The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...
alliance comprising
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. These countries are parties to the multilateral
UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
Informally, Five Eyes can also refer to the group of intelligence agencies by these countries.
The origins of the FVEY can be traced to informal secret meetings during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
between British and American code-breakers, which started before the U.S. formally entered the war, followed by the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
' 1941
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II. The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of the United States and ...
that established their vision of the post-war world. Canadian academic Srdjan Vucetic argues the alliance emerged from
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
's
Iron Curtain speech in 1946, which warned of
open conflict with the
Soviet bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that exist ...
unless the
English-speaking
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
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
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
deepened, the intelligence sharing arrangement became formalised under the
ECHELON
ECHELON, originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program (signals intelligence/SIGINT collection and analysis network) operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement:Given the 5 dialects that use ...
surveillance system in the 1960s. This was initially developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the former
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
, 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
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
and, to a lesser extent, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
. The FVEY further expanded their surveillance capabilities during the course of the "
war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
", with much emphasis placed on monitoring the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
. Former
NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...
contractor
Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
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 in order to circumvent restrictive
domestic regulations on surveillance of citizens.
In spite of continued controversy over its methods, the Five Eyes relationship remains one of the most comprehensive known espionage alliances in history.
Since processed intelligence is gathered from multiple sources, the intelligence shared is not restricted to
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...
(SIGINT) and often involves
defence intelligence as well as
human intelligence (HUMINT) and
geospatial intelligence
In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and v ...
(GEOINT).
Organisations
The following table provides an overview of most of the FVEY agencies involved in such forms of data sharing.
History
Origins (1941–1950s)
The earliest origins of the Five Eyes alliance are secret meetings between British and US code-breakers at the British code-breaking establishment at
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
in February 1941 (before the US entry into the war). A February 1941 entry in the diary of
Alastair Denniston, head of Bletchley Park, reading "The Ys are coming!" ("Ys" referring to "Yanks") is the first record, followed by "Ys arrive" on 10 February. The British and US agencies shared extremely confidential information, including the British breaking of the German
Enigma code, and the US breaking of the Japanese
Purple
Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters ...
code. From then key figures travelled back and forth across the Atlantic, including Denniston and code-breaking expert
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical ...
. The practical relationship established for wartime signals intelligence developed into a formal signed agreement at the start of the post-war Cold War.
The formal Five Eyes alliance can be traced back to the
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II. The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of the United States and ...
, which was issued in August 1941 to lay out the
Allied goals for the
post-war
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...
world. On 17 May 1943, the British–U.S. Communication Intelligence Agreement, also known as the
BRUSA Agreement, was signed by the UK and U.S. governments to facilitate co-operation between the
U.S. War Department and the British
Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). On 5 March 1946, the
secret treaty was formalized as the
UKUSA Agreement, which forms the basis for all
signal intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...
cooperation between the NSA and GCHQ to this day.
In 1948, the treaty was extended to include Canada, followed by Norway (1952), Denmark (1954),
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
(1955), Australia (1956), and New Zealand (1956).
These countries participated in the alliance as "third parties". By 1955, the formal status of the remaining Five Eyes countries was officially acknowledged in a newer version of the UKUSA Agreement that contained the following statement:
The "Five Eyes" term has its origins as a shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" (
AUSCANNZUKUS AUSCANNZUKUS is an abbreviation for the naval Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4) interoperability organization involving the Anglosphere nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is a ...
)
releasability caveat.
Cold War
During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
(generally accepted to be approximately the period 1947–1991), GCHQ and the NSA shared intelligence on the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, the People's Republic of China, and several eastern European countries (known as Exotics). Over the course of several decades, the
ECHELON
ECHELON, originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program (signals intelligence/SIGINT collection and analysis network) operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement:Given the 5 dialects that use ...
surveillance network was developed to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
allies.
During the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, Australian and New Zealand operators in the
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Paci ...
region worked directly to support the United States, while GCHQ operators stationed in the (then) British colony of Hong Kong were tasked with monitoring
North Vietnamese air defence networks. During the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...
, the British received intelligence data from its FVEY allies such as Australia, as well as from third parties such as Norway and France.
