Hakluyt & Company is a British strategic advisory firm. The company is headquartered in London.
113-513: Hakluyt was founded by former officials of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). The company has recruited several former British spies and journalists from The Financial Times . The name of the company comes from the geographer Richard Hakluyt . The firm is chaired by Paul Deighton , and the other members of the board include managing partner Varun Chandra, Paul Dimitruk, Don Viera, and Jean Tomlin. Its head office
226-517: A code name , and has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity. The service's performance during the First World War was mixed, because it was unable to establish a network in Germany itself. Most of its results came from military and commercial intelligence collected through networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. During
339-563: A British special operations flight to airlift a captured V-2 Rocket with the assistance of the Polish resistance. Notably, Polish secret agent Jan Karski played a crucial role in delivering the first Allied intelligence on the Holocaust , providing the British with harrowing information about Nazi atrocities. Moreover, through a female Polish agent, the British established a channel of communication with
452-555: A beginning of a shift in British foreign policy, Prime Minister Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons that "any threat to the vital interest of France" would lead to a British declaration of war. One of MI6’s most successful operations before the war started in April 1939 when an Australian businessman living in London, Sidney Cotton , who was already engaged in aerial photographic espionage for
565-630: A café in Venlo almost on the German border to meet a representative of the Wehrmacht generals, but the meeting proved to be an ambush as instead a party of the Sicherheitsdienst officers crossed over the border. The SS shot and killed a Dutch intelligence officer, Dirk Klop, who assisted with settling up the meeting and kidnapped Best and Stevens at gunpoint. The Venlo incident made the British government wary for
678-540: A direct clash between China's government and governments of the Five Eyes alliance. In the months that followed, the United States restricted technology exchanges with China. The newspaper reported that these events were seen by Beijing as a "fight ... waged with the world’s oldest intelligence alliance, the Five Eyes." Starting in 2019, Australian parliamentarians as well as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prompted
791-591: A former NSA communications analyst reported to Ramparts magazine that the Agency had developed technology that "could crack all Soviet codes". In a 1988 piece in the New Statesman called "Somebody's listening", Duncan Campbell revealed the existence of ECHELON , an extension of the UKUSA Agreement on global signals intelligence . The story detailed how eavesdropping operations were not only being employed in
904-549: A key element in the intelligence and security landscape of each member country, providing them a strategic advantage in understanding and responding to global events. The following table provides an overview of most of the FVEY agencies that share data . The informal origins of the Five Eyes alliance were secret meetings between British and US code-breakers at the British code-breaking establishment Bletchley Park in February 1941, before
1017-408: A long-standing tradition of insurgency organizations, which had been passed down through generations. These organizations maintained networks in emigrant Polish communities in Germany and France. A substantial part of the Polish resistance activity was clandestine and involved the establishment of cellular intelligence networks. The occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany also placed the Polish people in
1130-539: A major role in the "Dutch War Scare" when it reported to London that Germany was about to invade the Netherlands with the aim of using the Dutch airfields to launch a strategic bombing campaign that would achieve a "knock out blow" by destroying London along with the rest of Britain's cities. The intelligence behind the "Dutch War Scare" was false, intended to achieve a change in British foreign policy and had its desired effect on
1243-510: A meeting took place without police presence. There, the two SIS agents were duly abducted by the SS. In 1940, journalist and Soviet agent Kim Philby applied for a vacancy in Section D of SIS, and was vetted by his friend and fellow Soviet agent Guy Burgess . When Section D was absorbed by Special Operations Executive (SOE) in summer of 1940, Philby was appointed as an instructor in black propaganda at
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#17328588658811356-706: A network of operatives throughout the world who provide it with intelligence on commercial or political issues of interest to its clients. Operatives used by Hakluyt include embassy staff, former spies, reporters, and well connected government and corporate people. Hakluyt has strong links with the British intelligence service MI6 . The Evening Standard wrote in 2012 that "Spies preparing for retirement are approached discreetly in St James’s clubs and asked if they would like some lucrative freelance action to top up their pensions". Hakluyt refused to comment when asked whether former employees of MI6 were required to cut ties with
