Five Eyes, the most important intelligence network
In the Western world, this ties together the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand into a shared fabric.
shared espionage.
But now it is
Unraveling — and the Trump administration has tugged at these threads.
Mark Carney, the newly appointed Canadian Prime Minister, stated that his nation might now need to focus more internally following the disclosures about the U.S. defense secretary.
Pete Hegseth
divulged confidential information about strategies aimed at attacking Yemen’s Houthi rebels within a Signal chat group that featured both the chief of the CIA and the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, as well as a journalist.
We maintain an exceptionally robust intelligence collaboration with the Americans under the Five Eyes alliance,” Carney stated. “Errors can occur, yet the crucial aspect is how individuals respond to these errors. Instead of denying them, they ensure clarity and transparency in resolving such issues.
However, every U.S. official within the Signal group, including both the head of the CIA and the director of national intelligence, have refuted claims of a security breach. They maintain that no classified information was disclosed and have downplayed the entire episode.
This has severely damaged the trust of U.S.-allied intelligence agencies in the capability of American officials.
keep the most secret secrets secret.
Most importantly because it is clear that a personal phone identified as most likely in the hands of Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, was receiving sensitive information about US military plans
when he was in Moscow.
Utilizing a commercial messaging platform instead of a secure government communication system is ill-advised. Resorting to personal phones for such purposes is unacceptable. Engaging in these practices in Moscow, as it seems Witkoff did, demonstrates a significant lack of competence.
For instance, illustrating the extent of Russian intelligence operations targeting personal electronics, I utilized an Apple device throughout my most recent two-week visit to Ukraine, concluding in Odesa just last Saturday. Upon turning on this same device yesterday, I discovered that all of its data traffic had been redirected through servers located in Russian-controlled Sevastopol within occupied Crimea.
Whenever British government delegations went to Russia’s capital city, all members of the delegation, along with the flight crew and security staff, had their personal and officially issued mobile phones stay behind in the UK. This directive applied even to the prime minister.
Upon their arrival, the delegations received fresh mobile devices intended for domestic use within the region. Additionally, they underwent training aimed at reducing communication as much as possible and learning appropriate behavior while inside the nation’s borders, which included guidelines even when using restrooms or sleeping. When departing, the smartphones provided for usage during their time in Moscow were deliberately destroyed prior to takeoff; subsequently, these fragments would be returned to the UK where they were incinerated.
It is claimed that Witkoff has been roaming around Moscow with his personal phone without realizing that Russian intelligence likely infiltrated his device.
They will have done this as easily as the Saudi Arabians, and the other Gulf countries he has also visited. Every resident in Saudi or the UAE is famously aware that their communications are so bugged they can sometimes hear recordings of themselves mid-chat.
US-allied intelligence agencies will now be scrambling to try to figure out what secrets of theirs Witkoff may have stored on his phone.
“What other communications have been going on between the heads of US intelligence agencies on their personal phones over Signal? It’s not just the content of the messages that’s worrying it’s that we now don’t know if their handsets themselves are even secure,” said a Middle Eastern intelligence official.
Witkoff has been at the centre of talks between Hamas and Israel in Qatar, and between Ukraine and Russia, in Saudi Arabia.
Any kind of a leak from the US side would be a catastrophic compromise. Europe now knows for sure, after the Signal message snafu, that both Pete Hegseth and JD Vance have contempt for the entire European continent.
The Signal chat group revealed by The Atlantic when the magazine’s editor-in-chief was accidentally added to a group discussing the imminent bombardment of the Houthis, and later analysis of the operation, included: Vance, Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, “MAR,” the initials of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “TG,” the initials of director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, “Scott B”, who is likely to be Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “S M,” the initials of the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff and Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East and Russia.
It remains uncertain how many of these officials were utilizing their private cellphones.
Ratcliffe informed the Senate intelligence panel that he utilized Signal on his CIA work computer. However, it remains unclear whether he also employed this app on his private mobile device for discussions related to the CIA.
Gabbard remained unclear regarding her whereabouts during the Signal conversation concerning Yemen. She mentioned that she was in Asia at the time. In reality, she was either in or close to Thailand and arrived in India the following day after the assaults on Yemen occurred.
The United States considers India an ally, though not to the same extent as does Russian President Vladimir Putin. India maintains strong relationships with Moscow in areas such as defense, nuclear energy, aerospace, and missile tech. Similarly to how Russia leads globally, India also stands out in the realm of mobile telecommunications.
The Israeli firm NSO set the standard for the private sector with its Pegasus surveillance software, capable of fully commandeering countless individuals’ personal devices. This technology has seen use in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, and Hungary.
The reality is that during Donald Trump’s initial term, the Five Eyes alliance had been significantly stressed due to certain members perceiving dangerous ineptitude from the White House in managing sensitive information.
Another closely allied country in the Middle East, alongside one member of the Five Eyes alliance, verified that they withheld highly classified information and operational specifics from the CIA due to concerns. They worried that Trump might inadvertently reveal these secrets during discussions—potentially putting lives at risk.
The most egregious example of this was when Trump disclosed highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation in 2017.
He blurted out details of an ISIS plot to blow up an airliner with a bomb in a laptop and boasted of other details – which were not even American secrets to reveal. His audience was Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Russia was heavily involved in Syria at the time supporting the regime of Bashar al Assad which was also a target of US intelligence gathering.
Middle Eastern intelligence organizations engaged in complex maneuvers to shield the identity of the initial informant, known to be affiliated with Israel’s Mossad agency, due to Trump revealing to the Russians that there was a mole within ISIS leadership.
Intelligence officials from two separate entities informed me shortly after that fiasco that although the CIA was reliable, they couldn’t afford to share high-level secrets with the U.S. president.
For decades, Five Eyes has served as the cornerstone of intelligence cooperation among English-speaking nations. This alliance facilitates automated sharing of signal intelligence primarily gathered by Britain’s GCHQ and the U.S. National Security Agency via a secure network connecting all five member countries. Additionally, these partners collaborate extensively on human intelligence efforts, frequently exchanging field operatives and their collected information, effectively operating shoulder-to-shoulder.
Traditionally, the UK has held an advantage over Russia alongside the US. Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand keep a close watch on their respective areas. Additionally, Canada is known for its outstanding intelligence analysis capabilities.
These nations similarly collaborate extensively with their allies. Israel, the UK, and the U.S. share an extremely tight-knit relationship when it comes to surveillance activities targeting Iran. Germany is particularly recognized for having extensive influence within the Middle Eastern region. Each of these countries views Russia and China as persistent rivals and the foremost strategic threats they face.
All of them will be shocked to learn that not only were the nation’s leading intelligence officers exchanging messages on Signal, but they might have been doing so with their own devices, possibly even all of them. When asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee about whether she used an officially issued secure phone or her personal device for these conversations, Gabbard declined to comment.
Gabbard leads the National Intelligence Service, which gathers signal intelligence for the U.S. and works closely with GCHQ in the UK.
The risk-averse Five Eyes intelligence agencies will come to just one conclusion from her evading the question: she cannot be relied upon.
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