Spy agency getting almost half a billion dollars, a bargain its supporters say

Almost every federal department and agency has felt the squeeze from the Conservative government's cost-cutting push.

Except one.

Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), our now internationally notorious electronic snooper, will spend more than $460 million in this fiscal year, the Globe and Mail reports, based on budgetary information released last week.

The forecast spending for the CSEC was expected to spend $420 million this fiscal year, the Globe said.

Intelligence researcher Bill Robinson, who focused on the spy agency's spending trend on his blog Lux Ex Umbra, noted the agency's pre 9/11 budget was $97 million (year 2000).

"Adjust that for inflation and it's $130 million, so it's a huge increase – 3 1/2 times," he told the Globe.

[ Related: Civil liberties watchdog sues Ottawa over massive electronic surveillance of Canadians ]

The secretive CSEC made news earlier this year when information leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed CSEC had a sophisticated computer program named Olympia to track phone and email metadata.

Postmedia News reported it may have targeted Canadians with suspected terror links. As well, CSEC reportedly used the software to eavesdrop on communications of Brazil's Mines and Energy Agency, The Associated Press reported.

CSEC's history dates back to the Second World War when eavesdropping on enemy signals intelligence (SIGINT) was an important tool in learning their plans. Canada worked jointly with the British but after the war set up its own SIGINT operation as a branch of the National Research Council, according to the CSEC web site. CSEC was created in 1975 and amendments to the National Defence Act set out its mandate, along with restrictions that bar the agency from targeting anyone in Canada or Canadians abroad.

CSEC is accountable to the minister of national defence and subject to review by various watchdogs, the agency says, including the Department of Justice, auditor general and the information and privacy commissioner.

"No concerns related to lawfulness were raised," in recent reviews, the agency says.

A new $1-billion headquarters for CSEC is under construction in suburban Ottawa. CBC News, which toured the futuristic-looking facility last month, was told it will house about 2,000 employees whose job it is to spy on foreigners.

Although the agency said much of the cost is for important security features, the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation criticized the expenditure.

"Paying for a glass tower and glass atriums and luxury accommodations for government employees, I don't think most Canadians would agree with that," federation spokesman Gregory Thomas told CBC News.

[ Related: Canada's new 'spy palace' damaged by weekend fire ]

CSEC defended the project, citing its post 9/11 growth.

"We had outgrown our current CSE campus, which was designed for a workforce half our current size," the agency said on its web site. "We explored retrofitting and expanding the current campus, but that was found to be cost-prohibitive.

"Contrary to the CBC report, the amenities in the facility are what one would expect to find in a modern, high-security workplace for 2000 professionals.

"Again, contrary to the CBC report, there are no fireplaces in the facility."

The Globe said the agency's boss, John Forster, told a parliamentary committee that Canadians are getting good value for the CSEC's mushrooming budget.

“We estimate that the government’s $387-million [in 2012] annual investment in CSEC provides access to a $15-billion global partnership represented by the Five Eyes,” Forster said.

CSEC is a charter member of the alliance of electronic surveillance agencies that includes the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and counterparts in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

The NSA, whose operations were badly burned by Snowden's revelations, has an estimated US$10-billion budget, according to a CNN report. The budgets of U.S. intelligence agencies are classified. The Globe said Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is about $3 billion.