Canadian spies new `disruption` powers seen as way to combat foreign influence
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

OTTAWA—Canada’s domestic intelligence agency sees its new “threat reduction� powers as a tool to disrupt foreign influence, including during the upcoming federal election campaign. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) told a Toronto Star/BuzzFeed News investigation that it views its “threat reduction mandate� as “another tool� for the federal government to respond to threats including “foreign influenced activity.�The agency’s mandate allows it to take direct action to “reduce� threats to Canada’s national security and interests, rather than simply collect intelligence. It allows the agency to take an wide array of actions to disrupt threats, although more invasive actions — such as those that would violate Charter rights or break Canadian laws — require approval from a judge.“While CSIS cannot discuss the precise nature of our investigations, CSIS actively investigates any threats to Canada’s democratic institutions and supports the (government’s) collective effort to respond accordingly,� wrote agency spokesperson John Townsend in a statement. Canada’s intelligence community has already identified foreign operations targeting the country’s “democratic institutions� ahead of the Oct. 21 election. The Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s cyber defence and espionage agency, has assessed it’s “very likely� that foreign actors will attempt to intervene in the election — although not at the scale seen in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. CSIS was granted “threat reduction� powers by the former Conservative government in anti-terror reforms in 2015. Read more: Never mind the Russians. Democracy’s real social-media threat could be homegrownGood luck finding justice for foreign election interference, experts sayCanadian political parties already targeted ...