Spy Warrant Shortcomings Stretch Back Almost a Decade, Newly Released Audit Shows

A sign for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service building in Ottawa in a file photo. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—A newly released audit report shows that difficulties with the judicial warrant process at Canada’s spy agency—an issue that made headlines last summer—stretch back at least nine years.

Internal reviewers found several of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s preparatory steps for the execution of warrant powers needed strengthening.