Intelligence practices in Canada underwent a complete overhaul in the late 1970s and early 80s, with the abolition of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service, for the benefit of the new Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. These changes fundamentally changed the way Canada carried out its intelligence work and established Canada with its own independent intelligence agency, separate from a police force. The conditions under which this change occurred were not favorable to the Canadian intelligence community; The RCMP had been embroiled in a scandal in the early 1970s in connection with the FLQ crisis and several other incidents in which illegal practices were used. The creation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service corresponds directly to these incidents and, although these incidents reflect badly on Canadian intelligence, the creation of an independent organization regulated by the Security Intelligence Review Committee has greatly benefited Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service was a renaming of Special Branch and the Directorate of Security and Intelligence Services of the RCMP, which began in the 1950s. The new Security Service was responsible for covert operations surrounding Canadian security; during this period, the focus was largely on the FLQ crisis in Quebec, homosexual and communist threats. The Security Service was certainly not the first to experience failures during this period; Before the introduction of the security service, the Special Branch and Directorate had initiated programs such as the fruit machine in order to deal with homosexuals in government positions. The idea behind this being that people whose pupils dilated when exposed to images of the same sex could be removed. This operation...... middle of article ...... the Canadian Security Intelligence Service demonstrated to some extent how the specific removal of aspects that involved direct intervention in matters making the object of research could provide effective information. Additionally, the creation of a separate body to investigate and report on the functions and effectiveness of the organization held it accountable to the powers that be. The face of intelligence changed completely with the development of CSIS and its oversight bodies and gave rise to new practices that helped keep intelligence practices generally legal, but definitely accountable. The removal of CSIS's Office of the Inspector General as an oversight body suggests a move away from this model. Perhaps it is time to revisit the questions raised in the 1970s regarding accountability before we can return to a completely reliable and accountable system..