National Defence committee  We would have capabilities.

National Defence committee  No, I wouldn't say that.

National Defence committee  No, we would have the technical assistance—

National Defence committee  No, we would have to do that only through them, through their assistance, with the telecommunications companies. They would approach this.

National Defence committee  No, it may be helping them with forensics on a piece of computer equipment that the RCMP has obtained under warrant. It could be a range of technical assistance.

National Defence committee  I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I don't have that number with me, but if we can release that and provide it to you, we would be happy to do so.

National Defence committee  Oh sorry, Mr. Chair, if I may, I do have a bit of a number for you that I could give you actually, sorry, just looking at my notes. Between 2009 and 2012, there was a total of about 294 assistance requests. The average is about 70 to 80 per year.

National Defence committee  I believe so, yes. Since 9/11 and with the advent of cyber-threats that have increased dramatically over the past several years, the organization has about doubled in size in the last 12 years. We have outgrown our current facility and are moving into a more state-of-the-art faci

National Defence committee  Yes, where we're providing assistance to law enforcement or security, we operate under their authority. If CSIS wants assistance in collecting information on a Canadian in Canada, they must go to court, they get a warrant, and then we're just providing technical help for them to

National Defence committee  Just quickly, then, I don't think we would ever say metadata does not have an important privacy interest—

National Defence committee  Thank you, sorry. We've met with Chantal Bernier, interim Privacy Commissioner. We've given her a briefing. We're reviewing her recommendations. The government is reviewing the legislation in the context of past commissioners' recommendations for changes to the act, and that wil

National Defence committee  The Auditor General had the last audit we were involved in. We tend to be captured as part of broader audits—for example, cyber-protection in the government. The last one he did on us was related to security in contracting. They looked at the new building and the security provisi

National Defence committee  If we wrote a report on it and the RCMP or CSIS wanted to follow up, they'd have to come...we wouldn't disclose that information. They would have to come and justify why they're entitled to it under the act and those are reviewed case by case, and the commissioner reviews a sampl

National Defence committee  For that authorization, it's strictly for—

National Defence committee  —right, it's strictly for defending computer networks.