National Defence Committee on Feb. 18th, 2015

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Mr. Williamson.

Thank you very much, General Woiden, for your time with us this afternoon.

We will now suspend, colleagues, very briefly, as our next witness takes the table.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Colleagues, in the interest of time I will introduce our second witness of the afternoon, Colonel Moritsugu, commander, Canadian Forces information operations group, Canadian Forces Station Alert.

Thank you very much for being with us this afternoon, Colonel. Your opening statement, please.

[Colonel S.M. Moritsugu, Commander, Canadian Forces Information Operations Group, CFS Alert, Department of National Defence]

Thanks, sir.

As the commander of Canadian Forces information operations group, I'm responsible for operating the foreign signals intelligence program in the Canadian Armed Forces.

I'll give you a bit of background.

Signals intelligence includes the technical intelligence or information we get from communication systems, information technology systems, networks, and the data therein. It includes electronic intelligence from electromagnetic non-communications emissions such as those from radars, for example, and it includes what we call foreign instrumentation signals intelligence from machine-to-machine communications, like telemetry from a missile to its ground station, or from a drone to its controller.

Why is that important? Canadian Forces Station Alert is at the far northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut. In latitude and longitude it is 82° 30' N / 62° 19' W, or in distance only 817 kilometres from the North Pole. To give you another reference, from here it's twice as far to Alert at 4,151 kilometres as it is to Iqaluit, which is only 2,090 kilometres away. So Alert is way up there.

Alert is a site from which we collect foreign signals intelligence, foreign signals of interest, in support of Canadian military operations.

For over 40 years, beginning in 1956, we had service personnel who collected these signals, processed and exploited them there on the site, and then disseminated that intelligence back to the Canadian Forces from there.

We still must collect foreign signals of interest at Canadian Forces Station Alert because of its unique geographic location, but with improvements in electronic signal processing and communication technology, we can send the raw signals back to southern Canada now for processing and analysis.

As a result, in 1997 we reduced the number of signals intelligence personnel permanently on station at Alert from over 250 to now fewer than 10 technicians. As the majority of issues at Canadian Forces Station Alert now relate to logistical support, in 2009 the Royal Canadian Air Force took over command of the station. I believe a witness from the air force at Alert will be here in a couple of weeks.

The signals intelligence capability, which is provided by what we call our uniquely advantageous location at Canadian Forces Station Alert, contributes to the defence of North America by providing an important intelligence input to the Canadian Armed Forces and to our binational North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.

Our signals intelligence systems at Canadian Forces Station Alert, along with similar systems at Gander in Newfoundland and Masset in British Columbia, can also contribute to search and rescue and other domestic operations by effectively looking backwards into Canada to help locate radio signals from ships or aircraft in distress.

When tasked for search and rescue, the three stations can search for high-frequency radio signals, which come from the types of equipment that airplanes and ships normally use for long-range communications, and determine their direction of origin. The intersection of the three lines of bearing from the three stations will give you a good idea of the location of that transmission.

The three roles of Canadian Forces Station Alert are signals intelligence; sovereignty, because we're there; and science, because Environment Canada is there. We also support scientific experiments. These roles are complementary and with goodwill and cooperation by all the parties involved, are mutually supportive.

From the signals intelligence perspective, from my perspective, Canadian Forces Station Alert is a vital asset and will continue to be so for the long term.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you very much, Colonel.

Colleagues, before we begin the first round of questions, I would caution you that the colonel is unable to answer detailed questions regarding the specific signals intelligence collected at Alert, the equipment used in collecting that intelligence, or the operational impact of intelligence derived from Canadian Forces Station Alert.

Our first questions are from Mr. Chisu, for seven minutes.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you very much, Colonel, for your presentation. It was very interesting.

You mentioned the three basic areas you are looking at with regard to signals intelligence.

You spoke about communications intelligence. It is quite self-explanatory.

When you were speaking about the electronic intelligence derived from electromagnetic non-communications emissions, I think you were referring to radars and also other systems, such as side-looking radars, synthetic aperture radars, as well as probably infrared devices.

