|  | Canadian CESM HistoryHistory
> Canadian CESM History
> Page 6 |
|
| Roots Take Hold in 1946 for Supplementary Radio Stations
Considering there was no immediate threat to Canada from Germany, there remained a cautiousness to the world political situation, specifically the Soviet Union. As well, all three services, the Army, Navy and Air Force had by now established receiving sites that could play an active role in peacetime. Providing assistance to Search and Rescue as well as keeping an ear on the political shaping of the world.
February 1946 saw the Canadian parliament through an Order in Council, grant the Joint Chief of Staff power to administrate and maintain facilities to collect data in support of communications research. The three military services would provide 100 positions: the Navy would be responsible for 40 manned positions, like for the Army, the Air Force responsible for the remaining 20 positions.
Canada established a civilian organization on 1 July 1946 - the Communications Branch National Research Council (CBNRC); their role was to govern Canada's SIGINT, and provide tasking for the military. The CBNRC being the forerunner to what is now known as Communications Security Establishment (CSE), received a report (date?) on the status of all Canadian post-war intercept facilities providing the following facts:
The Navy is responsible for 40 positions to be distributed as follows: Coverdale NB 20, Churchill Area 13, Prince Rupert BC seven. Presently, Coverdale is in existence with only four of the 20 positions manned; Churchill area will be built when cabinet approval is obtained. Prince Rupert BC station has been completed and vacancies have been filled by the Civil Service Commission. It will take two years for the Navy to provide the 40 intercept positions required.
It will be appreciated that the Communications Research Committee be called upon to inform the London Signals Intelligence Board and United States Communications Intelligence Board of the progress of intercept facilities in Canada which we agreed to provide as a contribution to the overall SIGINT effort.
It is felt that the slow progress made during the last seven months and the unpromising outlook may have an adverse effect on Canada's position in the SIGINT field. Moreover, it is feared that our failure to make more progress may seriously affect the overall intercept program, which will in turn reduce the volume of Signals Intelligence urgently required by using authorities in UK, USA and Canada. So far as our own Communications Branch is concerned, this may seriously affect the assignments upon which we are at present working.
This report went on to provide recommendations out of concern for Canada's present role, or lack of, in the SIGINT community. The report suggested that there is a higher priority placed on the manpower requirements for the intercept stations. The report made an example of the Army: "the Army's priority for recruiting intercept operators in the Royal Canadian Signals as only fifth from the top is not good enough." The report stressed the need for acceleration in the building and equipping process at the RCAF stations in the Whitehorse area, the Navy station in the Churchill area, as well as the new Army station in the Vancouver area. The latter would replace the two existing Special Wireless stations at Victoria BC and Grande Prairie, Alberta.
|
|
|
| |
|
