Fort Meade, Maryland.
Over the twelve years I spied for CSE, it became increasingly to resemble
the NSA. Both specialize in providing secure communications and signals
intelligence (SIGINT); both operated for years with little public knowledge
or legislative oversight until they were exposed by the media.
[snip]
Despite the similarities, CSE is treated more like a subsidiary than an
equal partner. US military and economic clout, as well as NSA's vastly
superior technical capabilities and near unlimited funds, allow Washington
to dominate.
And while CSE has only a $200-300 million dollar budget, NSA has an
estimated annual budget of almost $4 billion.
But the relationship is not without mutual benefits. CSE, NSA, and Britain's
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) use each other's facilities
and personnel to spy on friend and foe alike and, more alarmingly, to
circumvent domestic laws and spy on their own populations.
[snip]
I either participated in or had direct knowledge of operations in which
CSE operated alone or joined with NSA or GCHQ to:
o intercept communications in other countries from the confines of
Canadian embassies around the world with the knowledge of the
ambassador;
o aid politicians, political parties, or factions in an allied country
to gain partisan advantage
o spy on its allies
o spy on its own citizens; and
o perform "favors" that helped its allies evade domestic laws against
spying.
[snip]
Although I visited NSA headquarters at Fort Meade dozens of times, it was
at the Special Collection Services (SCS) at College Park, Maryland, that
I received my covert operation training and assignments.
This facility, set in suburban Washington, DC, dealt exclusively with
covert operations. [The facility was relocated closer to Fort Meade in
the early 1990s]
The first time I wa