David Vigneault | |
---|---|
9th Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service | |
In office June 19, 2017 –July 20, 2024 | |
Minister | Hon. Marco Mendicino |
Preceded by | Michel Coulombe |
Succeeded by | Vanessa Lloyd (interim) [1] |
Personal details | |
Nationality | Canadian |
Alma mater | |
Occupation | Civil servant |
David Vigneault is a Canadian civil servant who served as the 9th director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) from June 2017 until July 2024. [2] [3]
Vigneault worked at the Canada Border Services Agency and was promoted to "assistant director of intelligence" at the CSIS. [2] Vigneault previously served with Assistant Director, Intelligence, and Assistant Director, Secretariat.
He also served as Director, Transnational Security at the Communications Security Establishment, Executive Assistant to Deputy Minister of National Defence.
Vigneault progressed to the position of "assistant secretary to cabinet advising on security and intelligence" in 2013. [2]
Vigneault made headlines on February 9, 2021 when he spoke to the Centre for International Governance Innovation. [4] In his first public speech since he was appointed Director, he named Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Venezuela as "countries of concern", said that "state actors have done 'significant harm' to Canadian companies" and pose "a significant danger to Canada's prosperity and sovereignty". [5] The Sydney Morning Herald reported that he said "The government of China ... is pursuing a strategy for geopolitical advantage on all fronts – economic, technological, political, and military – and using all elements of state power to carry out activities that are a direct threat to our national security and sovereignty." [6] Vigneault also remarked that his agency "works under outdated laws," saying the legislative powers are "better suited for the threats of the Cold War era" and called for new powers to address "significantly more complex" present circumstances. [7]
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is the domestic intelligence and national security agency of the Commonwealth of Australia, responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, terrorism and attacks on the national defence system. ASIO is a primary entity of the Australian Intelligence Community.
The Communications Security Establishment, formerly called the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), is the Government of Canada's national cryptologic agency. It is responsible for foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications security (COMSEC), protecting federal government electronic information and communication networks, and is the technical authority for cyber security and information assurance.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is a foreign intelligence service and security agency of the federal government of Canada. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world and conducting covert action within Canada and abroad. CSIS reports to the Minister of Public Safety, and is subject to review by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency.
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security and foreign intelligence. It is headquartered in Wellington and overseen by a Director-General, the Minister of New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, and the parliamentary intelligence and security committee; independent oversight is provided by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. The GCSB is considered to be New Zealand's most powerful intelligence agency, and has been alleged to have conducted more espionage and data collection than the country's primary intelligence agency, the less funded NZSIS. This has at times proven controversial, although the GCSB does not have the baggage of criticism attached to it for a perceived failure to be effective like the NZSIS does. The GCSB is considered an equivalent of GCHQ in the United Kingdom or the NSA in the United States.
The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement is a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The alliance of intelligence operations is also known as the Five Eyes. In classification markings this is abbreviated as FVEY, with the individual countries being abbreviated as AUS, CAN, NZL, GBR, and USA, respectively.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention.
The Security Intelligence Review Committee was a committee of Privy Councillors that was empowered to serve as an independent oversight and review body for the operations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). The SIRC was established in 1984 as a result of the reorganization of Canadian intelligence agencies recommended by the McDonald Commission investigating the illegal activities of the former RCMP Security Service.
James Judd is a Canadian retired diplomat and senior civil servant. He served as the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He was appointed to the position by Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin on November 29, 2004 and retired from the position on June 27, 2009, before the end of his term. He was succeeded by Richard Fadden, the former Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
The Government of China is engaged in espionage overseas, directed through diverse methods via the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the United Front Work Department (UFWD), People's Liberation Army (PLA) via its Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department, and numerous front organizations and state-owned enterprises. It employs a variety of tactics including cyber espionage to gain access to sensitive information remotely, signals intelligence, human intelligence as well as influence operations through united front activity targeting overseas Chinese communities and associations. The Chinese government is also engaged in industrial espionage aimed at gathering information and technology to bolster its economy, as well as transnational repression of dissidents abroad such as supporters of the Tibetan independence movement and Uyghurs as well as the Taiwan independence movement, the Hong Kong independence movement, Falun Gong, pro-democracy activists, and other critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The United States alleges that the degree of intelligence activity is unprecedented in its assertiveness and engagement in multiple host countries, particularly the United States, with economic damages estimated to run into the hundreds of billions according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an Anglosphere intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, Five Eyes can refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries.
