The Five Eyes Explained

The Five Eyes began as a 1946 agreement between the United States and Britain to divide signals interception and share the raw take, formalized as UKUSA and extended to Canada in 1948 and to Australia and New Zealand by 1956. Members run listening posts worldwide, exchange unprocessed intercepts rather than finished reports, and by convention avoid spying on one another.

The name stayed unknown to the public until the 2013 disclosures made it a headline. Countries such as Germany and Japan cooperate as associates rather than members.

The alliance draws power from division of labor, one satellite and another cable tap feeding the same analytic pool, making the whole far larger than any national service..