For the first time ever, a woman is leading CSIS — temporarily

For the first time in its 40-year history, a woman will lead the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) — on an interim basis.

The federal government announced Friday that CSIS veteran Vanessa Lloyd will lead the service for a term of six months or until a new director is appointed.

“Over the last decade, Ms. Lloyd has led a number of initiatives to increase operational capacity at CSIS and promote a culture of innovation, candour and compliance within the organization’s operational directorate,” said the government’s statement.

According to her biography, Lloyd joined the service as an intelligence officer in 1998. She served recently as the deputy director of operations responsible for directing CSIS’s human intelligence collection, intelligence analysis, security screening and threat reduction efforts.

She takes over at a time of heightened scrutiny for the intelligence agency.

Over the past year, CSIS has had to publicly confront the threat of foreign interference by the Chinese and Indian governments. Its response to those threats has been questioned.

According to a report released in May by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, CSIS and the prime minister’s national security adviser clashed on the threat of foreign interference in 2021.

In a separate report, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who is overseeing the public inquiry into foreign interference, wrote that CSIS can be “circumspect with details when informing others of the intelligence it has gathered and the conclusions it has drawn.”

Earlier this month, David Vigneault announced he was stepping down as CSIS director after seven years of service.

In a media statement, Vigneault said being CSIS director “has been a privilege” and “one of the most challenging and rewarding period[s] in my career.”

At the end of 2023, Vigneault told CBC News that CSIS is being “challenged” by new threats that are affecting the intelligence agency’s recruitment and budget.

CSIS grapples with sexual assault scandal

During his time as CSIS director, Vigneault also had to deal with the fallout from allegations of rape and harassment linked to the agency’s British Columbia office.

One CSIS officer has said she was raped nine times in 2019 and 2020 by a senior colleague while in surveillance vehicles. A second officer has said she was later sexually assaulted by the same man, despite CSIS officers reportedly being warned not to pair him with young women.

After a report detailing the allegations was published by The Canadian Press, Vigneault said the accusations of a “toxic workplace” could not be taken lightly. He promised reforms and said the culture at the agency allowed “inappropriate behaviours” to “fester.”

Lloyd will be overseeing an intelligence agency with a broader scope. In June, the federal government passed Bill C-70, a wide-ranging bill to combat foreign interference.

The bill changes how CSIS applies for warrants, updates the rules on who CSIS can brief and launches a long-awaited foreign influence transparency registry.