Communications Security Establishment

Communications Security Establishment

Badge of the CSE[1]
CSE wordmark
Agency overview
Formed	1946
Preceding agency	Examination Unit, a civilian organization established in 1941, by the National Research Council
Type	government agency responsible for cyber security and information assurance foreign intelligence defensive and active cyber operations technical and operational assistance
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Employees	3,018 (2022)[2]
Annual budget	$863.6 million (2022)[3]
Minister responsible	Hon. Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence
Agency executive	Caroline Xavier, Chief of Communications Security Establishment
Child agencies	Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Tutte Institute for Mathematics and Computing
Key document	Communications Security Establishment Act
Website	www.cse-cst.gc.ca/en

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE; French: Centre de la sécurité des télécommunications, CST), formerly (from 2008-2014) called the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), is the Government of Canada's national cryptologic agency. It is responsible for foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications security (COMSEC), protecting federal government electronic information and communication networks,^[4] and is the technical authority for cyber security and information assurance.^[5]

Formally administered under the Department of National Defence (DND), the CSE is now a separate agency under the National Defence portfolio. The CSE is accountable to the Minister of National Defence through its deputy head, the Chief of CSE. The National Defence Minister is in turn accountable to the Cabinet and Parliament. The current Chief of the CSE is Caroline Xavier, who assumed the office on 31 August 2022.^[6][7]

In 2015, the agency built a new headquarters and campus encompassing 340,000 m² (84 acres). The facility totals a little over 110,000 m² (1,200,000 sq ft) and is adjacent to CSIS.