Coulter speaks: CSE builds

CSE Chief Keith Coulter testified before the Special Senate Committee on the Anti-Terrorism Act on 11 April 2005. Among other interesting nuggets is the news that CSE is in the process of building two new buildings to house its burgeoning staff and is looking at more sweeping accommodation changes over the longer term:

We have a campus of facilities. My office is in the old CBC building at 1500 Bronson Street. We have, on Heron Road, a major foreign intelligence complex. We have another building, soon to be two more, going up, because we are growing on that campus. We are working with Public Works and Treasury Board on a longer-term solution. The plan is, by the fall, to have a government approved, long-term accommodation plan for CSE. We have been adding buildings out on our campus because we needed floor space in a hurry.

The old CBC building, now called the Edward Drake Building (after CSE's first chief), is the Y-shaped building to the right of centre in this photo. The Heron Road complex is the L-shaped building (Sir Leonard Tilley Building) and the adjacent square building ("Annex") located to the left of centre. The building under construction is not shown on the photo (which probably was taken in 2003 or 2004). The need for new accommodations is undoubtedly related to the rapid growth that CSE has undergone in recent years. The agency had a staff of about 900 in 1997, when it acquired the Drake Building. In fiscal year 2005-06 it is projected to have a staff of 1546.