The spy who drugged me: a CSIS guide
Agency warns of traps awaiting officials travelling abroad
Canada’s spy agency has quietly warned travelling government officials they might be drugged, kidnapped or blackmailed after being enticed into a sexual “honey trap” by an attractive stranger.
Foreign intelligence services see federal employees — and the proprietary information they carry — as prized targets, and precautions must be taken to prevent the pilfering of secret files, says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
The threat has prompted CSIS to prepare a special guide advising Canadian officials to be wary of saying too much around taxi drivers, letting a laptop computer out of their sight, or even stashing confidential material in a hotel safe.
A copy of the 2012 CSIS publication, Far From Home: A Travel Security Guide for Government Officials, was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
Espionage is at a level equal to that seen during the Cold War, and Canada is a leader in technology, energy and other economic sectors, Dick Fadden, then head of CSIS, says in a foreword to the guide.
“We also have prized political connections owing to our close relationship with the United States and to our membership in important international bodies,” writes Fadden, who recently became deputy defence minister.
“We are a valued target in the eyes of intelligence agencies.”
In the age of globalization, Canada’s prosperity depends more than ever on maintaining an international profile, and that means Canadians have to venture into the world, Fadden says. “The key is to do so safely and with eyes wide open.”
In an accompanying June 2012 cover letter to then-public safety minister Vic Toews, Fadden notes that he planned to send copies to deputy ministers across government as well as Toews’ chief of staff to share with counterparts.
The guide warns travellers the information they provide on a visa application form could be used to assess their worthiness as a target, meaning only necessary details should be provided.
“For example, some countries will request passport numbers of family members, even if they are not travelling with you,” says the guide.
It also advises that any details given to airline or border control agents may be collected by the host country — or shared with other countries.
Among the CSIS advice to officials: conceal baggage tags, assume luggage will be searched in transit, and know that in many countries you will be subject to physical surveillance. Searches may entail copying of documents, including those on a laptop or smartphone.
While some might think foreign spies are after only big-ticket quarry like fighter jet plans, they might simply covet a government agency’s personnel organization chart, CSIS says.
“Never talk shop or volunteer information in front of taxi drivers, waiters and bartenders, who could be intelligence officers or informants,” says the guide.
The spy service cautions against accepting gifts such as digital memory keys that can give someone remote access to a computer once plugged in.
It suggests travelling with an alternate telecommunications device that contains no sensitive data and can be wiped clean when one returns home.
CSIS also cautions travellers about the “honey trap” — sexual seduction as a means toward blackmail.
“Honey traps often involve the clandestine recording of an intimate encounter. These recordings are either used to blackmail or publicly embarrass the victim,” advises the guide.
“There are also reports of individuals who have suspected they were drugged and who awoke to find that their hotel room had been searched, smartphone stolen and secret business documents missing.”
Ironically, recent high-profile security breaches have taken place not in far-flung authoritarian states, but on Canadian soil.
Five years ago, Maxime Bernier resigned from Stephen Harper’s cabinet after he acknowledged leaving classified documents at the Montreal home of Julie Couillard, his former girlfriend, for more than a month. Couillard became the centre of a political firestorm when her past ties to outlaw bikers surfaced.