1469-688: A number of European politicians such as Esko Seppänen of Finland, the European Commission hindered these investigations . In the United States, congressional legislators warned that the ECHELON system could be used to monitor US citizens . On 14 May 2001, the US government cancelled all meetings with the Temporary Committee on ECHELON. According to a BBC report from May 2001, "The US Government still refuses to admit that Echelon even exists." In
1582-819: A position there. He was able to alert the NKVD about all British intelligence on the Soviets—including what the American OSS had shared with the British about the Soviets. Despite these difficulties the service nevertheless conducted substantial and successful operations in both occupied Europe and in the Middle East and Far East where it operated under the cover name Inter-Services Liaison Department (ISLD). In August 1945 Soviet intelligence officer Konstantin Volkov tried to defect to
1695-586: A result, MI6's number one priority with regard to Germany was collect intelligence on the Luftwaffe, the branch of the Wehrmacht that British decision-makers feared the most. To assist with studying German industrial production, the Industrial Intelligence Center under Desmond Morton was founded in 1934 with a special mandate to study German aircraft production. However, Admiral Sinclair complained in 1935 that MI6's annual budget for operations around
1808-611: A spy, how to make contact with, and worm vital information out of unsuspecting experts". It was not until the Second World War that the "methodical training" of agents that has been the hallmark of British intelligence started. A number of MI6 agents like MI5 agents were former colonial police officers while MI6 displayed a strong bias against recruiting men with university degrees as universities were considered within MI6 to be bastions of "effete intellectualism". Claude Dansey , who served as
1921-430: A unique position to gather intelligence on the enemy, as they were often used as forced laborers across the continent. This proximity to key locations and military installations allowed them to provide valuable insights to the British intelligence services. The liaison between the British and Polish intelligence was facilitated by SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) officer Wilfred Dunderdale . The reports exchanged between
2034-483: A vital basis for the later British continuation of the war effort. During the war, British cryptologists decrypted a vast number of messages enciphered on Enigma. The intelligence gleaned from this source, codenamed " Ultra " by the British, was a substantial aid to the Allied war effort. Sinclair died on 4 November 1939, after an illness, and was replaced as C by Lt Col. Stewart Menzies (Horse Guards), who had been with
2147-584: A way to keep Russia in the war, but Reilly soon became involved in a plot to overthrow the Bolsheviks. After the war, resources were significantly reduced but during the 1920s, SIS established a close operational relationship with the diplomatic service. In August 1919, Cumming created the new passport control department, providing diplomatic cover for agents abroad. The post of Passport Control Officer provided operatives with diplomatic immunity . Circulating Sections established intelligence requirements and passed
2260-545: Is an Anglosphere intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are party to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement , a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence . Informally, "Five Eyes" can refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries. The term "Five Eyes" originated as shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US Eyes Only" ( AUSCANNZUKUS ) releasability caveat . The origins of
2373-831: Is in Upper Brook Street, Mayfair . It also has branches on Park Avenue, Manhattan and Raffles Place, Singapore . Hakluyt's international advisory board is chaired by Niall FitzGerald , former deputy chairman of Thomson Reuters UK and an adviser to Morgan Stanley . Other board members have included Kieran Prendergast , former Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the United Nations ; John Rose , former Rolls-Royce chief executive; Robert Webb, former BBC Worldwide chairman; and E. Neville Isdell , former chair of The Coca-Cola Company . Andrew Mitchell , former UK Secretary of State for International Development, acted as an adviser to Hakluyt. Hakluyt has established
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#17328588658812486-818: Is the current chief of SIS. Command and control over SIS is done through by four main government entities: the Central Intelligence Machinery, the Ministerial Committee on the Intelligence Services, the Permanent Secretaries' Committee on the Intelligence Services, and the Joint Intelligence Committee. The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) assesses the intelligence gathered by the GCHQ , MI5 , and SIS and presents it to
