Summary of the Meeting of the National Security Transparency Advisory Group (NS-TAG) May 26-27, 2023

Held in Ottawa, Ontario

Members Present:

• Daniel Jean
• Chantal Bernier
• Stéphane Leman-Langlois
• Mary Francoli (co-chair)
• Jeffrey Roy
• John Ariyo
• Rizwan Mohammad
• Jillian Stirk
• Lorelei Williams

Members that Attended Virtually:

• Amira Elghawaby

Meeting theme:

• Emerging Technologies and Digital Tools in the Protection of National Security

Invited Guests and Speakers:

• Shawn Tupper – Deputy Minister, Public Safety Canada
• Sébastien Aubertin Giguère – Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Branch
• Dr. Nicole Giles – Deputy Director, Policy and Strategic Partnerships at CSIS
• Dr. Gaudys Sanclemente – Research Scientist with FLASCO STS Lab
• Dr. Benjamin Fung – Canada Research Chair in Data Mining for Cybersecurity
• Dr. Lisa Young – Political Science Professor at the University of Calgary
• Dr. David Murakami Wood – Professor of Critical Surveillance and Security Studies at the University of Ottawa
• Mark Penney – Acting Executive Director of Technical Operations
• Sergeant Dave Cobey – Strategic Technical Advisor and member of the RCMP’s National Technology Onboarding Program
• Gregory Smolynec – Deputy Commissioner, Policy and Promotion Sector in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
• Christopher Martin – Manager, Public Safety
• David MacIntyre – Senior Policy Advisor, Public Safety

National Security Community Members Present (as observers):

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Transport Canada (TC)

Agenda:

• Opening remarks
• Briefing and Q&A with CSIS
• Briefing and Q&A on Biases in AI Used to Preserve National Security
• Briefing and Q&A on Digital Tools in Electoral Interference
• Briefing and Q&A with Public Safety Canada on Foreign Interference
• Briefing and Q&A with the Deputy Minister, Public Safety Canada
• Briefing and Q&A with the RCMP
• Briefing and Q&A with the Deputy Privacy Commissioner of Canada
• Briefing and Q&A with Public Safety Canada on Digital Investigative Capabilities (Lawful Access)
• Closing remarks and next steps

Meeting Summary:

The first in-person NS-TAG meeting of 2023 took place on May 26 – 27, in Ottawa. Members of the NS-TAG engaged with civil society, academia and select national security departments and agencies on this year’s theme “Emerging Technologies and Digital Tools in the Protection of National Security”. NS-TAG members were briefed on the ways technology is being used in the national security space and the potential problems that could arise. Participants discussed how to integrate transparency into Canada’s national security framework.

Key Takeaways of the Discussion Session with Guests:

The Deputy Director, Policy and Strategic Partnerships at CSIS, Dr. Nicole Giles, highlighted that COVID-19 exacerbated different forms of threats, including Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism (IMVE). Dr. Nicole Giles explained that ideologically motivated violent extremists take advantage of crises and public fear to sow division by resorting to hateful rhetoric inciting acts of violence and disseminating mis- and disinformation on social media. Digital tools provide opportunities and challenges, and CSIS has established frameworks to ensure legal application of new technology.

Bias can enter AI systems at various stages (for example, if the data used during training sessions is unbalanced or lacks diversity, the AI system may learn to reinforce these biases). It is important to provide bias training to individuals working with AI systems. Additionally, AI scientists are most concerned about “unethical bias”, which refers to situations where algorithms consider factors such as race, gender, or age in contexts where these characteristics should not influence the final decision.

On the question of electoral interference in the digital age and its impact on Canada, experts highlighted that the growing prominence of social media as a primary source of news and information has rendered the electoral landscape more vulnerable to propaganda, opening doors for threat actors to potentially meddle in domestic politics.

Public Safety’s Assistant Deputy Minister, National and Cyber Security Branch and Counter-Foreign Interference Coordinator, Sébastien Aubertin Giguère, presented on the foreign influence transparency registry as well as the launch of the public and stakeholder consultations on March 09, 2023. The purpose of the registry is to require the registration of foreign influence arrangements where they are undertaken on behalf of, or in association with, a foreign principal. A registry could also have a series of penalties, including monetary and criminal penalties, for instances of non-compliance.

Members of the NS-TAG emphasized the importance of providing feedback to participants on the outcomes of the consultations as well as exercising public transparency by explaining the implementation of the registry, the criteria for inclusion, and the rationale behind these decisions.

The Deputy Minister of Public Safety, Shawn Tupper, expressed his gratitude and interest in the progression of the NS-TAG’s work. He also expressed support for the NS-TAG’s current theme and acknowledged the complexities of the digital world and the recent trends that impact national security. Additionally, the Deputy Minister stated that he would prefer more meetings with the members.

The RCMP’s National Technology Onboarding Program (NTOP) conducts evaluations on all new and existing operational technologies used by the organization. The NTOP provides recommendations to operational units and senior management; it does not have authority to halt the use of a specific technology. 

The Deputy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), Gregory Smolynec, provided an overview of the OPC and addressed the importance of privacy impact assessments. He also advocated for enhanced training for those who work in a privacy-related area. Additionally, the guest speaker noted that it is imperative to establish protective practices and oversight mechanisms to address privacy implications in departmental initiatives.

Experts from Public Safety briefed members of the NS-TAG on the development of a transparency framework for digital investigative capabilities. Digital investigative capabilities refer to law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ ability to access information of targets being held by communication service providers. The guest speakers also noted a number of factors that lead to inefficient digital investigative mechanisms, such as keeping pace with technological change and slow processes in accessing evidence and data from existing mechanisms.