Of course there are some restrictions on what you can say, but I am asking about the coverage of Canadian airspace.

As you know, you have the long-range radars, the middle-range radars, and the short-range radars. You probably have an important role in this one.

Can you elaborate on these things as much as you can, without disclosing any secrets?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

You're asking about coverage that we can provide. From Alert, we're doing signals intelligence rather than actual radars. The radars are the responsibility of the air force. For signals intelligence, once you send a message, it travels freely through the ether, right? So we're trying to intercept signals that may be even beyond our national borders.

We're looking at foreign signals intelligence that are well beyond the range of where our radar could actually see, given that the earth is curved and our radars go in straight lines from the ground. We're looking at covering and getting warning even before the radars can see things, if possible.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Are you also involved in underwater communications, or can you not elaborate on that?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

I'd really prefer not to elaborate on that one.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you, no problem about that.

When you talk about machine-to-machine communications, when you are explaining these things, you say that you have the capability to intercept signals between two communications.

Can you elaborate a little bit more, as much as you can?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

I was trying to give the three examples of what we do for signals intelligence to give you an idea, because it just sounds like science fiction when you say signals intelligence. The machine-to-machine communications examples would be if another country launches a rocket, often they have a datalink to the ground to another machine, so it's not a human being talking. That would be a type of signal. Or, if you're flying a drone aircraft and you're controlling it, then there's a signal from your controller to that aircraft.

Those are the types of signals that we'd be interested in intercepting, obviously, and then perhaps analyzing them.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Just answer this questions as much as you can. If you are detecting, for example, an intent from a foreign country, especially speaking about Russia, how quickly can this information be transmitted and how quick is the reaction, let's say, on the intrusion?

You don't need to tell us everything, but do you have a mechanism in place? Can you elaborate as much as you can about this mechanism?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

What we're trying to produce with intelligence in general, whether it's signals intelligence or any other kind, obviously, are intentions and capabilities at the sort of strategic level and actual actions that people are taking that we care about and that are very interesting to us.

As you said, if somebody was hypothetically attacking us, we'd care, obviously. The communications part of it is as fast as the speed of light. It's really the amount of time it takes a human being to look at what they have and realize what it signifies.

It's very much how fast our analysts can figure out what's going on from the multitude of signals they receive and what it means. Regarding the reaction time, I think the air force is better able to answer that, but so far we haven't missed anybody approaching our borders.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

I was asking about the timing. I will use the example of somebody approaching our borders and you are detecting them, and you are quite sure that this object or this enemy aircraft will intrude our airspace, or have the intention to intrude our airspace. You are getting this information. You are sending it down to the operation in the south to process it, and then you are sending it to the air force in order to deploy.

Unfortunately, we don't have a missile system to lock in, but somebody else does, so it is a question of timing. You don't need to tell us about the timing, but is there a system of reaction in place?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

Absolutely, there's a system of reaction in place. The deputy commander of NORAD would be the best one to talk to about how that works. Although it sounds kind of callous, but my part's done once I've told them what's going to happen. It is then up to the air force guys to take care of that.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

I would like to ask you about the importance of Alert. It is one of the most Nordic locations in the world that is populated. What is the role of Alert in the defence of North America?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

From my perspective, the primary mission of Alert is signals intelligence collection. As I said, it is vital because of where it is. It's a unique geographic advantage that we have. The connection still has to happen far forward and far north, so that it will have a continuing vital role.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you.

Mr. Harris.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Colonel, for joining us.

I gather from the location of the signals intelligence stations—one in Gander on the far east coast, one in British Columbia, and one in the north—that it tries to cover all the bases in terms of what we can assess.

You said that the air force took over the operation of Alert. From whom?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

It was with my organization up until 2009, sir.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

You did all the supplying and all the work back and forth.

How is that different from CSE, the Communications Security Establishment? They're engaged in foreign intelligence as well, but not signals intelligence. Is that the difference?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

I think if you look at their website, sir, CSE does signals intelligence, but I do military signals intelligence.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

So are you only interested in military objects?

[Col S.M. Moritsugu]

Yes, sir, foreign military objects.