2599-694: Is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom , tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence on foreign nationals in support of its Five Eyes partners. SIS is one of the British intelligence agencies and the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ("C") is directly accountable to the Foreign Secretary . Formed in 1909 as the foreign section of
2712-526: Is to collect Britain's foreign intelligence . It provides the British government with vital intelligence regarding foreign events and informs concerning global covert capabilities to uphold national interests, security and protect the country's economic well-being. SIS works with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and therefore falls under the supervision of the Foreign Secretary . SIS officers and agents engage in operations and missions all around
2825-587: The Deuxième Bureau was recruited to fly missions over Germany. Under the cover story that he was a sales agent for a dummy corporation, the Aeronautical Research and Sales Corporation, Cotton flew over Germany, Italy and the Italian colony of Libya in his Lockheed 12A aircraft, taking numerous high-quality aerial photographs of German and Italian military bases that proved immensely useful for Britain during
2938-661: The Admiralty and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations in the UK and overseas, particularly concentrating on the activities of the Imperial German government. The bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities, respectively. This specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know
3051-790: The Cold War , GCHQ and the NSA shared intelligence on the Soviet Union , China, and several eastern European countries known as "Exotics". Over the course of several decades, the ECHELON surveillance network was developed to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies. In 1953, SIS and the CIA jointly orchestrated the overthrow of Iran's Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh . From 1955 through 1975 during
3164-646: The Gestapo , the Nazi secret police, with "the exchange of information about communism" as late as October 1937, well into the Nazi era; the head of the British agency's Berlin station, Frank Foley , was still able to describe his relationship with the Gestapo's so-called communism expert as "cordial". In 1936, in a sign that he lacked confidence in his own agents, Sinclair founded the semi-autonomous Z section under Claude Dansey for economic intelligence about Germany. Working alongside
3277-551: The NSA and GCHQ up to the present. UKUSA was extended to include Canada in 1948, followed by Norway in 1952, Denmark in 1954, West Germany in 1955, and Australia and New Zealand in 1956. These countries participated in the alliance as "third parties". By 1955, a newer version of the UKUSA Agreement officially acknowledged the formal status of the remaining Five Eyes countries with the following statement: At this time only Canada, Australia and New Zealand will be regarded as UKUSA-collaborating Commonwealth countries. During
3390-587: The Secret Service Bureau , the section grew greatly during the First World War officially adopting its current name around 1920. The name "MI6" originated as a convenient label during the Second World War , when SIS was known by many names. It is still commonly used today. The existence of SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. That year the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (ISA)
3503-697: The Soviet Union . Peacock held the title of supervisor-E (espionage) and had top-secret security clearance. He retired from the ASIO in 1983 and died in 2006. During the Falklands War in 1982, the United Kingdom received intelligence data from its FVEY allies as well as from third parties like Norway and France. In 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests , SIS and the CIA took part in Operation Yellowbird to exfiltrate dissidents from China . In
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3616-856: The UK Foreign Secretary issued a joint statement criticising the exclusion of opposition candidates by Hong Kong national security law and urging China to respect human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong in accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration . In response, the Chinese Government claimed the Hong Kong elections were fair and criticised the Five Eyes for interfering in Hong Kong's domestic affairs . The Five Eyes leaders held their first known public meeting at Stanford University 's Hoover Institution in California in
3729-549: The Ultra material collected by the Government Code & Cypher School , MI6 became, for the first time, an important branch of the government. Extensive breaches of Nazi Enigma signals gave Menzies and his team enormous insight into Adolf Hitler 's strategy, and this was kept a closely held secret. In 1940, the British intelligence services entered into a special agreement with their Polish counterparts. This collaboration between
3842-706: The Vietnam War , Australian and New Zealander operators in the Asia-Pacific region worked to directly support the United States while GCHQ operators stationed in British Hong Kong as part of GCHQ Hong Kong were tasked with monitoring North Vietnamese air defence networks. In 1961, SIS and the CIA jointly orchestrated the assassination of the Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba , an operation authorized by out-going US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
