UKUSA Agreement

{{quote box

|quote =

The parties agree to the exchange of the products of the following operations relating to foreign communications:-

1. Collection of traffic.
2. Acquisition of communications documents and equipment.
3. Traffic analysis.
4. Cryptanalysis.
5. Decryption and translation.
6. Acquisition of information regarding communications organizations, procedures, practices and equipment.

|source = —[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/ukusa/new_ukusa_agree_10may55.pdf AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO THE APPENDICES TO THE UKUSA AGREEMENT (THIRD EDITION)], page 5

}}

The agreement originated from a ten-page 1943 British–US Communication Intelligence Agreement, BRUSA.{{Cite news |date=2016-02-08 |title=How the British and Americans started listening in |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35491822 |access-date=2023-04-02}} The UKUSA Agreement connected the signal intercept networks of the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US National Security Agency (NSA) at the beginning of the Cold War.{{Cite news |date=2021-03-05 |title=Diary reveals birth of secret UK-US spy pact that grew into Five Eyes |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56284453 |access-date=2023-04-02}} The document was signed on 5 March 1946 by Colonel Patrick Marr-Johnson for the UK's London Signals Intelligence Board and Lieutenant General Hoyt Vandenberg for the US State–Army–Navy Communication Intelligence Board. Although the original agreement states that the exchange would not be "prejudicial to national interests", the United States often blocked information sharing from Commonwealth countries. The full text of the agreement was released to the public on 25 June 2010.{{cite news|last=Norton-Taylor|first=Richard|title=Not so secret: deal at the heart of UK-US intelligence|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/25/intelligence-deal-uk-us-released|work=The Guardian|date=25 June 2010|access-date=25 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205003607/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/25/intelligence-deal-uk-us-released|archive-date=5 December 2013|url-status=live}}

The "Five Eyes" term has its origins as a shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" classification level.

Under the agreement, the GCHQ and the NSA shared intelligence on the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and several Eastern Bloc countries (known as Exotics).{{cite news|last=Aldrich|first=Richard|title=Allied code-breakers co-operate – but not always|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/24/intelligence-sharing-codebreakers-agreement-ukusa|work=The Guardian|date=24 June 2010|access-date=25 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915014503/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/24/intelligence-sharing-codebreakers-agreement-ukusa|archive-date=15 September 2013|url-status=live}} The network was expanded in the 1960s into the Echelon collection and analysis network.

The treaty was extended to include Canada (1948), Australia (1956) and New Zealand (1956). In 1955, the agreement was updated to designate Canada, Australia and New Zealand as "UKUSA-collaborating Commonwealth countries". Other countries that joined as "third parties" were Norway (1952), Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955).

In the aftermath of the 1973 Murphy raids on the headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the existence of the UKUSA Agreement was revealed to Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. After learning about the agreement, Whitlam discovered that Pine Gap, a secret surveillance station close to Alice Springs, Northern Territory, had been operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).{{cite news|last=Ley|first=Jenny|title=Australia and America: a 50-year affair|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523405.html|work=The Age|access-date=30 January 2014|date=1 February 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428060637/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523405.html|archive-date=28 April 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Gill|first=Peter|title=Policing Politics: Security Intelligence and the Liberal Democratic State|year=1994|publisher=Cass|location=London u.a.|isbn=0-7146-3490-5|page=198|edition=1. publ.}}{{cite web|last=Leslie|first=Tim|title=Explained: Australia's involvement with the NSA, the US spy agency at heart of global scandal|date=8 November 2013|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-08/australian-nsa-involvement-explained/5079786|quote=Its existence was allegedly so secret that prime ministers were unaware of the agreement until 1973 – the same year the Commonwealth raided ASIO|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=30 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208194738/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-08/australian-nsa-involvement-explained/5079786|archive-date=8 February 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Pugh|first=Michael C.|title=The ANZUS Crisis, Nuclear Visiting and Deterrence|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-34355-0|page=46|edition=1. publ.}}

At the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the use and control of Pine Gap by the CIA was strongly opposed by Whitlam, who fired the chief of the ASIO before being dismissed as prime minister.{{cite web|last=Campbell|first=Duncan|title=Australia first to admit "we're part of global surveillance system"|url=http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/2/2889/1.html|publisher=Heise Online|access-date=30 January 2014|date=28 May 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203141401/http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/2/2889/1.html|archive-date=3 February 2014|url-status=live}}

The existence of several intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes was not revealed until the following years:

