One sneaky way five-eye governments get around domestic prohibitions on spying on their own citizens is to share intelligence about each others’ citizens. The U.S. intelligence community often receives information from British intelligence on Americans it couldn’t gather on its own. From Kit Klarenberg at kitklarenberg.com:
Ever since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, mainstream speculation has ever-intensified that his second term in office could spell the end of Five Eyes, the international signals intelligence (SIGINT) spying network. Through this connivance, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US train an unblinking eye on the public and private communications of the world’s entire population. While few average citizens would mourn the passing of Five Eyes, fear of its demise are pronounced in certain quarters – first and foremost, London.
In February, the Financial Times reported key Trump aide Peter Navarro was pushing for Canada to be excluded from Five Eyes, and the proposal was “being discussed” by senior US officials. While denied by Navarro, the suggestion sparked anxieties among Western intelligence veterans, think tank pundits, and journalists that Ottawa’s removal could precipitate the network’s outright collapse. In March, The Economist enquired, “Could Donald Trump imperil the Five Eyes spy pact?” In April, Politico pondered, “Can Britain live without American intelligence?”
Politico revealed developments such as Trump’s decision to halt intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March had prompted “current and former intelligence officials” to consider whether “it may be necessary for Britain to begin planning for the previously unthinkable,” and undo links between the two nations’ counterpart intelligence agencies. This is despite these ties “[going] so deep that it may be impossible to untangle them” – or at least for London “to replicate the US contribution.”
While the CIA and MI6 are well-known for working in lockstep, Five Eyes is the most intimate expression of this transatlantic espionage bromance, exclusion from which would drastically reduce Britain’s already evaporating international status. As Politico notes, the international spying network accounts for “Britain’s status as a comparative heavyweight in the intelligence sphere” today. Its origins date back to 1946, and the signing of the secret UKUSA agreement. This formalised intelligence sharing between London and Washington that began decades earlier.
