“Five Eyes” refers to an intelligence-sharing alliance of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

WHY WAS THE FIVE EYES ALLIANCE FORMED?

• These partner countries share a broad range of intelligence with one another in one of the world’s most unified multilateral arrangements.
• The Five Eyes agreement stands out from other arrangements because the parties are diverse societies, governed by rule of law and robust human rights and are bonded by a common language. These characteristics aid the partners in sharing information with one another to protect their shared national interests.
• The alliance origin is traced to the Second World War. The UK and the US decided to share intelligence after successfully breaking German and Japanese codes, respectively.
• In 1943, the Britain-USA (BRUSA) agreement laid the foundations for what would become the UK-USA (UKUSA)
• 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.

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