CSIS gets new director as foreign interference allegations heat up

Canada's spy agency is getting a new leader just as allegations of foreign interference and aggression heat up.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister's Office appointed Daniel Rogers as the next director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), effective Oct. 28.

He's spent years of his public service career working in Canadian intelligence. Most recently, he served as the deputy national security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister. Before that, he spent a decade working at the Communications Security Establishment, Canada's foreign signals intelligence agency.

Rogers's appointment comes at a time of heightened concerns about Chinese and Indian government interference in Canadian politics. 

On Monday, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme publicly alleged that agents of the government of India have played a role in "widespread" acts of violence in Canada, including homicides.

Over the past year, CSIS also has had to publicly confront the growing threat of foreign interference by the Chinese and Indian governments.

CSIS's response to those threats has been questioned by particpants in an ongoing inquiry into foreign interference.

Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue, who is overseeing the public inquiry into foreign interference, wrote that CSIS can be "circumspect with details when informing others of the intelligence it has gathered and the conclusions it has drawn." 

CSIS grapples with sexual assault scandal

Rogers also takes over as calls mount for culture reform at the spy agency following the fallout from allegations of rape and harassment linked to the agency's British Columbia office.

According to reporting from the Canadian Press, one CSIS officer has said she was raped nine times in 2019 and 2020 by a senior colleague while in surveillance vehicles. A second officer has said she was later sexually assaulted by the same man, despite CSIS officers reportedly being warned not to pair him with young women.

Former director David Vigneault promised reforms before stepping down earlier this year.

Rogers will be overseeing an intelligence agency with a broader scope. In June, the federal government passed Bill C-70, a wide-ranging bill to combat foreign interference.

The bill changes how CSIS applies for warrants, updates the rules on who CSIS can brief and launches a long-awaited foreign influence transparency registry.