EOTO: Five Eyes/ FVEY

The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance of countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They have shared beliefs which allow them to maintain their trusting relationship. These beliefs are: democratic values, complimentary national interests, and similar cultures. Began during World War II, of meetings between the United States and the United Kingdom code breakers. It officially started on March the 5th of 1946 via the UKUSA Agreement; a multilateral agreement for joint efforts in signal intelligence.Canada joined in 1948. Australia and New Zealand in 1956.

It wasn’t until 2005 that the agreement of alliance was even made public. It then took five additional years (2010) for the UKUSA Agreement to be released and recognized. This is what the treaty strives to achieve as written in 1946, "the parties agree to the exchange of the products of the following operations relating to foreign communications: collection of traffic, acquisition of communication documents and equipment, traffic analysis, cryptanalysis, decryption and translation, acquisition of information regarding communication organisations, practices, procedures, and equipment" (Tossini).

    
    The role of the Five Eyes currently is monitoring the maritime domain - monitoring shipping traffic through maritime areas; monitoring the aerospace domain - watching ballistic missile tests, satellite deployments, and air force activities. Another role is keeping each country updated on terrorist organizations in order to make the best public policy.

    The most current and prevalent issue the Five Eyes is dealing with is 5G company Huawei. It is viewed as a potential threat to national security. The United States believes this to be true because the company may be compelled legally to complete certain actions from the Chinese government. Also, there are links connecting Huawei to Chinese intelligence and defence.

 During President Trump’s administration, the United States began trying to convince the other countries of the Five Eyes to also take steps of banning this form of 5G. On November 11th of 2021, President Biden followed through with this administration, signing the Secure Equipment Act of 2021. This act states, “H.R. 3919, the “Secure Equipment Act of 2021,” which requires the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules clarifying that it will no longer review or approve any authorization application for equipment that poses an unacceptable risk to national security” (WhiteHouse).

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From just what I have researched on the Five Eyes, thus far, I have mixed feelings. While I’m glad that my government and the governments of other countries are all supposedly looking out for their citizens' best interests, I can’t help but feel apprehensive… and frightened about their collective intentions and capabilities. 

This makes my mind go to 1984 mode by George Orwell. It makes me wonder if I’m being watched by the government. Or my family and friends. If the government has access to this type of information, as well as foreign countries, what else do they have access to? Where do they stop themselves? 

Furthermore, if this organization has been around since the 1940s and just came to light in the early 2000s, what else is being hidden from us? These questions are some of what freaks me out the most about the government, power, and technology. 




    

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