; 1974: In Canada, an investigative television report on CBC News's newsmagazine program The Fifth Estate revealed the existence of the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC).{{cite web |last=Freeze |first=Colin |title=How CSEC became an electronic spying giant |url=http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-csec-became-an-electronic-spying-giant/article15699694/?service=mobile |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=2 February 2014 |date=30 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222174815/http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-csec-became-an-electronic-spying-giant/article15699694/?service=mobile |archive-date=22 December 2013 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|last=Hildebrandt|first=Amber|date=21 May 2015|title=How CSE's existence was first revealed by CBC TV|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/how-cse-s-existence-was-first-revealed-by-cbc-tv-1.3064951|access-date=20 April 2021|website=CBC News}}

; 1975: In the United States, the Church Committee of the Senate revealed the existence of the National Security Agency (NSA).{{cite web|last=Schorr|first=Daniel|title=A Brief History of the NSA|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5176847|publisher=NPR|access-date=2 February 2014|date=29 January 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219065607/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5176847|archive-date=19 February 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite web|author1=Ewen MacAskill, Julian Borger|author2=Glenn Greenwald|name-list-style=amp|title=The National Security Agency: surveillance giant with eyes on America|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/national-security-agency-surveillance|work=The Guardian|access-date=2 February 2014|date=6 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140126124414/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/national-security-agency-surveillance|archive-date=26 January 2014|url-status=live}}

; 1976: In Britain, an investigative article in Time Out magazine revealed the existence of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/21/surveillance-secrecy-gchq |title=Surveillance secrecy: the legacy of GCHQ's years under cover |work=The Guardian |date=21 August 2013 |access-date=30 November 2013 |author=Norton-Taylor, Richard |quote=GCHQ's cover was first blown in 1976 by an article, The Eavesdroppers, published by the London magazine, Time Out. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203121357/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/21/surveillance-secrecy-gchq |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status=live }}

; 1977: In Australia, the Hope Commission revealed the existence of Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) and the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD).{{cite web|title=Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security|url=http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/media/images/rcis/index.aspx|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=2 February 2014|quote=But Justice Hope also investigated the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO), the Defence Signals Division (DSD) and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) whose existence was not officially confirmed until 1977.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211225939/http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/media/images/rcis/index.aspx|archive-date=11 February 2014|url-status=dead}}

;1980: In New Zealand, the existence of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was officially disclosed on a "limited basis".{{cite web|title=History of the GCSB|url=http://www.gcsb.govt.nz/about-us/history.html|publisher=Government Communications Security Bureau|access-date=2 February 2014|quote=In 1977, the then Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, approved the formation of the GCSB, but its functions and activities were kept secret. In 1980 it was decided that the existence of the GCSB could be disclosed on a limited basis, leading to the first briefings of the Cabinet and the Leader of the Opposition.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817045611/http://www.gcsb.govt.nz/about-us/history.html|archive-date=17 August 2013}}

In 1999, the Australian government acknowledged that it "does co-operate with counterpart signals intelligence organisations overseas under the UKUSA relationship."{{cite web|author1=Duncan Campbell|author2=Mark Honigsbaum|name-list-style=amp|title=Britain and US spy on world|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/may/23/duncancampbell.markhonigsbaum|work=The Observer|access-date=19 December 2013|date=23 May 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219063144/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/may/23/duncancampbell.markhonigsbaum|archive-date=19 December 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=NZ role with global spying alliance|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=7168|work=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=30 January 2014|date=30 June 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322045707/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=7168|archive-date=22 March 2016|url-status=live}}

The existence of the UKUSA Agreement, however, was not publicly revealed until 2005. The contents of the agreement were officially disclosed to the public on 25 June 2010. Four days later, the agreement was described by Time magazine as one of the "most important documents in the history of the Cold War."

In July 2013, as part of the 2013 Edward Snowden revelations, it emerged that the NSA is paying GCHQ for its services, with at least £100 million of payments made between 2010 and 2013.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden NSA pays £100m in secret funding for GCHQ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125143605/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden |date=25 January 2014 }}, The Guardian, 1 August 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.

