Washington — The most important consequence of the recent Pentagon leak will be political in nature, according to The Economist, which said the incident would make it clear to everyone that America's spies are gathering intelligence on their closest allies.
As a global power with a dominant military and cultural presence around the world, the United States consults with many of its allies and partners in intelligence sharing, and Washington has special intelligence ties with Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Germany.
But these allies are not members of the private intelligence club closed to America's English-speaking allies Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand called "Five Eyes," and little was known about the activities and nature of this alliance until the leaks launched by Edward Snowden in 2013.
The Five Eyes is widely regarded as the world's most important intelligence alliance, and its origins can be traced back to the context of World War II and its necessity for sharing essentially vital information between Britain and the United States so that they can bolster their war efforts.
The Pentagon considers the leak of classified documents a deliberate criminal act (Anatolia)
Alliance Origins
World War II, which ended in 1945, resulted in special relations between Washington and London at a time when a Soviet Iron Curtain began to be imposed on the European continent. In 1946, the two countries signed a formal secret intelligence-sharing agreement to combat the Soviet threat.
The agreement was also expanded to include Canada in 1948 and Australia and New Zealand in 1956, all of which are English-speaking, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and have similar political systems compared to Britain.
Until the end of the Cold War, the five countries were united in their attempts to defeat the Soviet Union, and efforts focused on rooting out Soviet spies or recruiting Russian diplomats to work for them.
The alliance is criticized for being one of mistrust, mistakes, and miscalculations, and an alliance that likes to see itself as responsible for preserving the integrity of its nations, but has at times not only failed in that endeavor, but has also contributed to global insecurity.
For example, British and American intelligence are accused of responsibility for a series of events that have destabilized the Middle East so far, such as the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Iran in the 2003s, to mistakes regarding the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and its invasion in <>.
Alliance Charter
The Five Eyes Alliance has a secretariat and a central secretariat to support and coordinate its tasks and work, and the Executive Secretariat is based in the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community in the United States.
The coalition parties agreed to supervise, review and secure intelligence activities in member states, with each country having equal representation in the meetings of an intelligence council of the five countries, which aims to serve as a forum where council members can exchange views on topics of common interest.
The Board holds at least one meeting annually in person with senior officials present, while the Board holds meetings on a quarterly basis via secure remote communication.
While it is recognized that the intelligence agencies of the Five Laâyoune States cooperate operationally under the formal agreement or informally, Council members are obliged to facilitate the exchange of information and cooperation within the limits required by law within each State.
Geographical division
During the Cold War, the United States relied on well-established British listening posts in territories that were part of the British Empire to obtain intelligence signals, especially in some areas of the Middle East, and then it became known that each member of the coalition was responsible for gathering and analyzing intelligence in specific regions of the world.
Britain monitors Europe, western Russia, the Middle East and Hong Kong, while the United States also oversees the Middle East in addition to China, Russia, Africa and the Caribbean, Australia is responsible for South and East Asia, while New Zealand is responsible for the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. Canada monitors the interior of Russia, China and parts of Latin America.
Despite this division, they essentially work together, and the "end product" in general is the result of the effort of more than one member of the coalition, and the territorial division does not mean that the parties are obligated to direct their efforts only to those areas.
The Alliance's Legacy and Challenges
The five countries share common principles, such as liberal democratic values, and similar national interests and cultures, moreover since World War II, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States share the same threats to their national security, whether traditional or not.
All these characteristics unite their efforts and promote mutual trust, which is indispensable for the five eyes, and in the context of mutual trust, it seems that the five partners are not targeting each other, however, there is no way to guarantee that spying on each other will not occur.
According to John McLaughlin, former acting director of the CIA, "trust is the core of the five-eyes relationship, and the strength of that trust stems from the most common source of that quality, a history of doing difficult and dangerous things together," noting that relationships between members have always been characterized by openness and the ability to set politics aside in favor of collective interests.
"A particularly urgent priority will be to strengthen cooperation in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and in an age where information is exploding, it is even more essential that we use our craft to separate fact from fiction and present pure truth to our policymakers," McLaughlin said.