In the aftermath of the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, a technician of the ASIS was used by SIS to bug Kuwaiti government offices.
In the 1950s, SIS and the CIA jointly
orchestrated the overthrow of Iran's Prime Minister
Mohammad Mosaddegh. In the 1960s, SIS and the CIA jointly orchestrated the assassination of the Congolese independence leader
Patrice Lumumba. In the 1970s, the ASIS and the CIA jointly orchestrated the overthrow of Chile's President
Salvador Allende. During the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
,
SIS and the CIA took part in
Operation Yellowbird to rescue dissidents from the Chinese regime.
ECHELON network disclosures (1972–2000)
By the end of the 20th century, the
ECHELON
ECHELON, originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program (signals intelligence/SIGINT collection and analysis network) operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement:Given the 5 dialects that use ...
surveillance network had evolved into a global system capable of sweeping up massive amounts of private and commercial communications, including telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic. This was done through the interception of communication bearers such as satellite transmission and
public switched telephone network
The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telep ...
s.
The Five Eyes has two types of information collection methods: the
PRISM program and the
Upstream collection
Upstream collection is a term used by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States for intercepting telephone and Internet traffic from the Internet backbone, meaning major Internet cables and switches, both domestic and foreign. Bes ...
system. The PRISM program gathers user information from technology firms such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, while the Upstream system gathers information directly from the communications of civilians via fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past. The program's first disclosure to the public came in 1972 when a former NSA communications analyst reported to ''
Ramparts'' magazine that the NSA had developed technology that "could crack all Soviet codes". In 1988, Duncan Campbell revealed in the ''New Statesman'' the existence of ECHELON, an extension of the UKUSA Agreement on global signals intelligence
igint The story, 'Somebody's listening,' detailed how the eavesdropping operations were not only being employed in the interests of 'national security,' but were regularly abused for corporate espionage in the service of US business interests. The piece passed largely unnoticed outside of journalism circles.
In 1996, a detailed description of ECHELON was provided by New Zealand journalist
Nicky Hager in a book titled "''
Secret Power – New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network''", which was cited by the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
in a 1998 report titled "An Appraisal of the Technology of Political Control" (PE 168.184).
On 16 March 2000, the Parliament called for a
resolution on the Five Eyes and their ECHELON surveillance network, which, if passed, would have called for the "complete dismantling of ECHELON".
Three months later, the
Temporary Committee on ECHELON was set up by the European Parliament to investigate the ECHELON surveillance network. However, according to a number of European politicians such as
Esko Seppänen of Finland, these investigations were hindered by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
.
In the United States,
congressional legislator
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ...
s warned that the ECHELON system could be used to monitor
U.S. citizens. On 14 May 2001, the U.S. government cancelled all meetings with the Temporary Committee on ECHELON.
According to a
BBC report in May 2001, "the US Government still refuses to admit that Echelon even exists."
War on Terror (since 2001)
In the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
on the
World Trade Center and
the Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
, the surveillance capabilities of the Five Eyes were greatly increased as part of the global
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
.
During the run-up to the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, the communications of UN weapons inspector
Hans Blix were monitored by the Five Eyes.
The office of UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan was bugged by British agents.
An NSA memo detailed plans of the Five Eyes to boost eavesdropping on UN delegations of six countries as part of a "dirty tricks" campaign to apply pressure on these six countries to vote in favour of using force against Iraq.
SIS and the CIA forged a surveillance partnership with Libya's ruler
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
to spy on Libyan dissidents in the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, in exchange for permission to use Libya as a base for
extraordinary renditions
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had the purpose ...
.
, the Five Eyes also have access to
SIPRNet
The Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) is "a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information (up to and including information cl ...
, the U.S. government's classified version of the Internet.
In 2013, documents leaked by the former NSA contractor
Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
revealed the existence of numerous surveillance programs jointly operated by the Five Eyes. The following list includes several notable examples reported in the media:
*
PRISM – Operated by the NSA together with GCHQ and the ASD
*
XKeyscore – Operated by the NSA with contributions from the ASD and the GCSB
*
Tempora – Operated by GCHQ with contributions from the NSA
*
MUSCULAR – Operated by GCHQ and the NSA
*
STATEROOM
A state room in a large European mansion is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed for use when entertaining royalty. The term was most widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were the most lavishly decorated in ...
