The Five Eyes of the World by Philippe Laimary (Le Monde Diplomatique)

pictureVen Political leaders were buried in darkness. In 1973, in the midst of a constitutional crisis, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was surprised to learn that Australia was part of a secret network for information exchange with the United States, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand. FVEY. He also discovered that Pine his Gap hearings in Australia were effectively under his CIA control. The CIA allegedly manipulated his dismissal two years later. Whitlam’s Labor government set out to modernize the country, ending the ‘White Australia’ immigration policy and withdrawing Australian troops. He left Vietnam and recognized the People’s Republic of China.

The roots of the Five Eyes Alliance go back to World War II. At this time, the United States and Great Britain shared information under an agreement signed in 1943, which came into effect in 1946 as the United Kingdom-United States Communications and Information Agreement (UKUSA). This largely secret agreement worked in favor of the United States by linking the National Security Agency (NSA) signal interception system directly to that of its UK counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). rice field. Canada joined the network in 1948, and Australia and New Zealand in 1956.

In the early years of the Cold War, its purpose was to monitor the Soviet Union, and anything that might be considered communist, including anti-imperialist or anti-capitalist movements in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In the early 1950s, the alliance also included second-tier countries (Norway, Denmark, West Germany). These countries worked with her five core members but did not systematically receive shared information.

Be careful not to turn a blind eye if you try to undermine China’s sovereignty, security and national interests, whether it’s five or ten.

Zhao Lijian

Even after the 1973 Australian disclosure, the existence of FVEY was rarely acknowledged until the 2000s. The US and UK governments unveiled the full contents of the UKUSA Agreement in 2010, more than 60 years after it was signed. time The magazine called it one of the most important documents of the Cold War era. (1): It cements the “special relationship” between Washington and London, the privileged exchange of information gathered by monitoring and analyzing foreign communications, and the control of individual communications operators, and their practices, equipment, and information on procedures.

Spying on “European Friends”

After the Cold War, economic warfare began. Developed in the 1990s under the UKUSA agreement, his Echelon surveillance system focuses on non-military targets (governments, organizations, corporations, individuals) and allows intelligence agencies to interconnect their interception systems (especially satellite communications). I made it Intercept Stations) and a “dictionary” of keywords and addresses that reflects current concerns. (In particular, it has also made it possible to circumvent domestic laws that prohibit agencies from spying on their own citizens.) In 2000, former CIA Director James Woolsey declared that the United States should be called “European” to protect American corporations. “Endemic corruption in several European countries” [where] Bribes are still tax deductible.” (2).

After 9/11, after a series of security laws passed in the US and Europe, US intelligence agencies and their allied intelligence agencies expanded their intelligence gathering around the world. His 2013 revelations of former CIA technical his assistant Edward Snowden, his NSA contractor, have given some idea of ​​the scale of this troll operation. They also intercepted vast amounts of messages sent via satellites and submarine cables to gather personal information. Meanwhile, the Prism program gave US intelligence agencies direct access to the servers of his nine major online service providers based in the US. (3).

FVEY has no address, no headquarters, and no formal staff. Its secrecy and informality are amicable, semi-automatic, based on decades of mutual trust between the intelligence agencies of a few nations united by history, language, values ​​and geopolitical interests. Suggests an exchange of information. Britain, and especially the United States — a kind of sharing that is unparalleled even within NATO.

Each member of FVEY is conceptually responsible for a different region. Australia covers South and East Asia. Canada covers Russia and China. New Zealand covers Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. UK covers Hong Kong, Middle East and Europe. The US covers China, Russia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Africa.

Rising tensions between the United States and China during President Donald Trump’s presidency have reinvigorated the alliance, which is now largely focused on surveillance and containment of China. , still a top US strategic concern under the Joe Biden administration (Four)Now that the focus on China is overtly or almost overtly clear, FVEY’s foreign ministers are increasingly adopting common political positions. In August 2020, they publicly called on the Hong Kong government to hold elections without delay, and in November called on Beijing to end its crackdown on Hong Kong’s elected officials. In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “Whether you have five eyes or ten eyes, if you dare to undermine China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, be careful not to stick your eyes out. I have to wear it, ”he reacted scathingly. (Five).

Huawei block

In 2021, governments in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were embroiled in EU-imposed sanctions in protest over China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. This year, the Five Eyes have opted to diplomatically boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The United States has previously asked FVEY members to block Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from operating in its territory. Huawei’s tech is essential, especially in his 5G network, but the company is suspected of espionage. Responses to US complaints were not unanimous.

