What is the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance?

Source: The post is based on the article “What is the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance?” published in “The Hindu” on 29th September 2023.

What is the News?

The Canadian Prime Minister has linked the killing of a Khalistani leader on Canadian soil to the Indian government.

This has put the spotlight on the intelligence-sharing alliance ‘Five Eyes’, which is believed to have provided the information that “helped” Canada.

What is Five Eyes Alliance?

The ‘Five Eyes’ alliance is a multilateral intelligence-sharing network of five countries, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. 

The alliance is both surveillance-based and tracks signals intelligence(SIGINT). 

Intelligence documents shared between the member countries are classified as ‘Secret—AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US Eyes Only,’ which gave the group its title ‘Five Eyes’.

Origin of the alliance: In 1943, the Britain-USA (BRUSA) agreement laid the foundations for the UK-USA (UKUSA) agreement.

– BRUSA was signed between the US War Department and the UK’s intelligence and security agency Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) to share intelligence information between the two countries to support US forces in Europe, exchange personnel and develop joint regulations for the handling and distribution of highly sensitive material.

– Following this, the UKUSA was signed in 1946.Canada joined it in 1949, and New Zealand and Australia did so in 1956 forming the alliance.

What is the objective of the Five Eyes Alliance now?

The objective of the Five Eyes alliance has shifted following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new global challenges like terrorism and the growing influence of China.

The alliance have now become involved in ocean and maritime surveillance, scientific and defence intelligence analysis, medical intelligence, geospatial intelligence, counterintelligence, counterterrorism and the continuous sharing of intelligence products via a secret collective database known as ‘Stone Ghost’.

What are the concerns related to the Five Eyes alliance?

There have been several concerns regarding the privacy, security and methods of working of the intelligence alliance, which remained shrouded in mystery for long.

The alliance was embroiled in a major controversy in 2013 following the disclosure of classified documents by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor.Mr. Snowden described the network as a supranational intelligence organization that doesn’t answer to the laws of its own countries.