Canada allowed widespread surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) during the 2010 G8 and G20 summits in Canada, according to Canada’s national television public broadcaster CBC TV.
CBC reporter Greg Weston broke the story Wednesday night (November 27) using top secret documents retrieved by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Briefing notes, stamped “Top Secret,” show the U.S. turned its Ottawa embassy into a security command post during a six-day spying operation by the NSA while U.S. President Barack Obama and 25 other foreign heads of government were on Canadian soil in June of 2010.
The covert U.S. operation was no secret to Canadian authorities and was coordinated with Canada’s intelligence gathering agency, the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC).
The secret documents do not reveal the precise targets of the espionage.
CBC contacted the Canadian and U.S. governments for comment. U.S. State Department officials would not comment directly on the spying issue. Instead they pointed to the fact President Obama has ordered a review of all NSA operations in the wake of the Snowden revelations.
Officials at Canada’s intelligence gathering agency CSEC, offered no comment.
In a Toronto Star story covering the CBC report, the newspaper quoted a spokesperson for Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper declining to comment on the report. “We do not comment on operational matters related to national security,” Jason MacDonald, the Prime Minister’s director of communications, told the Star in an email.
More information:
CBC News – New Snowden docs show U.S. spied during G20 in Toronto (includes video report) – here
Toronto Star – Canada knew U.S. spying on G20: CBC report – here
Canada surveillance timeline 1974-2013 – here
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