff," Kovrig wrote.

China was widely viewed to have detained Kovrig and Michael Spavor in retaliation for the arrest of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou at the Vancouver airport on a U.S. extradition warrant. 

The two were brought home to Canada in September 2021, the same day Meng returned to China after reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S.

Wark said the detention of the two Canadians likely delayed the release of the report. 

"I don't think it would be a stretch to read between the lines and assume the concern was with China and the ways Chinese authorities might use the report in the context of their hostage diplomacy," Wark wrote.

He added that "authoritarian and repressive states with highly developed surveillance systems, such as Russia and China, will perceive the GSRP in accordance with their own sensitivities — not in light of the conduct of GSRP officers."

Wark pointed out that Canada does not post such diplomats to Russia because of the risks involved, and it might want to avoid China, too.

He said officers are often posted to countries that have influence on states where Canadian diplomats don't operate, such as Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea.

In an analysis for the University of Ottawa's Centre for International Policy Studies, former diplomat Daniel Livermore said the program's agents have also had "contacts with Hezbollah" to inform Canada about the group, which Ottawa lists as a terrorist organization.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2023.