Canada's spy agency changes hiring process to address staffing needs
CSIS recruitment changes aim to speed hiring and fill urgent intelligence gaps See how Canada’s spy agency is streamlining clearance, testing, and deployment
Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, is adjusting how it recruits and deploys staff as it tries to fill vacancies and respond faster to security demands.
Internal emails obtained through an accesstoinformation request show CSIS is creating a dedicated external recruitment team, encouraging more outside hiring, and looking for ways to shorten the time between hiring and deployment. The agency says the changes are meant to remove bottlenecks and improve efficiency.
CSIS jobs often require enhanced top secret clearance, which can make onboarding take 12 to 18 months. The agency is also considering outsourcing some recruitment steps and using more standardized testing tools as it seeks to staff roles in intelligence, engineering, analysis, IT, and communications.