OTTAWA – Newly declassified memos show Canada’s secret eavesdropping agency worried about the personal safety of staff following the leak of sensitive intelligence files by a former U.S. spy contractor.

Communications Security Establishment Canada combed through personnel files to assess the risks to employees whose name, agency affiliation or specific duties may have been disclosed by Edward Snowden.

In a September 2013 memo, CSEC chief John Forster urged staff with concerns to speak with a manager or personnel security officials.

It is among several Forster messages about the Snowden leaks obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Snowden took a trove of material from the U.S. National Security Agency — CSEC’s American counterpart — that showed the NSA had quietly gained access to a broad spectrum of emails, chat logs and other information from major Internet companies, as well as data about a huge volume of telephone calls.

The cache of documents, which Snowden leaked to the media, contained several references to the Canadian agency’s classified operations.

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