– Operated by the ASD, CIA, CSE, GCHQ, and NSA
In March 2014, the
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordan ...
(ICJ) ordered Australia to stop spying on
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-w ...
. This marks the first such restrictions imposed on a member of the FVEY.
In November 2020, the Five Eyes alliance criticised China's rules which disqualified elected legislators in Hong Kong.
Competition with China (since 2018)
On 1 December 2018,
Meng Wanzhou, a
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various sma ...
executive, was arrested by Canadian authorities at Vancouver International Airport, in order to face charges of fraud and conspiracy in the United States. China responded by arresting two Canadian nationals. According to the ''
South China Morning Post
The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
'' this conflict was seen by analysts as the beginning of a direct clash between the CCPs leadership of China and members of the Five Eyes alliance. In the months that followed, the United States placed restrictions on technology exchanges with China. Following prompting by parliamentarians in Australia and by US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo
Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...
, the UK Government announced it would reduce the presence of Huawei technology in its 5G network to zero. The newspaper reported that these events were seen by Beijing as political warfare "waged with the world’s oldest intelligence alliance, the Five Eyes."
In mid-April 2021, the
New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta (born 21 August 1970) is a New Zealand politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hauraki-Waikato and serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Sixth Labour Government since 2020. She is also the Minister ...
issued a statement that New Zealand would not let the Five Eyes alliance dictate its
bilateral relationship with China and that New Zealand was uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the intelligence grouping. In response, the Australian Government expressed concern that Wellington was undermining collective efforts to combat what it regarded as Chinese aggression. Mahuta's remarks were echoed by
New Zealand Prime Minister
The prime minister of New Zealand ( mi, Te pirimia o Aotearoa) is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017.
The prime minister (inf ...
Jacinda Ardern who claimed that while New Zealand was still committed to the Five Eyes alliance, it would not use the network as its first point for communicating on non-security matters. While ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' defence editor
Con Coughlin
Con Coughlin (born 14 January 1955) is a British journalist and author, currently ''The Daily Telegraph'' defence editor.
Early life
Coughlin was born in 1955 in London, England. He read Modern History at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he spe ...
and British
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament
Bob Seely criticised New Zealand for undermining the Five Eyes' efforts to put a united front against Beijing, the Chinese ''
Global Times
The ''Global Times'' () is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the '' People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese ultra-nationalistic perspective. The pub ...
'' praised New Zealand for putting its own national interests over the Five Eyes.
In late April 2021, the ''Global Times'' reported that employees of companies and organisations considered to be "at-risk" of foreign infiltration travelling to the Five Eyes countries would be monitored by the Chinese
Ministry of State Security. These employees will be required to report their travel destinations, agendas, and meetings with foreign personnel to Chinese authorities. Other security measures include undergoing "pre-departure spying education" and leave their electronic devices at home and bring new ones abroad. These measures came at a time of heightened tensions between China and the Five Eyes countries.
In mid-December 2021, the
United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Antony Blinken along with the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement criticising the exclusion of opposition candidates, the
Hong Kong national security law, and urging China to respect human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong in accordance with the
Sino-British Joint Declaration. In response, the Chinese Government claimed the Hong Kong elections were fair and criticised the Five Eyes for interfering in Hong Kong's domestic affairs.
Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022
In May 2022, Justice ministers from the Five Eyes intelligence network have pledged their support to
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
in the prosecution of Russian war crimes. They would also support the investigations of the International Criminal Court (ICC), they said.
Domestic espionage sharing controversy
In recent years, documents of the FVEY have shown that they are intentionally spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other.
[British spy agency taps cables, shares with U.S. NSA – Guardian](_blank)
, Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
, 21 June 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the advocacy group
Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
, claimed that the FVEY alliance increases the ability of member states to "subcontract their dirty work" to each other.
The former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the FVEY as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn't answer to the laws of its own countries".