On 11 September 2013, The Guardian released a leaked document provided by Edward Snowden which reveals a similar agreement between the NSA and Israel's Unit 8200.{{cite news |author1=Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras |author2=Ewen MacAskill |name-list-style=amp |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents|title=NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=2014-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913020648/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents |archive-date=13 September 2013 |url-status=live }}

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia operates clandestine surveillance facilities at its embassies "without the knowledge of most Australian diplomats". These facilities are part of an international espionage program known as STATEROOM.{{cite news|last=Philip Dorling|title=Exposed: Australia's Asia spy network|url=http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/exposed-australias-asia-spy-network-20131030-2whia.html|access-date=22 December 2013|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=31 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221134748/http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/exposed-australias-asia-spy-network-20131030-2whia.html|archive-date=21 December 2013|url-status=live}}

Although the UKUSA alliance is often associated with the ECHELON system, processed intelligence is reliant on multiple sources of information and the intelligence shared is not restricted to signals intelligence. The following table provides an overview of the government agencies involved and their respective responsibilities within the "Five Eyes" community:

{{Main|Global surveillance}}

Although precise assignments are classified, it is generally known that each member of the UKUSA alliance takes lead responsibility for intelligence collection and analysis in different parts of the globe.

{{Main|Five Eyes}}

The Five Eyes (often abbreviated as FVEY) are an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.{{cite web|last=Cox|first=James|title=Canada and the Five Eyes Intelligence Community|url=http://www.cdfai.org/PDF/Canada%20and%20the%20Five%20Eyes%20Intelligence%20Community.pdf|publisher=Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute|date=December 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140205220700/http://www.cdfai.org/PDF/Canada%20and%20the%20Five%20Eyes%20Intelligence%20Community.pdf|archive-date=5 February 2014}}{{cite web|title=PKI Interoperability with FVEY Partner Nations on the NIPRNet|url=https://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?ID=3978|publisher=United States Department of the Navy|access-date=18 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201113535/http://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?ID=3978|archive-date=1 February 2014|url-status=live}}

Australia monitors South Asia and East Asia.

Canada's geographical proximity to the Soviet Union provided considerable eavesdropping advantages during the Cold War. Canada continues to monitor the Russian and Chinese interior while managing intelligence assets in Latin America.

File:Waihopai Valley base (2005).jpg

In addition to Southeast Asia, New Zealand is responsible for the western Pacific and maintains listening posts in the South Island at Waihopai Valley just south-west of Blenheim, and on the North Island at Tangimoana.

Europe, European Russia, Middle East, and Hong Kong.

The US is focused on the Middle East, Russia, and China, in addition to the Caribbean and Africa.

{{See also|Five Eyes#Fourteen Eyes|label 1=Fourteen Eyes, a section in Five Eyes article}}

File:NSA Nato alliance.jpg (NSA) and the so-called "second parties", which comprises the UKUSA community, and the "third parties" made up of members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other Western allies:

NSA and second parties—Extensive mutual sharing of signals intelligence{{cite magazine|title=They're Listening To Your Calls|url=http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1999-05-30/theyre-listening-to-your-calls|magazine=Bloomberg Businessweek|date=30 May 1999|access-date=20 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115001221/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1999-05-30/theyre-listening-to-your-calls|archive-date=15 November 2014|url-status=dead}}

NSA and third parties—Signals intelligence is funnelled to the NSA in exchange for surveillance technology and monetary compensation.

]]

The "Five Eyes" community is part of an extensive alliance of Western countries sharing signals intelligence with each other. These allied countries include NATO members, other European countries such as Sweden, and allies in the Pacific, in particular Singapore and South Korea.

In the 1950s several Nordic countries joined the community as "third party" participants. They were soon followed by Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955).{{cite web|last=Duncan Campbell|title=Inside Echelon|url=http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/6/6929/1.html|publisher=Heinz Heise|date=25 July 2000|access-date=20 October 2013|quote=The system was established under a secret 1947 "UKUSA Agreement," which brought together the British and American systems, personnel and stations. To this was soon joined the networks of three British commonwealth countries, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Later, other countries including Norway, Denmark, Germany and Turkey signed secret sigint agreements with the United States and became "third parties" participants in the UKUSA network.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140126151528/http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/6/6929/1.html|archive-date=26 January 2014|url-status=live}}

According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has a "massive body" called the Foreign Affairs Directorate that is responsible for partnering with other Western allies such as Israel.{{cite magazine |title=Edward Snowden Interview: The NSA and Its Willing Helpers |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-whistleblower-edward-snowden-on-global-spying-a-910006.html |magazine=Der Spiegel |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706080155/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-whistleblower-edward-snowden-on-global-spying-a-910006.html |archive-date=6 July 2014 |url-status=live }}

