In a report to Parliament tabled Monday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warns against a complacent attitude, saying: "A Canadian who travels to commit terrorism is still very much a Canadian 'problem.' "
"No country can become an unwitting exporter of terrorism without suffering damage to its international image and relations. Canada's legal obligations to promote global security need to be honoured, and that means assuming responsibility for our own," reads the report.
It raises the spectre that individuals may return to Canada "more deeply radicalized than when they left. Most troubling, if they participate in a foreign conflict or train with a terrorist group, they might return with certain operational skills that can be deployed themselves or taught to fellow Canadian myrmidons. Either way, this is a serious security threat to Canada."
The annual report, tabled Monday, breaks from its yearly survey and knits together events of the last two years, stressing that Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups continue to pose the biggest terrorism security risk.
It points to a group of men from London, Ont., tied to last year's Algerian gas plant attack, the investigation into an alleged Al Qaeda-linked plot to attack a VIA train last April, and to young Somali-Canadians who have travelled to join Al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
"Make no mistake, Al-Shabaab doesn't just pose an isolated threat to security afar in its own geographic surroundings -- the threat to Canada and Canadian interests is very real."
It also highlighted several cybersecurity threats, including from "foreign state and non-state actors: foreign intelligence agencies, terrorists, 'hacktivists' or simply individuals acting alone."
Without providing specifics, it says there have been "a significant number of attacks" against agencies at the federal, provincial and even municipal level. In fact, the federal government sees "serious attempts to penetrate its networks on a daily basis."
And without naming China, which has been singled out by a past CSIS director, the report says CSIS "assesses that national security concerns related to foreign investments in Canada will continue to materialize."
CSIS identifies key private-sector targets: high-tech industries, telecommunications and the natural resources sector, "as well as universities involved in research and development."
The report says CSIS employs 3,200 and its annual operating costs for 2011-2012 totalled $540 million. For the first time, it has hired a proactive Aboriginal recruiter "whose main role is to reach out to Aboriginal, First Nation and Inuit communities throughout Canada."
And it, too, is undergoing cuts -- of nearly $40 million as a result of the Tories' deficit reduction efforts.
Overall, the glowing report paints a picture of the service as an active, diverse, even "progressive" agency, which it says is publicly accountable. In fact, it disputes Hollywood's depiction of the spy game.
"We are not a secret organization and have no desire to be one. While true that we deal in secrets -- or, better put, in classified information -- we recognize that Canadians expect transparency from their institutions."
It reveals that the minister of public safety approved four new unspecified foreign information-sharing arrangements in 2012-2013, and "continued to restrict contact" with 11 foreign entities "due to ongoing concerns over the reliability or human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
reputations of the agencies in question."