OTTAWA — When the latest results of the biennial Public Service Employment Survey arrived on Daniel Rogers’ desk earlier this year, the new head of Canada’s intelligence agency was angry.
No matter how he looked at them, the results of the 2024 survey for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) — and particularly attitudes towards senior management — were bleak.
The new director noted that trust in senior leadership is low, the amount of red tape is seen as too high and less than half of surveyed employees would recommend working at CSIS.
“I’ll be candid about what I’ve seen: the results are disappointing and unacceptable,” Rogers wrote to staff in a June 23 memo obtained by National Post upon request to CSIS.
“There is no way to slice this data in a way that would reassure me — our Service is not acting at its full potential,” he added. “Low morale across our workforce and lack of trust in leadership not only affect our ability to achieve mission success, but weaken trust in our Service by Canadians and our Government at a time when we are needed most.”
The
Public Service Employment Survey (PSES) results
combined with Rogers’ unusually candid and blunt comments suggest the spy agency is at an inflection point after years of being rocked by harassment, discrimination and sexual allegations mixed with growing calls for culture change.
The survey suggests
only half (51 per cent) of CSIS respondents believe senior managers “lead by example in ethical behaviour” and 57 per cent said that the agency does well at promoting values and ethics in the workplace.
Far fewer respondents (40 per cent) said they confidence in top management, whereas barely 29 per cent believed senior management makes “effective and timely decisions.”
The number of CSIS respondents reporting harassment within the past year has jumped from 11 per cent in the 2020 PSES to 17 per cent in 2024.
The results also suggest CSIS is hampered by red tape, with just over half of survey respondents saying their work suffers because of both too many approval stages and “overly complicated or unnecessary business processes”.
In each case, the results are worse than the public service average.
Issues with trust and ethics are of particular concern at CSIS because the spy agency has tremendous and invasive investigative power and can even break the law to advance an investigation with proper ministerial authorization.
The agency is also required to act quickly to detect and respond to imminent national security threats. Red tape and overly complex internal processes are likely to complicate that mission.
Another concerning PSES finding is that less than half (48 per cent) of CSIS employees would recommend working at the agency.
The service has struggled for years to staff up despite a growing mandate and increased responsibilities in combatting foreign interference and national security threats.
It also suffered from increased turnover during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a new Employee Retention and Attraction plan in early 2024. In 2022, a whopping 65 per cent of agency employees said their work suffered because of high staff turnover, though that number dropped to 40 per cent last year.
The past few years have not been easy for CSIS, which has faced heavy scrutiny over its handling of foreign interference and intense calls both internally and externally for culture reform.
In recent years, the agency was rocked by serious allegations of rape and harassment at its British Columbia office as well as multiple discrimination complaints at human rights tribunals.
Culture change at CSIS — long and often promised but slowly (if ever) delivered — needs to happen, starting at the very top of the organization, Rogers wrote.
In fact, he says it will be management’s “overriding priority” over the next year.
“You’ll focus most on enabling teams to work effectively, acting with integrity, driving for decisions, building trust and confidence, and developing a sense of positivity and inclusion,” he told CSIS leadership in his memo.
“I’ll be expecting results at all levels.”
He shared a similar message to agency executives during an internal conference in April, according to agency spokesperson Eric Balsam.
Going forward, executives’ bonuses will be tied to the implementation of new corporate commitments for “positive changes” and the organization is reviewing how it chooses, evaluates and trains its managers, Balsam wrote in a statement.
Rogers also bluntly told managers to look inside themselves on how to change the workplace for the better.
“If you’re responsible for managing people in the organization, these should read to you as a clear call for personal action to instigate change, including by reflecting on your own impact in our workplace,” he wrote in June.
The agency says some changes are already happening. For example, last month CSIS published its first ever
public report on misconduct and wrongdoing
within the agency.
CSIS also launched the first Ombuds office headed by Elianne Hall on July 7 with the mandate of supporting CSIS employees and helping build a “strong culture of trust and respect with CSIS employees at all levels.”
The PSES results aren’t all bad for CSIS either.
An overwhelming 84 per cent of respondents said they are “proud” of their work, three-quarters (77 per cent) said they like their job and 74 per cent said they get a sense of satisfaction from their work.
In his memo to staff, Rogers said he hoped all employees would believe that change is coming this time and help push the organization in the right direction… even if the road isn’t always smooth.
“Letting these results reinforce negativity and cynicism is entirely counterproductive and perpetuates a vicious cycle,” he wrote.
“You’ll have the very difficult task of trying to adopt a positive outlook, even if your past experiences haven’t been entirely positive… and of doing your best to support those people who will occasionally fail as we try to make progress,” he added to CSIS staff.
Huda Mukbil, a former longtime CSIS intelligence officer
author of “Agent Of Change: My Life Fighting Terrorists, Spies and Institutional Racism,” told National Post that the changes promised by Rogers are long overdue.
Mukbil, who was part of a group of CSIS employees who sued the service in 2017 alleging racism, sexism and harassment, noted that Rogers had identified “critical gaps” to be fixed in his memo.
“He used the words ‘disappointing and unacceptable’ and I couldn’t agree more,” Mukbil wrote in an email, noting that there have been warning signs about CSIS’s culture for years but little change.
“He has also made it clear that he is demanding senior executives prioritize trust-building, including through accountability frameworks and performance agreements. This is something our allies have been doing for years.”
Beyond the issues cited in Rogers’ letter, she listed a broken complaint system, fear of reprisal “fuelled by a rigid, paramilitary, macho culture”, racial and gendered discrimination and nepotism as other problems to be addressed at CSIS.
National Post
cnardi@postmedia.com
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