摘要：Canadian foreign intelligence has been a topic of debate among foreign policy and security scholars since the end of the Second World War.1 Since 1945, the most contentious issue within this discussion has been whether Canada should establish a foreign intelligence agency which collects human intelligence (HUMINT) similar to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), or the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). To this point, Canada has not instituted such an agency, even though the idea received notoriety as recently as 2006 when the Conservatives included a Canadian Foreign Intelligence Service (CFIS) in their election platform.2 The second most controversial issue has taken root in the debate with respect to where a CFIS would most appropriately fit within Canada’s existing security and intelligence community. Many scholars argue that a CFIS would most appropriately be housed within the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development (DFATD) as a standalone agency, with fewer stating that it could be a good idea to broaden the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s (CSIS) mandate to include a robust foreign HUMINT collecting responsibility.