3955-712: The post-war world. On 17 May 1943, the UK and US governments signed the British–US Communication Intelligence Agreement, also known as the BRUSA Agreement , to facilitate co-operation between the US War Department and the British Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) . On 5 March 1946, the two governments formalized their secret treaty as the UKUSA Agreement , the basis for all signal intelligence cooperation between
4068-516: The "ultimate potential enemy". The memo noted that Germany had the world's second largest economy (being exceeded only by the economy of the United States), was a world leader in science and technology, and was capable of moblising millions of men for war. However, it was generally believed in the United Kingdom at the time that the arms race before 1914 had caused the Great War, and consequently there
4181-579: The 14th Army take over all intelligence operations in Burma with both SIS and SOE agents to be subordinate to the 14th Army under the grounds the Army was more capable of running intelligence operations in southeast Asia than MI6. Menzies who fiercely defended the prerogatives of MI6 was able to block this proposal despite the way it was universally accepted by officers serving in the China-Burma-India theater that SIS
4294-491: The Americas, and mobilise pro-British opinion in the Americas. BSC also founded Camp X in Canada to train clandestine operators and to establish (in 1942) a telecommunications relay station, code name Hydra, operated by engineer Benjamin deForest Bayly . SIS operations in Asia were hindered by the fact that Europeans tended to stick out in Asia along with an inability to recruit Asian agents. The SOE had more success in both recruiting agents in Asia and in sending agents into
4407-409: The British Embassy in Riga on 9 October 1924 who forwarded it to London. The Zinoviev letter played a key role in the defeat of the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald and the victory of the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin in the general election of 29 October 1924. It has been established the MI6 leaked the Zinoviev letter to the Daily Mail , but it remains unclear if MI6 was aware that
4520-409: The British ambassador to Germany from 1937 to 1939, was actively hostile towards MI6 running agents out of the British embassy in Berlin as he made it clear his belief that espionage against Germany would hamper the "general settlement" he was seeking with the Reich . The focus on collecting intelligence on German aircraft production led MI6 to be confused about the wider strategic question of what were
4633-409: The Chamberlain government. The Deuxième Bureau had manufactured the story as a way to force Britain to make a stronger commitment to defend France. The "limited liability" rearmament policy pursued by the Chamberlain government had intentionally starved the British Army of funds to rule out the "continental commitment" (i.e. Britain sending a large expeditionary force) from ever being made again, with
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4746-435: The Committee is responsible specifically with ensuring the Committee's monitoring and oversight over intelligence data are conducted effectively and responsibly. Permanent and temporary sub-committees and working groups are constituted by the Committee, to carry out its duties responsibly. HM Treasury has directed the security and intelligence agencies to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with
4859-410: The FVEY alliance has become the subject of a growing amount of controversy in parts of the world: Beginning with its founding by the United States and United Kingdom in 1946, the alliance expanded twice, inducting Canada in 1948 and Australia and New Zealand in 1956, establishing the Five Eyes as it is today. Additionally, there are nations termed "Third Party Partners" that share their intelligence with
4972-402: The FVEY can be traced to informal, secret meetings during World War II between British and American code-breakers that took place before the US formally entered the war. The alliance was formalized in the post-war era by the UKUSA Agreement in 1946. As the Cold War deepened, the intelligence sharing arrangement was formalised under the ECHELON surveillance system in the 1960s. This system
5085-416: The FVEY information collection mechanisms are the PRISM program and the Upstream collection system. The PRISM program gathers user information from technology firms such as Google , Apple , and Microsoft ; while the Upstream system gathers information directly from civilian communications as they travel through infrastructure like fiber cables . The program was first disclosed to the public in 1972 when
5198-429: The Five Eyes alliance dictate its bilateral relationship with China and that New Zealand was uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the intelligence grouping. In response, the Australian Government expressed concern that Wellington was undermining collective efforts to combat what it regarded as Chinese aggression. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern echoed Mahuta's remarks and claimed that while New Zealand
