Impact of Commissioners' Recommendations

Since 1997, my predecessors and I have submitted to the Minister of National Defence 74 classified review reports. In total, the reports contained 138 recommendations. CSEC has accepted and implemented or is working to address 92 percent (127 out of 138) of these recommendations.

Commissioners monitor how CSEC addresses recommendations and responds to negative findings as well as areas for follow-up identified in past reviews. This past year, CSEC advised my office that work had been completed in response to 14 past recommendations. Notably, CSEC implemented recommendations by:

• providing support to the Minister of National Defence to update certain ministerial directives;
• updating general memoranda of understanding for the exchange of information and operational cooperation with CSIS and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada;
• committing to report to the Minister of National Defence certain information (that cannot be publicly identified for security reasons), as a measure to protect the privacy of Canadians and to support the Minister in his accountability for CSEC;
• promulgating a revised policy for operational assistance to law enforcement and security agencies under part (c) of CSEC's mandate, including guidance on the retention and disposition of records relating to any assistance;
• promulgating a revised procedure that defines risk and risk mitigation for certain foreign signals intelligence collection activities as well as adopting a risk management framework for the planning and approval of these activities; and
• launching a new secure system with other government departments and agencies for handling and tracking requests for and disclosures of suppressed Canadian identity information.

These actions by CSEC demonstrate that review works. The Commissioner's office will examine the impact of these enhancements on compliance and privacy protection in future reviews. In addition, the Commissioner's office is monitoring six active recommendations that CSEC is working to address. The Minister's responses to two recommendations of this year were not received by the time this report was completed.

The office's website provides a complete list of the 74 classified review reports submitted to the Minister of National Defence.