A secret court authorization allows the NSA to spy on all of the worlds countries except four, one of them being Canada, according to U.S. government documents obtained by the Washington Post.
The NSA automatically filters out phone calls from Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Post reports, essentially making those the only countries in the world the U.S.s electronic spy agency isn't authorized to monitor.
The documents came by way of a leak from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. They show the U.S.s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorized NSA surveillance of 193 countries. Only those four countries are missing from the list.
But that doesnt mean Canadians are immune from mass surveillance. The reason the NSA skips over these four countries is that they, along with the U.S., are members of the Five Eyes, a Cold War-era alliance that allows the five countries to share signals intelligence amongst themselves.
Critics of the program say the Five Eyes alliance is essentially a runaround of these countries privacy laws, which forbid warrantless surveillance of their own citizens. Surveillance on a given country is carried out by one of the other partner countries, they allege.
In an interview with German media, Snowden described the Five Eyes as something that has evolved into a supra-national intelligence organization that doesnt answer to the laws of its own countries.
An earlier leak of NSA documents from Snowden indicated Canadas electronic spy agency, CSEC, helped monitor communications during the G20 conference in London in 2009.
CSEC says its mandate is foreign surveillance and it only incidentally spies on Canadians. It argues a lot of its spying, often at the request of the U.S., is necessary for government to have a clear idea of what is going in the world, in order to make proper decisions.
But John Adams, who headed up CSEC from 2005 until 2011, said in media interviews he shut down a dragnet surveillance program that appeared to be targeting Canadians, among others.
The same year Adams stepped down, then-Defence Minister Peter MacKay authorized the re-start of a program that, according to documents obtained by the Globe and Mail, allows CSEC to monitor electronic communications, including those of Canadians, for patterns of suspicious activity.
Its not clear if the restarted program is the same as the one Adams shut down.
The Harper government has significantly ramped up spending on electronic communications, nearly doubling CSECs funding in just the most recent budget. The agency is slated to receive $829 million in 2014-15, up from around $444 million the year before.
The feds are also spending some $1.2 billion on CSECs new headquarters in Ottawa, a state-of-the-art "spy palace" believed to be the most expensive government building ever built in Canada.
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Canada's electronic eavesdropping agency, CSEC, is getting a new $1.2-billion headquarters in Ottawa, the most expensive government building ever built. Here are some illustrations of the finished building.
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This newly-built home just northwest of downtown Calgary not only looks cool and has excellent views of the city, it features some pretty slick amenities, such as built-in kitchen appliances, a 1,500-bottle wine cellar and five bedrooms across 5,300 square feet of living space.
This house in Montreal's old-money Westmount area was built in 1857 and, with its awesome wrap-around porch, may be the coolest heritage residential building for sale in Canada right now. It's actually three units -- a main house, a townhouse in the back and what's referred to as the "well house." Three bedrooms and two baths in the main house.
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The coolest thing about this house is the location -- look at where it's sitting! Not for the faint of heart, this eight-year-old house sits perched 90 feet above the Atlantic Ocean on the Nova Scotia coast. Five bedrooms in this property that sits on 16 acres of land.
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Designed by Ottawa architect Barry Hobin, this 3,300-square-foot house near the city's ritzy Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood features a sixty-foot-high domed skylight and some pretty non-standard layouts.
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This house's a unique take on the Roman column look is certainly controversial, but for those who do like the look, the home is a winner. Twelve thousand square feet of living space in this house with seven bedrooms, including two loft bedrooms, a rec room, an exercise room, a sauna and a wet bar.
The realtor describes this as a "modern day Mad Men entertainer's home," and there is definitely something "retro-modern" about this three-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot bungalow. The house has a "covered outdoor living room" -- only in Vancouver could you find that in Canada -- that features a pool with a hardtop.
This house that the realtor boasts was featured in Architectural Digest is something increasingly seen in the dense inner cores of Canadian cities -- modern architecture reflecting the traditional houses nearby. Promos for the house promise a "New York Upper East Side feel" in this five-bedroom property.
It may not look it from its industrial-modern design, but this house is, according to the realtor, a ravine oasis. Located in the city's upscale Lawrence Ave. area, the house features a 23-foot ceiling in the foyer, a glass spiral staircase, an indoor squash court and a sauna on 5,100 square feet of living space.
Not many pictures available of the exterior of this house, but just look at this pool! Possibly the awesomest indoor pool in a private residence in Canada. The rest of the house ain't bad, either: 12,000 square feet of living space, with nine bedrooms and 10 baths, a 25-foot-high ceiling at the main entrance, and underground car parking.
This is a huge house -- more than 8,500 square feet of living space. Besides the eye-catching front entrance, the house features a 22-foot barrel vaulted entrance and more than 500 feet of private waterfront. There's also a three-car garage.
The realtor promises an "indoor and outdoor lifestyle" in this oceanfront house in West Van. The house's three levels overlook a central atrium and the lower level features a heated swimming pool and jacuzzi. The house has an elevator, naturally, and a boat ramp.
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NSA Not Spying On Canadians, But The 'Five Eyes' Are
