UKUSA Agreement facts for kids

The UKUSA Community: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States

The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement (often called UKUSA) is a special agreement for countries to work together on sharing secret information. The countries involved are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This group of countries is also known as the Five Eyes. They share information about signals intelligence, which means they listen to and analyze electronic communications.

This agreement started as an informal plan during World War II in 1941. It became official on March 5, 1946, between the UK and the US. Later, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand joined. Other countries, like West Germany, the Philippines, and some Nordic countries, also joined the UKUSA group in a smaller way. However, they don't share information automatically like the Five Eyes countries do.

A lot of this secret information is shared through a very secure network called STONEGHOST. This network is said to hold some of the Western world's most important secrets. The agreement also made the "Special Relationship" between the UK and the US even stronger.

Because it was a secret agreement, even the Prime Minister of Australia didn't know about it until 1973. The public didn't find out until 2005. On June 25, 2010, the full text of the agreement was finally made public. It was a big deal, and Time magazine called it one of the most important documents from the Cold War.

Recent leaks from Edward Snowden have shown that these countries are now sharing a lot of intelligence in the digital world, especially on the Internet.

How the Agreement Started
Who Are the Agencies?
Where They Operate Globally
- The Five Eyes
- Other Allies: "Third Parties"
Image Gallery
- Officially Released Documents
- Documents Leaked by Edward Snowden
See Also

How the Agreement Started

Early Days: 1940s–1950s

The UKUSA agreement grew from an earlier plan in 1943 called BRUSA. This agreement connected the secret listening networks of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US National Security Agency (NSA). This happened at the start of the Cold War. The agreement was signed on March 5, 1946. Even though the original plan said sharing information wouldn't harm any country's interests, the US sometimes stopped sharing with other Commonwealth countries. The full agreement was made public on June 25, 2010.

The name "Five Eyes" came from a secret classification level. It meant "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY," showing that only these five countries could see the information.

Cold War Expansion: 1950s–1960s

Under the agreement, GCHQ and NSA shared information about the Soviet Union, China, and other countries in the Eastern Bloc. In the 1960s, this network grew into the Echelon system, which collected and analyzed even more signals.

Canada joined the agreement in 1948, and Australia and New Zealand joined in 1956. In 1955, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were officially called "UKUSA-collaborating Commonwealth countries." Other countries like Norway (1952), Denmark (1954), and West Germany (1955) joined as "third parties."

Discovering the Secrets: 1970s–1990s

In 1973, after some events in Australia, the existence of the UKUSA Agreement was revealed to Australia's Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. He then found out that Pine Gap, a secret listening station in Australia, was run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

During a political crisis in Australia in 1975, Prime Minister Whitlam was against the CIA using Pine Gap. He even fired the head of Australia's intelligence agency before he was removed from his job as prime minister.

Over the next few years, the public learned about the intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes countries:

1974: In Canada, a TV show revealed the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC).
1975: In the United States, a Senate committee revealed the National Security Agency (NSA).
1976: In Britain, a magazine article revealed the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
1977: In Australia, a special commission revealed the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) and the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD).
1980: In New Zealand, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was officially announced.

In 1999, the Australian government admitted that it "does co-operate with counterpart signals intelligence organisations overseas under the UKUSA relationship."

However, the UKUSA Agreement itself was not publicly revealed until 2005. Its full details were officially released on June 25, 2010. Just a few days later, Time magazine called it one of the "most important documents in the history of the Cold War."

Recent Information Leaks

In July 2013, Edward Snowden leaked documents showing that the NSA was paying GCHQ for its services. Between 2010 and 2013, over £100 million was paid.

On September 11, 2013, The Guardian newspaper released a document from Edward Snowden. It showed a similar agreement between the NSA and Israel's Unit 8200.

The Sydney Morning Herald also reported that Australia runs secret surveillance facilities in its embassies. These facilities are part of a global spying program called STATEROOM.

Who Are the Agencies?

The UKUSA alliance is often linked to the ECHELON system. But the intelligence shared comes from many sources, not just signals intelligence. Here's a look at the main government agencies involved in the "Five Eyes" group and what they do:

Country	Signals intelligence (listening to communications)	Defence intelligence (military info)	Security intelligence (protecting the country)	Human intelligence (getting info from people)
United Kingdom	Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)	Defence Intelligence (DI)	Security Service (also known as MI5)	Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (also known as MI6)
United States	National Security Agency (NSA)	Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)	Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)	Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Australia	Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)	Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO)	Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)	Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS)
Canada	Communications Security Establishment (CSE)	Canadian Forces Intelligence Command (CFINTCOM)	Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)
New Zealand	Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)	Directorate of Defence Intelligence and Security (DDIS)	New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS)

Where They Operate Globally

Each country in the UKUSA alliance is responsible for collecting and analyzing intelligence in different parts of the world. The exact details are secret.

The Five Eyes

The Five Eyes (or FVEY) is an alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They work together to share signals intelligence under the UKUSA Agreement.

Australia's Focus

Australia mainly monitors South Asia and East Asia.

Canada's Focus

Canada's closeness to the Soviet Union was very helpful for listening in during the Cold War. Today, Canada continues to monitor Russia and China. It also manages intelligence in Latin America.

New Zealand's Focus

The Waihopai Valley Facility – a base for New Zealand's part in the ECHELON Program

New Zealand is responsible for Southeast Asia and the western Pacific. It has listening posts in the South Island at Waihopai Valley and on the North Island at Tangimoana.

United Kingdom's Focus

The UK focuses on Europe, European Russia, the Middle East, and Hong Kong.

United States' Focus

The US focuses on the Middle East, Russia, and China. It also covers the Caribbean and Africa.

Other Allies: "Third Parties"

The NSA's relationship with its "second parties" (Five Eyes) and "third parties" (NATO and other allies).

The "Five Eyes" group is part of a larger network of Western countries that share signals intelligence. These allies include members of NATO, other European countries like Sweden, and allies in the Pacific like Singapore and South Korea.

In the 1950s, several Nordic countries joined as "third party" members. Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955) followed soon after.

According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has a special department that works with other Western allies, such as Israel.

Unlike the Five Eyes countries, "third party" partners are not always safe from being spied on themselves. An internal NSA document leaked by Snowden said that the NSA "can, and often do, target the signals of most 3rd party foreign partners."

The Five Eyes countries work with various "third party" countries in at least two larger groups:

The "Nine Eyes": This group includes the Five Eyes plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The "Fourteen Eyes": This group includes the Nine Eyes countries plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. This group is officially called SIGINT Seniors Europe (SSEUR). Its goal is to share military signals intelligence among its members.

Germany has shown interest in joining the inner circle. A secret document from 2009 said that "Germans were a little grumpy at not being invited to join the 9-Eyes group." Germany might even want to join the Five Eyes. However, former French President François Hollande said that France is "not within that framework and we don't intend to join." A former US official said that "Germany joining would be a possibility, but not France – France itself spies on the US far too aggressively for that."

Image Gallery

Officially Released Documents

These documents were made public by the NSA and GCHQ in 2010:

The cover page of the 1946 UKUSA Agreement.
The signatures of the top military leaders from Britain and America (March 1946).
Text under the Top Secret heading: "To be kept under lock and key: Never to be removed from office." (Appendix F)
A photograph of British code-breakers Harry Hinsley, Sir Edward Travis, and John Tiltman.

Documents Leaked by Edward Snowden

These documents were leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013:

This shows the NSA's relationship with Norway's NIS (April 2013).
An NSA document showing that Germany's BND uses the NSA's XKeyscore system to help with intelligence.
A summary of a meeting in February 2013 between the NSA and the Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD.