Amidst the turmoil surrounding the
disclosure of American military strategies
To a journalist, one pressing issue remains unaddressed: can we trust our own intelligence with the Americans?
The reliance on an instant messaging application, accessible to everyone with a smartphone, for discussing highly classified data has undermined the once unshakeable trust within our intelligence sector regarding our collaborators in the USA.
The focus of these worries centers around Five Eyes – the intelligence-sharing alliance comprising the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – which has historically been considered the crown jewel in protecting the defense of the free world.
Ever since World War II, this network has aligned with common Western objectives. In 1989, during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, the CIA and MI6 cooperated to facilitate the escape of dissenters from China. After the conclusion of the Gulf War in 1991, an operative from Australia carried out eavesdropping activities for MI6 within the governmental premises of Kuwait.
Despite the aftermath of the leak, confidence in the alliance’s most prominent member has waned. A person closely associated with Five Eyes told me that the leak was “a mix of ineptitude and malevolence.” This individual believed that certain members of the U.S. administration were unsuitable for their roles and suggested these errors stemmed more from malicious intentions than mere incompetence. It is likely that others within the intelligence community will begin to ponder whether they should jeopardize their safety for an authority driven by such motives.
sees
Europe itself as “pathetic”.
Field Marshal William Slim, who was highly esteemed by American counterparts during World War II, gave his subordinate officers leeway to err. However, he distinguished between errors that posed risks and those that were simply careless. The actions of senior U.S. officials in this instance fall into the latter category. Revealing your intended course of action—or perhaps more precisely, what measures you intend not to take—to the adversary ahead of time is akin to signing your own death warrant, particularly when followed by denials from those implicated.
However, I am still confident in the abilities of intelligence agents and high-ranking military officials at both the Pentagon and Langley. I trust that they will stop additional damage caused by those buffoons in the White House and restore unity among the members of the Five Eyes alliance.
Who knows, they might as well use this opportunity to teach those newcomers about the harsh truths of warfare.
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