Unlike the "second party" members (that is, the Five Eyes themselves), "third party" partners are not automatically exempt from intelligence targeting. According to an internal NSA document leaked by Snowden, "We (the NSA) can, and often do, target the signals of most 3rd party foreign partners."{{cite news |author1 = Laura Poitras |author2 = Marcel Rosenbach |author3 = Holger Stark |name-list-style = amp |title = Ally and Target: US Intelligence Watches Germany Closely |url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-is-a-both-a-partner-to-and-a-target-of-nsa-surveillance-a-916029.html |work = Der Spiegel |date = 12 August 2013 |access-date = 29 August 2013 |quote = The NSA classifies about 30 other countries as "3rd parties," with whom it cooperates, though with reservations. Germany is one of them. "We can, and often do, target the signals of most 3rd party foreign partners," the secret NSA document reads. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130820142333/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-is-a-both-a-partner-to-and-a-target-of-nsa-surveillance-a-916029.html |archive-date = 20 August 2013 |url-status = live }}

The Five Eyes are cooperating with various 3rd Party countries in at least two groups:

• The "Nine Eyes", consisting of the Five Eyes plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway.{{cite news|title=Denmark is one of the NSA's '9-Eyes'|url=http://cphpost.dk/news14/international-news14/denmark-is-one-of-the-nsas-9-eyes.html|access-date=10 April 2016|newspaper=The Copenhagen Post|date=4 November 2013|language=da|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609140301/http://cphpost.dk/news14/international-news14/denmark-is-one-of-the-nsas-9-eyes.html|archive-date=9 June 2015|url-status=dead}}
• The "Fourteen Eyes", consisting of the same countries as the Nine Eyes plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Sweden.Ewen MacAskill and James Ball (2 November 2013), [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/nsa-portrait-total-surveillance Portrait of the NSA: no detail too small in quest for total surveillance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202152820/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/nsa-portrait-total-surveillance |date=2 February 2014 }} The Guardian The actual name of this group is SIGINT Seniors Europe (SSEUR) and its purpose is coordinating the exchange of military signals intelligence among its members.

Germany is reportedly interested in moving closer to the inner circle: an internal GCHQ document from 2009 said that the "Germans were a little grumpy at not being invited to join the 9-Eyes group." Germany may even wish to join Five Eyes.David Sanger and Mark Mazzetti (24 October 2013), [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/world/europe/allegation-of-us-spying-on-merkel-puts-obama-at-crossroads.html Allegation of U.S. Spying on Merkel Puts Obama at Crossroads] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205123518/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/world/europe/allegation-of-us-spying-on-merkel-puts-obama-at-crossroads.html |date=5 February 2017 }} The New York Times Referring to Five Eyes, former French President François Hollande has said that his country is "not within that framework and we don't intend to join."Bruno Waterfield (25 October 2013), [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10405936/EU-leaders-warn-US-spying-could-harm-fight-against-terror.html EU leaders warn US 'spying' could harm fight against terror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825002440/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10405936/EU-leaders-warn-US-spying-could-harm-fight-against-terror.html |date=25 August 2018 }} The Daily Telegraph According to a former top US official, "Germany joining would be a possibility, but not France – France itself spies on the US far too aggressively for that."Gregor Peter Schmitz (28 October 2013), [http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/germany-impedes-eu-privacy-efforts-despite-outrage-at-nsa-spying-a-930488.html Appearances and Reality: Merkel Balks at EU Privacy Push] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101013642/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/germany-impedes-eu-privacy-efforts-despite-outrage-at-nsa-spying-a-930488.html |date=1 November 2013 }} Der Spiegel

{{NSA surveillance}}

During the 2013 NSA leaks Internet spying scandal, the surveillance agencies of the "Five Eyes" have been accused of intentionally spying on one another's citizens and willingly sharing the collected information with each other, allegedly circumventing laws preventing each agency from spying on its own citizens.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world's communications] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017143724/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa |date=17 October 2017 }}, The Guardian, 21 June 2013. Retrieved July 2013.[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/10/nsa-offers-intelligence-british-counterparts-blunkett NSA 'offers intelligence to British counterparts to skirt UK law'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229105310/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/10/nsa-offers-intelligence-british-counterparts-blunkett |date=29 December 2013 }}, The Guardian, 10 June 2013. Retrieved July 2013.[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2013/jun/10/cameron-speech-gchq-nsa-hague-live GCHQ-NSA revelations – Hague responds: politics blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817143238/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2013/jun/10/cameron-speech-gchq-nsa-hague-live |date=17 August 2016 }}, The Guardian, 10 June 2013, Retrieved July 2013.

