Reports of NSA spying on Canadian companies fuel calls for more transparency

Critics say a crisis of transparency surrounds modern spying methods in Canada after revelations that a close ally the U.S. National Security Agency has been looking at the communications traffic of at least two Canadian corporations.

There are people from the NSA working inside of CSE as we speak, said NDP defence critic Jack Harris, referring to U.S. intelligence analysts embedded inside the Communications Security Establishment, the NSAs Canadian counterpart.

Mr. Harris said he has many questions about the extent of Canadas close surveillance partnerships with the United States, but Parliamentarians are not authorized to get answers.

Were reaching a crisis point on this, he said in an interview, pointing out that the Conservative government faces several spying controversies.

The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday that a leaked NSA document from 2012 includes Royal Bank of Canada and Rogers Communications Inc. on a list of global firms whose private communication networks the U.S. agency appeared to be interested in mapping.

The document which The Globe obtained from a confidential source suggests the agency was describing efforts to identify and analyze computer networks controlled by corporations.

Markings on the document, a presentation for intelligence officers, indicate it may have been shared with Ottawa nearly three years ago. Rogers and RBC told The Globe they had no idea the NSA had any interest in their networks, which they insist are secured against intruders.

The NSA has said it will not discuss allegations about its intelligence activities.

There is no indication the NSA went as far as getting at any data inside individual computers or reading communications related to the Canadian companies. However, the presentation suggests the agency went further in using its mapping techniques to look at the computer systems controlled by a Chinese telecom giant.

The name of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. appears in the presentation, and the NSA appears to have had a keen interest in isolating the corporations data channels. These links are likely to carry Huawei traffic, reads one slide.

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Reports of NSA spying on Canadian companies fuel calls for more transparency