OTTAWA–Canada’s domestic spy agency is upping the number of officers and analysts it deploys overseas, telling parliamentarians it has a “growing footprint” internationally.

The number of overseas stations the Canadian Security Intelligence Service operates is classified, with the agency only publicly admitting to permanent outposts in Paris, London and Washington.

But in a 2018 briefing to the new parliamentary committee that oversees national security operations, CSIS reported a “growing footprint” abroad, primarily at missions operated by Global Affairs Canada.

The number of CSIS employees stationed internationally is censored from the document, and CSIS does not publicly disclose staffing levels.

The increased emphasis on foreign intelligence gathering comes at a time when some within Canada’s national security community are discussing the need to “Canadianize” the intelligence they collect for the federal government, according to former CSIS analyst Stephanie Carvin.

Allies provide Canada with more intelligence than Canada exports, Carvin said, and while that has benefited Canada, it also presents some challenges.

“Do we need to think about Canadian priorities? The thing is with foreign collection, (allies) aren’t worried about Canadian priorities,” Carvin said in an interview Friday.

“We can’t really direct collection, so if there’s an issue of particular interest to Canada that’s different (from allies’ priorities), we can’t really direct that.”

When Canada depends on allies for foreign intelligence, Carvin added, there’s always a question of whether or not those allies are providing — or even have — the full picture.

Canada does not have a foreign intelligence agency like the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency or the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service (known as MI6). CSIS’s mandate is to investigate threats to Canada’s national security. Under powers granted in 2015, the agency can also take steps to “disrupt” potential threats, but its focus is primarily domestic: threats arising within Canada, and threats to Canada arising abroad.

However, Carvin said, since about 2001, there has been a desire for CSIS to provide more foreign intelligence, in recognition that threats to Canada can originate from beyond its borders.

In its 2018 briefing to parliamentarians, obtained by the Star under access to information law, CSIS divided its intelligence operations into two subprograms: security intelligence and foreign intelligence.

“Security intelligence encompasses the collection, analysis, retention and reporting of intelligence in regard to activities that may … (constitute) threats to the security of Canada and the safety of Canadians,” read the documents, which are stamped “SECRET.”

Foreign intelligence “provides the (government) with valuable information that serves to protect or advance Canadian political, economic and defence interests and objectives,” the documents say. “CSIS provides assistance within Canada in the collection of information or intelligence relating to foreign capabilities, intentions or activities.”

CSIS spokesperson Tahera Mufti said the agency has expanded its “international presence to address increased domestic and international threats to Canadians” in recognition that the national security threat environment has changed over the past two decades.

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“Worldwide incidents of terrorism, espionage, weapons proliferation, illegal migration, cyber attacks and other acts targeting Canadians — directly or indirectly — remain ever present,” Mufti said in a written statement.

“Since the bulk of such threats originate from (or have a nexus to) regions beyond Canada’s borders, CSIS needs to be prepared and equipped to investigate the threat anywhere.”