The Security of Information Act, formerly known as the Official Secrets Act, is an Act of the Parliament of Canada that addresses national security concerns, including threats of espionage by foreign powers and terrorist groups, and the intimidation or coercion of ethnocultural communities in and against Canada.
Luc Portelance was a Canadian police officer and civil servant. He served as president of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) from November 2010 until his retirement in June 2015. From 1979, he worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). From 1982, he worked for the RCMP Security Service in Quebec Region. From 1984 to 2009, he was a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officer. He was deputy director general in charge of the Counterintelligence Branch, director general for the Quebec Region, and assistant director. From 2007 to 2009, he was CSIS deputy director for operations under Jim Judd; succeeding Jack Hooper, who did not get along with Director Jim Judd. From August 2008, he was CBSA executive vice president.
Richard Brian Marcel Fadden is a Canadian former civil servant who was the national security advisor to the prime minister of Canada and an associate secretary to the cabinet. He retired from that position on March 31, 2016. He had previously served as the deputy minister for the Department of National Defence from 2013 to 2015. From 2009 to 2013, he was the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). He was previously the deputy minister for Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 2006 to 2009.
Jeffrey Paul Delisle is a former sub-lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy who passed sensitive information from the top-secret STONEGHOST intelligence sharing network to the Russian spy agency GRU. Delisle's actions have been described as "exceptionally grave" by Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) and "severe and irreparable" by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Han Peng Dong is a Canadian politician who is serving as the member of parliament (MP) for Don Valley North. Sitting as an independent, Dong was elected to the House of Commons in 2019 as a member of the Liberal Party. He previously served as the member of provincial parliament (MPP) for Trinity—Spadina from 2014 to 2018, with the Ontario Liberal Party. In March 2023, Dong stepped down from the Liberal caucus amidst allegations that he advised the Chinese consul general in Toronto against the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig and helped the consulate interfere in the 2019 federal election.
The National Security Act, 2017 is a Canadian statute enacted by the Parliament of Canada to reform the oversight of the National Security Agencies of Canada, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). It also makes various adjustments to supporting legislation, including the National Defense Act, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act the Communications Security Establishment Act and the Criminal Code to support these new mechanisms.
Xiangguo Qiu is a Chinese Canadian virologist, former adjunct professor of Medical microbiology at the University of Manitoba and former head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogen Program of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). She is credited as one of the researchers who helped cure Ebola.
Project Sidewinder is a declassified study conducted by a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) joint task force. It controversially argues Chinese intelligence and Triads have been working together on intelligence operations in Canada. The report was headed by former Asia Pacific Chief, Michel Juneau Katsuya. He later collaborated with various US counterparts who were investigating the links between Organized Crime, the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese business tycoons. Dubbed the Unholy Trinity by the U.S. Department of Justice in a later named collaboration between 5 US agencies including the FBI, DEA, DIA, NSIA and CIA. Dubbed Dragon Lord, a summary of the report was uncovered by former military intelligence analyst Scott McGregor and Documentary Journalist Ina Mitchell and published in their book The Mosaic Effect in October 2023.
The People's Republic of China made attempts to interfere in the 2019 Canadian federal election and 2021 Canadian federal election and threatened Canadian politicians, according to Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Parliament of Canada's Foreign Interference Commission. In late 2022, the Global News television network reported on a suspected attempt by the PRC to infiltrate the Parliament of Canada by funding a network of candidates to run in the 2019 Canadian federal election. In early 2023, The Globe and Mail newspaper published a series of articles reporting that the CSIS, in several classified documents, advised that China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) and United Front Work Department had employed disinformation campaigns and undisclosed donations to support preferred candidates during the 2021 Canadian federal election, with the aim of ensuring that the Liberals would win again, but only with a minority. In February 2023, CSIS concluded that the Chinese government interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections. In May 2024, an official probe by parliament's Foreign Interference Commission found that China interfered in both elections.