National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP; French: Comité des parlementaires sur la sécurité nationale et le renseignement; CPSNR) is a body composed of members of the House of Commons and Senate which reviews the activities of the Government of Canada's national security and intelligence agencies. The committee also performs strategic and systematic reviews of the legislative, regulatory, policy, expenditure and administrative frameworks under which national security activities are conducted.^[3]

Formed in 2017, members of NSICOP are appointed from members of Parliament's two chambers on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition party. Members must obtain and maintain top secret security clearance.^[4] NSICOP is not a standing committee nor a special committee of Parliament. Rather, it is an agency of the executive branch, itself overseen by the Prime Minister's Office, whose membership is made up of parliamentarians, unlike similar bodies in other Five Eyes countries – such as the Senate Intelligence Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the United States, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament in the United Kingdom or the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in Australia.