The workshop and its objectives

On 20 November 2017, the Academic Outreach (AO) program of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) hosted a workshop to examine the strategic impact of disinformation on national security and the integrity of democratic institutions.

Held under the Chatham House rule, the workshop was designed around the knowledge and experience of a multi-disciplinary group of experts from Canada, the United States and Europe. The presentations and plenary discussions allowed attendees to explore the manipulation of information for political and related purposes, examine several recent cases, and critically discuss related security threats. The papers presented at the event form the basis of this report. The entirety of this report reflects the views of those independent experts, not those of CSIS.

The AO program at CSIS, established in 2008, aims to promote a dialogue between intelligence practitioners and leading specialists from a wide variety of disciplines and cultural backgrounds working in universities, think-tanks, business and other research institutions in Canada and abroad. It may be that some of our interlocutors hold ideas or promote findings that conflict with the views and analysis of the Service, but it is for this specific reason that there is value to engage in this kind of conversation.

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