EOTO Project - Discovering the inner-workings of the "five eyes" alliance

The Countries of the "Five Eyes" - A slide out of my EOTO group presentation

[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01495933.2019.1633186]

For our next group EOTO assignment, I have been tasked with researching the Five Eyes Alliance under the subtopic of awareness. It all began at the end of World War II, more specifically 1946 when the United States and the United Kingdom collected their forces. These two countries strived to continue their intelligence-sharing efforts by signing the British-U.S. Communication Agreement, which was later renamed UKUSA. The UKUSA was initially born from forging arrangements to gather information on the Soviet Union, overall keeping an EYE on as many other countries as possible. 

Later on, the addition of Canada in 1948, followed by Australia and New Zealand in 1956, led to a globalized intelligence-sharing entity that could gather information outside the reach of the United States. This way there were now "five eyes" as they called it, monitoring the actions of the surrounding countries to keep track of any danger that may come their way. The five eyes alliance is controlled by its small and manageable membership and overburdened by current and developing issues that need constant, up-to-date attention. 

In most recent news, the five eyes has been considering the additions of Germany, France, and South Korea. I believe these additions could help us grasp a greater understanding of other countries that we face, as well as can gather information from a different perspective than our own. These countries also may have different types of relationship with the countries we want to further research and understand, allowing for a more in-depth collection of information on them. As assets and allies it is important that we work together and support one another in keeping information safe. 

Overall, I think that the existence of the five eyes is a key tool for countries such as the United States in that they are able to share the burden of gathering and analyzing foreign communication. This means that the U.S. can keep up to date on potential danger or threats from around the world by having ears listening in and keeping them updated. Each country involved brings something important to the table, and as allies, they work to secure their own country as well as keeping the others involved safe. And in my opinion, safety is our top priority.