Communications Security Establishment
Badge of the Communications Security Establishment. The Latin motto reads "providing and protecting information."
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CSE new headquarters in Ottawa
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1946 |
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| Headquarters | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Employees | 1,900 (approx.) |
| Annual budget | $829 million (2014–15) |
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| Website | www |
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) (French: Centre de la sécurité des télécommunications) (CST), formerly called the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), is the Canadian government's national cryptologic agency. Administered under the Department of National Defence (DND), it is responsible for foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) and protecting Canadian government electronic information and communication networks. The CSE is accountable to the Minister of National Defence through its deputy head, the Chief of CSE. The Minister of National Defence is in turn accountable to the Cabinet and Parliament. The Agency has recently built a new headquarters and campus encompassing 34 ha (84 acres). The new headquarters totals a little over 110,000 square metres (1.2 million square feet) and is adjacent to CSIS.
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) was established in 1946 as the Communications Branch of the National Research Council (CBNRC), and was transferred to the DND in 1975 by an Order in Council. The cover was broken by the CBC TV documentary The Fifth Estate: The Espionage Establishment. The origins of CSE can be traced back to the Second World War where the civilian organization worked with intercepted foreign electronic communications, collected largely from the Canadian Signal Corps station at Rockcliffe airport in Ottawa. CSE also worked with CFS Leitrim (Canadian Forces Station Leitrim), located just south of Ottawa, which is Canada's oldest operational signal intelligence collection station. Established by the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in 1941 as 1 Special Wireless Station and renamed Ottawa Wireless Station in 1949, CFS Leitrim acquired its current name when the Supplementary Radio System (SUPRAD) was created in 1966. In 1946, the station's complement was 75 personnel. The current strength (2013-2014) is around 2,000 employees. This unit successfully decrypted, translated, and analyzed these foreign signals, and turned that raw information into useful intelligence reports during the course of the war.
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