Intelligence services have a lot of structures in place to ensure that what they do is both effective and safe. This is especially important when it comes to human sources (HUMINT), the use of human beings to collect information on your behalf. If the targets - those on whom you are spying - find out your sources they can turn them against you...or kill them. Who, then, should be responsible for running such programmes? A real intelligence service or a foreign ministry where little training was provided? Borealis talks to two former CSIS intelligence officers about the allegations that Canada's Global Security Reporting Programme (GSRP) was not playing by the rules.
Intelligence services have a lot of structures in place to ensure that what they do is both effective and safe. This is especially important when it comes to human sources (HUMINT), the use of human beings to collect information on your behalf. If the targets - those on whom you are spying - find out your sources they can turn them against you...or kill them. Who, then, should be responsible for running such programmes? A real intelligence service or a foreign ministry where little training was provided? Borealis talks to two former CSIS intelligence officers about the allegations that Canada's Global Security Reporting Programme (GSRP) was not playing by the rules.