As a result of Snowden's disclosures, the FVEY alliance has become the subject of a growing amount of controversy in parts of the world:
* : In late 2013, Canadian federal judge
Richard Mosley strongly rebuked the CSIS for outsourcing its surveillance of Canadians to overseas partner agencies. A 51-page court ruling asserts that the CSIS and other Canadian federal agencies have been illegally enlisting FVEY allies in
global surveillance dragnets, while keeping domestic federal courts in the dark.
* : In 2014, the NZSIS and the GCSB of New Zealand were asked by the
New Zealand Parliament to clarify if they had received any monetary contributions from members of the FVEY alliance. Both agencies withheld relevant information and refused to disclose any possible monetary contributions from the FVEY.
David Cunliffe
David Richard Cunliffe (born 30 April 1963) is a New Zealand management consultant and former politician who was Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parl ...
, leader of the Labour Party, asserted that the public is entitled to be informed.
* : In early 2014, the European Parliament's
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs released a draft report which confirmed that the intelligence agencies of New Zealand and Canada have cooperated with the NSA under the Five Eyes programme and may have been actively sharing the personal data of EU citizens.
Other international cooperatives
Beginning with its founding by the United States and United Kingdom in 1946, the alliance expanded twice, inducting Canada in 1948 and Australia and New Zealand in 1956, establishing the Five Eyes as it remains to this day.
Further, there are nations termed "Third Party Partners" that share their intelligence with the Five Eyes despite not being formal members. While the Five Eyes is rooted in a particular agreement with specific operations amongst the five nations, similar sharing agreements have been set up independently and for specific purposes; for example, according to Edward Snowden, the NSA has a "massive body" called the Foreign Affairs Directorate dedicated to partnering with foreign countries beyond the alliance.
Six Eyes (proposed)
Several countries have been prospective members of the Five Eyes.
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
have or continue to collaborate with the alliance, though none are formally members. According to French
news magazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...
''
L'Obs'', in 2009, the United States propositioned France to join the treaty and form a subsequent "Six Eyes" alliance. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
required that France have the same status as the other members, including the signing of a "no-spy agreement". This proposal was approved by the director of the NSA, but rejected by the director of the CIA and by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
, resulting in a refusal from France.
In 2013 it was reported that Germany was interested in joining the Five Eyes alliance. At that time, several members of the United States Congress, including
Tim Ryan and
Charles Dent, were pushing for Germany's entrance to the Five Eyes alliance.
Five Eyes Plus
Since 2018, through an initiative sometimes termed "Five Eyes Plus 3", Five Eyes formed associations with
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
to introduce an information-sharing framework to counter threats arising from foreign activities of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
as well as Russia. Five Eyes plus France, Japan and South Korea share information about North Korea's military activities including ballistic missiles, in an arrangement sometimes dubbed "Five Eyes Plus".
Nine Eyes
The Nine Eyes is a different arrangement that consists of the same members of Five Eyes working with Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway.
Fourteen Eyes
According to a document leaked by Edward Snowden, there is another working agreement among 14 nations officially known as SIGINT Seniors Europe, or "SSEUR". These "14 Eyes" consist of the same members of Nine Eyes plus Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
Further intelligence sharing collaborations
As spelled out by
Privacy International
Privacy International (PI) is a UK-based registered charity that defends and promotes the right to privacy across the world. First formed in 1990, registered as a non-profit company in 2002 and as a charity in 2012, PI is based in London. Its ...
, there are a number of issue-specific intelligence agreements that include some or all the above nations and numerous others, such as:
* An area specific sharing amongst the 41 nations that formed the
allied coalition in Afghanistan;
* A shared effort of the Five Eyes nations in "focused cooperation" on computer network exploitation with Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey;
*
Club of Berne: 17 members including primarily European States; the US is not a member;
*
Maximator: an intelligence alliance between Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden
*
The Counterterrorist Group: a wider membership than the 17 European states that make up the Club of Berne, and includes the US;
* NATO Special Committee: made up of the heads of the security services of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
's 30 member countries
See also
*
ABCANZ Armies
ABCANZ Armies (formally, the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Armies' Program) is a program aimed at optimizing interoperability and standardization of training and equipment between the armies of Australia, Canada, New Z ...
