By DAYANTI KARUNARATNE

Last week, we were approached by Toronto’s WZMH Architects with an alluring proposal: would we like to share images of CSEC‘s new east-end headquarters?

Yes, please! This is the closest most civilians like us will ever get to seeing the 775,000-sqaure-foot complex, which was built with a public-private partnership for $867 million. Built to achieve LEED Gold certification, the modern facility is said to be of substantial economic benefit to the community and is expected to generate approximately 4000 employment opportunities. 

The preamble of the pre-approved text that was supplied with the below images notes that the government is “Fully committed to the safety and security of its people” and describes the services provided by CSEC as “acquiring foreign signals intelligence in support of defence and foreign policy; protecting electronic information and communication of importance to the Government of Canada; and, providing technical and operational assistance to federal law enforcement agencies.”

The design of this facility incorporates a number of creative features — and takes into account the data-heavy nature of cryptology work.  (more…)