New Zealand, like Australia, banned Huawei in 2018, a departure from FVEY’s original purpose, and ultimately the politicization of an alliance that appears to be dedicated to monitoring and criticizing FVEY. He was the first to express reservations about what he sees. China. In April 2021, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said she was “uncomfortable with expanding the powers of the Five Eyes.” (6)It opposes human rights, minorities and trade disputes, arguing that its activities should be limited to the exchange of information. New Zealand is the only member of her FVEY that has a free trade agreement with China, which accounts for a third of her exports. Some of her FVEY members see the Wellington reservation as a sign of China’s growing influence in the South Pacific, especially in the small island states. They suspect Beijing is seeking an alliance with the ultimate goal of establishing a military base on her one of these islands.

This FVEY repoliticization and focus on China has drawn widespread criticism. Hugh White, former Undersecretary for Strategy and Intelligence at the Australian Department of Defense, said: “The idea that a partnership that has successfully nurtured the Signals Information business for such a long time can be reused in a new era to respond is very exciting. I’m skeptical about China’s challenge.” (7).

threat to the west

Jonathan Eyal of the Royal United Service Institute, a British think-tank, argues that, like the Soviet Union during the Cold War, too much interest in China today limits the effectiveness of intelligence-gathering and other FVEY initiatives. I feel that But Richard Faden, former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency, welcomes the growing interest in China. That is because China has revitalized the alliance and Beijing is now “generally perceived as a threat to the entire Five Eyes and the West as a whole.” (8).

The US government is looking to expand the alliance. Last September, the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations recommended opening up to countries such as South Korea, India and Germany. Israel has long served as the eyes of the United States in the Middle East. Already working closely with the United States, Japan has advanced listening systems trained in China, Russia and North Korea. Five Eyes could end up being 9 or 10. Admiral James G. Stavidris, former NATO Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe (2009-13), believes that “Western allies need to look more to the world.” (9).

Meanwhile, in September 2021, FVEY’s leading powers Australia, the UK and the US signed a new treaty known as AUKUS. Under the treaty, Australia purchased US- and UK-built nuclear submarines and waived the purchase agreement in 2016. A fleet of regular submarines from France. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Australia had joined her AUKUS out of fear, but insisted Australia remains a pillar of the Five Eyes and the former alliance intact.New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reaffirmed her country’s position. Any nuclear submarines that Australia may acquire in the future (which will not enter service until 2040) will be banned from its waters, as will any other nation’s.

Australia’s decision to exchange its strategic partnership with France for an agreement that would eventually allow it to become a nuclear power is not so surprising given Australia’s long involvement with the FVEY and the Commonwealth of Nations. It’s not what you should do. According to former intelligence officer John Braxland, professor of international security at the Australian National University, the deal “marks a profound shift to the geopolitical dynamics in the Indo-Pacific … post-Brexit in the UK. The re-engagement of the UK in the region, Xi’s more belligerent China stance, and the instability of US military power and its ability to deter or win a potential conflict in the Pacific. greater concern about (Ten).

Conspiracy of the Anglosphere?

In recent years, the French government has pursued its own strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, offering a third way for most countries in the region to avoid having to choose between Beijing and Washington. I am aiming for Now France is about to be seen as a victim of an Anglo-Bloc conspiracy among the FVEY to keep France out of private property.

France was even more disappointed with AUKUS as it felt that the large amount of information exchanged with the US made it the sixth member of the de facto alliance since the terrorist attacks in France in 2015 and 2016. In various military theaters (Afghanistan, Gulf, Iraq, Syria, Sahel) he has established close working relationships with FVEY, including the Raster Information Exchange Program, her SPINS agreement in 2016, and the Lafayette Commission meetings. They had various secret pacts. — This expanded the scope of exchanges between French intelligence services and British and US intelligence services.

According to French Defense Minister Florence Parley, (11), the priority was to share the rapid flow of information, with France providing information especially from its African contacts. However, Parley said that “fruitful” cooperation does not necessarily mean “joining this exclusive and historic club…with sovereignty risks. A senior Pentagon official told AFP news agency the US wanted to maintain a similar deep partnership with France and the Five Eyes, but in a “unique and parallel” way. (12)This is true even under Obama, Trump and Biden.