Canada using YouTube to recruit new spies

Canada’s primary national security and intelligence agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), recently launched a slick, public advertising campaign to recruit new spies.

The role of CSIS is to investigate threats, analyze information, produce intelligence, and report to the Government of Canada to protect the country. Key threats include terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, espionage, foreign interference and cyber-tampering affecting critical infrastructure.

CSIS programs are proactive and pre-emptive. And not unlike its programs, CSIS has also become proactive and pre-emptive with its recruitment campaign. The organization has now released a number of videos in an attempt to attract new talent.

The organization is using YouTube to recruit intelligence officers. The agency notes “People skills are important assets for intelligence officers whose main role is to collect and analyze national security-related information.”

CSIS has also been attempting to recruit officers to its Physical Surveillance Unit (PSU), which is primarily responsible for tactical intelligence collection, on behalf of operational sections and in support of security and foreign intelligence programs. PSU provides support for operational and administrative investigations by covertly observing the movements and activities of a designated target.

Because the security agency works at the forefront of national security, and employs cutting-edge technology, it has also been attempting to recruit the best IT professionals in Canada. The agency claims its need employees that can work with the most current systems and tools in a challenging, and constantly changing environment.

The agency has also been interested in hiring operatives for its Global Operations Centre, which operates 24/7. The operations centre assists in electronically delivering ops and corporate messages to and from CSIS stations and domestic partners.

Canada’s spy agency differs from other countries since it only operates domestically. The country does not have a civilian intelligence agency that engages in espionage overseas.

Article Topics

Canada  |  CSIS  |  security  |  spies  |  surveillance