The 2013 NSA leaks are not entirely new, but rather, they are a confirmation of earlier disclosures about the UK-US espionage alliance. For example, the British newspaper The Independent reported back in 1996 that the US National Security Agency "taps UK phones" at the request of the British intelligence agency MI5, thus allowing British agents to evade restrictive limitations on domestic telephone tapping.{{cite news|author1=Chris Blackhurst|author2=John Gilbert|name-list-style=amp|title=US spy base 'taps UK phones for MI5'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/us-spy-base-taps-uk-phones-for-mi5-1364399.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=22 September 1996|access-date=17 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304055253/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/us-spy-base-taps-uk-phones-for-mi5-1364399.html|archive-date=4 March 2018|url-status=live}}

The mutual surveillance and sharing of information between allies of the UK and US resurfaced again during the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures. As described by the news magazine Der Spiegel, this was done to circumvent domestic surveillance regulations:

Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency can spy on anyone but British nationals, the NSA can conduct surveillance on anyone but Americans, and Germany's BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) foreign intelligence agency can spy on anyone but Germans. That's how a matrix is created of boundless surveillance in which each partner aids in a division of roles.

They exchanged information. And they worked together extensively. That applies to the British and the Americans, but also to the BND, which assists the NSA in its Internet surveillance.{{cite magazine|author1=Laura Poitras|author2= Marcel Rosenbach|author3= Fidelius Schmid|author4= Holger Stark |author5= Jonathan Stock|title=Cover Story: How the NSA Targets Germany and Europe|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/secret-documents-nsa-targeted-germany-and-eu-buildings-a-908609.html|magazine=Der Spiegel|access-date=20 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024145055/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/secret-documents-nsa-targeted-germany-and-eu-buildings-a-908609.html|archive-date=24 October 2013|url-status=live}}

In 2013, Canadian federal judge Richard Mosley strongly rebuked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for outsourcing its surveillance of Canadians to overseas partner agencies. A 51-page ruling says that the CSIS and other Canadian federal agencies are illegally enlisting US and British allies in global surveillance dragnets, while keeping domestic federal courts in the dark.{{cite news|last=Colin Freeze|title=Canada's spy agencies chastised for duping courts|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadas-spy-agencies-chastised-for-duping-courts/article16081238/|access-date=27 December 2013|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=20 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225223400/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadas-spy-agencies-chastised-for-duping-courts/article16081238/|archive-date=25 December 2013|url-status=live}}

The following documents were jointly released by the NSA and the GCHQ in 2010:

Image:UKUSA1.jpg|Cover page of the 1946 UKUSA Agreement

Image:UKUSA Agreement 1946.jpg|Signatures of the Chiefs of staff of Britain and America (March 1946)

Image:UKUSA top secret.jpg|Text under the Top Secret heading: "To be kept under lock and key: Never to be removed from office." (Appendix F)

Image:UKUSA Washington.jpg|Photograph of British cryptoanalysts Harry Hinsley, Sir Edward Travis, and John Tiltman

{{Expand section|date=October 2013}}

The following documents were leaked by Edward Snowden during the course of the 2013 Global surveillance disclosure:

File:NSA Norway.jpg|NSA's relationship with Norway's NIS (April 2013)

File:Nsa-internal-pm-on-fra-and-sweden-relations.pdf|NSA's relationship with Sweden's FRA under the UKUSA Agreement (April 2013)

File:Israel Memorandum of Understanding SIGINT.pdf|Details of NSA's agreement to share personal data of US citizens with Israel's ISNU

File:BND XKeyscore.jpg|NSA document reveals the German BND's usage of the NSA's XKeyscore to provide "unique contributions".

