Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I mentioned earlier, I am not in a position to comment specifically on these allegations and on this information. What I can say, however, is that CSIS and our intelligence partners do indeed share information extensively with international partners. Foreign interference, among other threats, is a threat shared by many countries.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I will unfortunately have to reiterate my answer. I cannot specifically confirm in this current setting some of the information in the public domain.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I said in answer to your previous question, we endeavour to provide information, working with PCO, to this committee on what has been briefed and would have been briefed, but I'm not in a position to specifically answer the question.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the member has had a preview of my answer. I will not be able to speak specifically about who may or may not have been the subject of interference. What I can say, and what we have said publicly many times over the last number of years, is that the actors who are engaged in foreign interference against Canadians do so at all levels of government—at the federal, provincial and municipal levels—and they are doing it across party lines.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll structure my answer in two ways. The first is what CSIS can do. We would investigate the information using all techniques to find out as much as possible about the interference of diplomats based in Canada. When we have that information, the service has the option of taking direct measures using our threat reduction mandate.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, in an intelligence agency where professionals like ours work, there are always points of view. I can tell you that the discussions are very serious. On the other hand, I would like to reassure the committee that the issues specifically related to interference are among the most important issues we discuss.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This is an important and rather complex issue. The specific case that you raise, to my knowledge, involves an independent foundation that is not part of the government apparatus. So it's not something that would be of direct concern to CSIS. That said, if we learned that a foreign entity was interfering through various means and targeting people inside or outside of government, we would have the authority to investigate that directly.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I recall correctly, it was through legislative changes in 2018 that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was given the authority to take action to mitigate threats. This is evolving, and ministerial guidance frames how the service can use this power. As I mentioned earlier, we don't generally work in a vacuum.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In my opening remarks, I mentioned the complexity of foreign interference. I think the committee is now seeing what we have noticed over the last few years, which is that the nature of foreign interference is changing and is becoming more sophisticated. Some countries, some actors, are not doing today what they did 10 years ago, because they have learned.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Normally I'm the one who would be doing these briefings. There may have been one or two that my colleague, the deputy director of operations, may have undertaken, but normally it would be me briefing the panel directly.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. Actually, over the years since the inception of CSIS in 1984, we have developed, between CSIS and the RCMP, very elaborate processes to share information. I think the committee has heard some of the challenges that exist in using intelligence and passing it on to law enforcement agencies or investigative bodies.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's indeed the conclusion that the panel has taken. They received a lot of information, a lot of briefings. I can tell you, having been part of the discussions, that the panel challenged us on our information to get a better understanding. The panel members wanted to better understand what we had, and it was a very robust exchange.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Very quickly, I would say that the bread and butter of an intelligence organization is the ability to collect secrets, keep secrets and use those secrets with the appropriate people. When that ability is threatened, it undermines the confidence of our partners domestically and internationally.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  For any information that is disclosed in an unauthorized way, you do not know the consequences. You cannot foresee the consequences down the road, so I think it's a very serious matter—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I mentioned—