*
Air and Space Interoperability Council
The Air Force Interoperability Council or AFIC is an organisation tasked with enhancing coalition military aviation amongst the "Five Eyes" countries, which consist of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States. The o ...
(air forces)
*
Anglosphere
The Anglosphere is a group of English-speaking nations that share historical and cultural ties with England, and which today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in different sources vary, t ...
*
ANZUS
The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS Treaty) is a 1951 non-binding collective security agreement between Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States, to co-operate on milita ...
— Trilateral security pact between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States
*
AUKUS — Trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States
*
AUSCANNZUKUS AUSCANNZUKUS is an abbreviation for the naval Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4) interoperability organization involving the Anglosphere nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is a ...
(navies)
*
Border Five
Border Five (Border 5; B5) is an informal forum on customs and border management policy issues with participation from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The participating authorities are:
* Department of H ...
*
CANZUK
*
Combined Communications-Electronics Board The Combined Communications-Electronics Board (CCEB) is a five-nation joint military communications-electronics (C-E) organisation whose mission is the coordination of any military C-E matter that is referred to it by a member nation. The member na ...
(communication-electronics)
*
Five Country Conference Migration 5 (M5, formerly the Five Country Conference on migration) is a conference of the immigration authorities of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The five countries work together to "enhance ...
(immigration)
*
Five Nations Passport Group
*
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) — Strategic dialogue among Australia, India, Japan and US
*
The Technical Cooperation Program (technology and science)
International relations
*
Australia–Canada relations
Australia and Canada have a longstanding relationship that has been fostered by both countries' shared history and culture, and links between residents of both countries. The two countries are former British Dominions and have a common head of ...
*
Australia–New Zealand relations
Foreign relations between neighbouring countries Australia and New Zealand, also referred to as Trans-Tasman relations, are extremely close. Both countries share a British colonial heritage as antipodean Dominions and settler colonies, and ...
*
Australia–United Kingdom relations
Relations exist between the Commonwealth realms of Australia and the United Kingdom, marked by historical, cultural, institutional, extensive people-to-people links, aligned security interests, sporting tournaments (notably The Ashes), and signif ...
*
Australia–United States relations
*
Canada–New Zealand relations
Canada–New Zealand relations are the international relations between Canada and New Zealand. Canada and New Zealand have a longstanding relationship that has been fostered by both countries' shared history and culture, and links between reside ...
*
Canada–United Kingdom relations
Canada–United Kingdom relations () are the bilateral relations between Canada and the United Kingdom. The two countries have had intimate and frequently-co-operative contact since Canada gained independence in 1931, having been self-governing ...
*
Canada–United States relations
Relations between Canada and the United States have historically been extensive, given the two countries' shared origins and border, which is the longest in the world. Starting with the American Revolution, when Loyalists fled to Canada, a voca ...
*
New Zealand–United Kingdom relations
New Zealand–United Kingdom relations are the bilateral relations between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. New Zealand has maintained a close relationship with Britain, since gaining independence from the United Kingdom.
The two countries ...
*
New Zealand–United States relations
According to the U.S. State Department, relations between New Zealand and the United States as of August 2011 are "the best they have been in decades." New Zealand is a major non-NATO ally of the United States.
United States and New Zealand sha ...
*
United Kingdom–United States relations
Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States have ranged from close allies to military opponents since the latter declared independence from the former in the late 18th century. The Thirteen British Colonies that seceded from the K ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
UKUSA Agreementat
The National Archives
National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives.
Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...
UKUSA Agreementat the
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
From Insularity to Exteriority: How the Anglosphere is Shaping Global Governance – Centre for International Policy Studies
{{Western culture
Anglosphere
Global surveillance
Espionage
Intelligence operations
National security
Espionage scandals and incidents
Australia–United Kingdom relations
Australia–United States relations
Australia–New Zealand relations
Australia–Canada relations
Canada–United Kingdom relations
Canada–United States relations
Canada–New Zealand relations
New Zealand–United Kingdom relations
New Zealand–United States relations
United Kingdom–United States relations