File:NSA Canada G8 G20.pdf|NSA document on a joint espionage operation with Canada's CSEC agency during the G8 and G20 summits in Toronto in 2010

File:NSA Canada relationship.pdf|NSA's relationship with Canada's CSEC

File:Notes for Dutch SIGINT-Cyber Analytic Exchange.jpg|Summary of a meeting held in February 2013 between the NSA and the Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD

{{Portal|United States|Politics}}

• ABCA Armies
• Air and Space Interoperability Council (air forces)
• Allied technological cooperation during World War II
• Anglosphere
• AUKUS
• AUSCANNZUKUS (navies)
• British intelligence agencies
• CANZUK
• Collective intelligence
• Combined Communications Electronics Board (communication-electronics)
• Five Eyes (intelligence)
• Five Nations Passport Group
• Signals intelligence by alliances, nations and industries
• Special Relationship
• The Technical Cooperation Program (technology and science)
• Tizard Mission
• United States Intelligence Community

{{NoteFoot}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• Bryden, John. Best Kept Secret: Canadian Secret Intelligence in the Second World War. Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1993, {{ISBN|1895555299}}.
• {{citation |last1=Coxsedge|first1=Joan|last2=Coldicutt|first2=Ken|last3=Harant|first3=Gerry |year = 1982 |title=Rooted in secrecy: the clandestine element in Australian politics |publisher=Committee for the Abolition of Political Police |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FEYMAQAAIAAJ&q=Quadripartite+Agreement+(1947)+signals+intelligence 101]}}
• Frost, Mike and Michel Gratton. Spyworld: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1994.
• Hamilton, Dwight. Inside Canadian Intelligence: Exposing the New Realities of Espionage and International Terrorism. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2006.
• {{citation|last1=Janczewski|first1=Lech|last2=Colarik|first2=Andrew M.|year=2008|title=Cyber warfare and cyber terrorism, Premier Reference Series, Gale virtual reference library|publisher=Idea Group Inc (IGI)|isbn=978-1-59140-991-5|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6CJ-aV9Dh-QC&dq=UKUSA+agreement+and+the+ECHELON+network&pg=PT486 454,455]}}
• Hager, Nicky (1996) Secret Power, New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network; Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, NZ; {{ISBN|0-908802-35-8}}; ([http://www.filefactory.com/?d895a8 ONLINE EDITION] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927013218/http://www.filefactory.com/?d895a8 |date=27 September 2007 }})
• Richelson, Jeffrey T.; Ball, Desmond (1985). The Ties That Bind: Intelligence Cooperation Between the UKUSA Countries. London: Allen & Unwin. {{ISBN|0-04-327092-1}}.
• Richelson, Jeffrey T. The United States Intelligence Community, fifth ed. Westview Press, Boulder, Colo.; {{ISBN|978-0-8133-4362-4}}; 2008.
• Rosen, Philip. The Communications Security Establishment: Canada's Most Secret Intelligence Agency. Ottawa: Library of Parliament Research Branch, 1993.
• Rudner, Martin. "Canada's Communications Security Establishment: From the Cold War to Globalization", Intelligence and National Security. Volume 16 Number 1 (Spring 2001). 97–128.
• Whitaker, Reginald. "Cold War Alchemy: How America, Britain, and Canada Transformed Espionage into Subversion", Intelligence and National Security.

{{refend}}

• [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukusa/ UKUSA Agreement] at The National Archives
• [https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/ukusa/ UKUSA Agreement Release 1940-1956] at the National Security Agency
• [http://electrospaces.blogspot.nl/2013/11/five-eyes-9-eyes-and-many-more.html Top Level Telecommunications: Five Eyes, 9-Eyes and many more]
• Kurt Opsahl, Electronic Frontier Foundation: [https://media.ccc.de/v/35c3-9951-it_always_feels_like_the_five_eyes_are_watching_you It Always Feels Like the Five Eyes Are Watching You], 35C3, 2018-28-12.

{{Mass surveillance}}

{{Australia–New Zealand relations}}

{{Australia–United Kingdom relations}}

{{Australia–United States relations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukusa Agreement}}

Category:Anglosphere

Category:Espionage

Category:National Security Agency

Category:GCHQ

Category:Government databases in the United States

Category:Signals intelligence agencies

Category:Privacy of telecommunications

Category:United States national security policy

Category:Australia–United Kingdom relations

Category:Australia–United States relations

Category:Australia–New Zealand relations

Category:Australia–Canada relations

Category:Canada–United Kingdom relations

Category:Canada–United States relations

Category:Canada–New Zealand relations

Category:New Zealand–United Kingdom relations

Category:New Zealand–United States relations

Category:United Kingdom–United States treaties

Category:Treaties of Australia

Category:Treaties of Canada

Category:Secret treaties

Category:Treaties of New Zealand

Category:Treaties of the United Kingdom

Category:Treaties of the United States

Category:1946 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:1946 establishments in the United States

Category:Treaties entered into force in 1946

Category:1946 establishments in Canada

Category:Cold War history of Australia