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Return to Ottawa

SUMMARY

Assistant Deputy Director for Analysis & Production Cindy Farkus travels to Ottawa, Canada, to meet with representatives of Canada's SIGINT organization, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE).

DOCUMENT’S DATE

Nov 16, 2006

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

May 29, 2019

TAGS

Canada

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Page 1 from Return to Ottawa
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL (U) Return to Ottawa FROM: Cindy Farkus Asst. Dep. Director for A&P (S2) and NSA/CSS Senior Intelligence Authority Run Date: 11/16/2006 (U//FOUO) Cindy Farkus reports on her recent visit to Canada's SIGINT organization: (C) Following the GCHQ/Customer Service Intelligence Production (CSIP) and NSA/CSS A&P bilaterals on 23/24 Oct 06*, Jon Ashton, Head of Intelligence Production, GCHQ, and I traveled to Ottawa, Canada to visit with our Canadian counterparts at the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). Jon Ashton participated in the first day only. (U//FOUO) The CSE complex (S//SI//REL) The first day was spent in a series of round table discussions with elements of the Director General, Intelligence (DGI), to include Information Operations/Computer Network Operations, Geospatial/Target Analysis Centre, Counter Terrorism, Counter Intelligence, Afghanistan, Iran, SIGINT-HUMINT, and Combating Proliferation. It was clear from the discussions that we share many of the same challenges - competing priorities; dealing with variety, velocity, volume (V3); shaping the workforce; balancing current and strategic requirements; working in a cross-mission and cross-Intelligence environment; and developing tradecraft. (S) Our Senior U.S. Liaison Officer for Ottawa (SUSLOO), , hosted a lovely dinner at her home with folks from CSE, Canadian Forces Information Operations Group (CFIOG) (our CSS counterparts), and GCHQ. (S) (L-R) (U//FOUO) , Director of DGI, CSE; LCol , CO CFS Leitrum; , SUSLOO; Vicki Walker, Manager Geospatial Metadata Analysis, CSE SUSLOO, and Cindy Farkus, former SUSLOO (TS//SI//REL) Our second day, we visited Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Leitrim and met with the CFIOG. We were given a tour of the OPS floor and the "GEO cell." Discussion with the CFIOG commander was held on topics of training, military integrees at Cryptologic Centers, and operations in Afghanistan. (U//FOUO) Canadian Forces Station Leitrim (S//SI//REL) During the afternoon we were back at CSE for additional roundtable discussions about Europe with Shelly Bruce, Director of DGI, and her Regional Targets folks. CSE is very interested in the European Security Operations Center (ESOC) developments. Several actions were taken throughout the visit relating to diverse target sets, building the workforce of the future and roles/opportunities for integrees/interns/short term TDYs. We also agreed to set up a bi-lat for NSA/CSE A&P leadership in January. The goal is to exchange information and discuss issues at a strategic level. It will be held here at NSA, even though I wanted to go to Canada so I could skate on the Rideau Canal again.
Page 2 from Return to Ottawa
(S) I also held a session with our NSA integrees at CSE. They loved the Girl Scout cookies I brought up - little something from "home." We compared them to their Girl Guide cookies. The discussion centered on changes at NSA/CSS, Transformation 3.0, career development opportunities, and the wonderful opportunities that a PCS tour to Ottawa offers. (U) Thanks for reading! Cindy *Note: (C) For more info on the Bi-lats - see email from Carl Johnson on 11/02/06 , subject: Joint NSA A&P/GCHQ CSIP Leadership Forum Wrap-Up. "(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)." DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108