1. Formation and Evolution of Five Eyes Alliance:
– Traced back to secret meetings at Bletchley Park in 1941.
– Formal alliance established through the Atlantic Charter and UKUSA Agreement.
– Expanded to include Canada, Norway, Denmark, West Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.
– Origins of the term ‘Five Eyes’ as a releasability caveat.
– Developed during the Cold War to share intelligence on Soviet Union, China, and Eastern European countries.
– Collaborative actions in various conflicts and intelligence operations.
2. Surveillance Capabilities and Controversies:
– ECHELON network development and global surveillance capabilities.
– Snowden leaks in 2013 revealing spying on citizens.
– Allegations of intelligence sharing to bypass domestic laws.
– Instances of breaking domestic laws during intelligence sharing.
– Focus on monitoring the World Wide Web during the war on terror.
– Controversies surrounding privacy violations and mass surveillance.
3. Expansion and Collaborations of Five Eyes:
– Proposed extensions like Six Eyes with Israel, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan.
– Five Eyes Plus framework including France, Germany, and Japan.
– Nine Eyes collaboration with Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway.
– Fourteen Eyes agreement with additional European nations.
– Efforts to counter China and enhance intelligence sharing.
4. Technology and Operations of Five Eyes:
– Utilization of advanced technology for espionage and surveillance.
– Monitoring electronic communications and conducting cyber operations.
– Sharing intelligence on global threats and enhancing defense capabilities.
– Impact on shaping international relations and influencing security policies.
– Maintaining a secretive nature in operations and cooperation.
5. Diplomatic Relations and Current Affairs:
– Tensions with China over human rights issues and interference accusations.
– Efforts to counter Chinese tech influence and secure innovation.
– Diplomatic disputes over China policy within member countries.
– New Zealand’s independent stance on China relations within Five Eyes.
– Collaboration with Japan, Germany, and France to address global challenges.
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an Anglosphere intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, Five Eyes can also refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries.
Five Eyes | |
|---|---|
 Members shown in blue | |
| Working language | English |
| Type | Intelligence alliance |
| Members | |
| Establishment | |
| August 14, 1941 | |
| May 17, 1943 | |
The origins of the FVEY can be traced to informal secret meetings during World War II between British and American code-breakers, which started before the US formally entered the war, followed by the Allies' 1941 Atlantic Charter that established their vision of the post-war world. Canadian academic Srdjan Vucetic argues the alliance emerged from Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech in 1946, which warned of open conflict with the Soviet bloc unless the Anglosphere democracies learned to cooperate:
Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organisation will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States... the continuance of the intimate relationship between our military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers...
As the Cold War deepened, the intelligence sharing arrangement became formalised under the ECHELON surveillance system in the 1960s. This was initially developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, although it is now used to monitor communications worldwide.
In the late 1990s, the existence of ECHELON was disclosed to the public, triggering a major debate in the European Parliament and, to a lesser extent, the United States Congress and the British Parliament. The FVEY further expanded their surveillance capabilities during the course of the "war on terror", with much emphasis placed on monitoring the World Wide Web. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the Five Eyes as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that does not answer to the known laws of its own countries". Documents leaked by Snowden in 2013 revealed that the FVEY has been spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other, although the FVEY nations maintain that this was done legally. It has been claimed that FVEY nations have been sharing intelligence in order to circumvent domestic laws, but only one court case in Canada has found any FVEY nation breaking domestic laws when sharing intelligence with a FVEYs partner.
In spite of continued controversy over its methods, the Five Eyes relationship remains one of the most comprehensive known espionage alliances in human history.
Since processed intelligence is gathered from multiple sources, the intelligence shared is not restricted to signals intelligence (SIGINT) and often involves defence intelligence as well as human intelligence (HUMINT) and geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).
