The Martlet

You could march in the streets or attend rallies to try and save the world. Or, you could stop terrorist attacks and bring international war-criminals to justice as part of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

On Feb. 11 and 12, the David Strong Building was the hub of over 40 UVic students interested in joining the mysterious world of Canadian intelligence. Seminars were led by Brent Hoag, the Pacific Region Chief of CSIS, and his colleague, Anandeep Bains, from the CSIS Human Resource section in Vancouver.

The two rattled off a varied list of experience before coming to CSIS — Hoag being a former teaching student, bank manager and Toronto police officer, while Bains earned a double major in Middle East History and Political Science from SFU.

Hoag described the world of CSIS, its 25-year history and the “real” threats to Canada, outlining the Armenian assassination of a Turkish ambassador in 1982, the attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport in 1999 by Al-Quada terrorist Ahmed Ressam, the Chinese espionage that lead to the Redberrie, and the attempted terrorist attacks on Parliament in 2006; their sole failure being the Air India Attack in 1985, when 329 Canadians were killed.

Hoag also outlined CSIS’s main responsibilities as being counter-intelligence, counter-proliferation of technology, counter-terrorism and stopping foreign interference in Canadian affairs.

“I could spend days telling you what foreign interference is, but to put in a way that is relative to UVic ... say a protest group is getting good press on a country’s activities and they take notice. Then, that country sends an intelligence officer to enroll as a student here and joins that group ... then after making friends gets on the executive, all the while creating dossiers on each of the members,” he said. “Then, the next year, he gets elected president ... and then says ‘you know guys, we’ve done a good job ... but there is this other thing we should be moving on now’ ... and I would bet you would all say ‘okay pal, let’s do it.’ And that is just on the student level.”

Hoag stated that in order to join CSIS as an intelligence officer, one needs to have an undergraduate degree (though surveillance officers only require a two-year diploma), along with a full driver’s license. Applicants should also have spent the last 10 years living in Canada (though they’re flexible), and be able to pass a background check of 10 years (or until age 16) in order to reach clearance — along with passing a polygraph and a one-year clean drug test during the initial screenings. Along the way the applicant also has the chance to meet with a junior intelligence officer or surveillance officer for a one-on-one Q&A session.

Hoag emphasized the need for honesty in the questioning period.

“We are very good at finding things out ... if we find out you’ve been lying, you’ve shown you aren’t trustworthy and you are gone,” he said.

After the screening processes, all recruits are given a call or a letter with a job offer. They are then given language training in a second language at a private school (“they have had excellent results” says Bains). Candidates are then transported to a 23 to 24-week training program where the trainee is given the basic tradecrafts of spying, including resisting interrogation, surveillance and counter-surveillance, analysis of data into intelligence and training in advanced driving — enabling the driver to smash through barriers or sideswipe pursuing cars if need be. All this is followed by a five-year probation of on-the-job training at CSIS headquarters in Ottawa. All the while the trainee is under a starting salary of $50,000 per year.

As to what types of jobs an intelligence officer might have, Hoag spoke confidently.

“Within your CSIS careers you will have at least 10 to 12 jobs, ranging from counter-intelligence, to working overseas to counter-terrorism,” he said. “Though I will guarantee you will be working counter-terrorism at some point.”

Hoag emphasized that while CSIS takes all kinds, a lot goes into becoming a sucessful candidate.

“The whole point of the [application] process is to determine what type of person we are dealing with ... we’re looking for interpersonal skills, investigative, oral communicative and social skills, a sense of others and maturity, and tolerance of others, along with a knowledge of the service and the CSIS Act,” Hoag said. “It is always good to be a news junkie from a lot of different sources too.”

Meanwhile, Bain underlined the importance of enthusiasm.

“What makes a good applicant is someone who is passionate about the position,” said Bains. “The more motivation, the more you will know and the more likely you will do well on the review boards.”

For more information, contact the B.C. Region Human Resource Department at 604-528-7413, or visit csis-scrs.gc.ca.