5311-448: The Five Eyes countries. These employees will be required to report their travel destinations, agendas, and meetings with foreign personnel to Chinese authorities. Other security measures include undergoing "pre-departure spying education", and using different electronic devices while at home and while abroad. In mid-December 2021, the United States Secretary of State ; the Foreign Ministers of Australia , Canada , and New Zealand ; and
5424-401: The Five Eyes despite not being formal members. While the Five Eyes is rooted in a particular agreement with specific operations among the five nations, similar sharing agreements have been set up independently and for specific purposes; for example, according to Edward Snowden, the NSA has a "massive body" called the Foreign Affairs Directorate dedicated to partnering with foreign countries beyond
5537-418: The Five Eyes. Following the 2023 New Zealand general election , the new New Zealand Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters promised closer cooperation with Five Eyes partners. In late April 2021, the Global Times reported that China's Ministry of State Security will monitor employees of companies and organisations considered to be at risk of foreign infiltration while they travel to
5650-405: The German intelligence service, the Abwehr , had been bribed into working for Czechoslovakia. Thus most of what MI6 knew about German plans during both the Sudetenland crisis and the Danzig crisis came from the Czechoslovak military intelligence, which continued to run Thümmel even after the dissolution of Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and a government-in-exile was set up. Sir Nevile Henderson ,
5763-444: The Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. Due to security concerns, the Government does not publish these financial statements which are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and then shown to the chair of the Public Accounts Committee in accordance with the Intelligence Services Act 1994 . The annual Parliamentary financial statements for 2021–2022 indicated that the combined British intelligence services spending
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#17328588658815876-429: The ISA allows it to carry out operations only against persons outside the British Islands . Some of SIS's actions since the 2000s have attracted significant controversy, such as its alleged complicity in acts of enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition . Since 1994, SIS headquarters have been in the SIS Building in London , on the South Bank of the River Thames . The main mission of SIS
5989-434: The Japanese Purple code. For the rest of the war, key figures like Denniston and code-breaking expert Alan Turing travelled back and forth across the Atlantic. The informal relationship established for wartime signals intelligence developed into a formal, signed agreement at the start of the Cold War . The formal Five Eyes alliance can be traced back to the August 1941 Atlantic Charter , which laid out Allied goals for
6102-404: The Japanese-occupied areas in China and southeast Asia, which caused tensions with MI6 who were jealous of the ability of the upstart SOE to do what they could not. SOE was more open to recruiting from within the Commonwealth, recruiting Chinese-Canadians and Australian-Chinese, to operate behind the Japanese lines under the grounds Asian agents would less likely to be arrested by the Kempeitai ,
6215-411: The MI6 Deputy Chief in World War II wrote: "I would never willing employ an university man. I have less fear of Bolshies and Fascists than I have of some pedantic, but vocal university professor". The debate over the future structure of British Intelligence continued at length after the end of hostilities but Cumming managed to engineer the return of the Service to Foreign Office control. At this time,
6328-432: The Provisional government in Petrograd and signed an armistice with Germany. The main objective for the British was to keep Russia in the war, and MI6's two chosen instruments for doing so were Sidney Reilly , who despite his Irish name was a Russian-Jewish adventurer, and George Alexander Hill , a British pilot and businessman. Officially, Reilly's mandate was to collect intelligence about the new regime in Russia and find
6441-563: The SIS bomb five ships in Italy in 1947–48 to prevent them being used by the refugees, and set up a fake Palestinian group to take responsibility for the attacks. However, some in SIS wanted the policy to go further, noting that "intimidation is only likely to be effective if some members of the group of people to be intimidated actually suffer unpleasant consequences" and criticising the decision to not take stronger action against Exodus 1947 (which was, instead, seized and returned to mainland Europe). Five Eyes The Five Eyes ( FVEY )
6554-545: The SIS report directly. The Foreign Secretary appoints the head of SIS , to oversee SIS daily management and work. The Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service has a twofold responsibility within SIS. Internally, they oversee the continuous gathering of intelligence from agents, which involves making complex decisions about risk, resource allocation, and technological adaptation. In today's interconnected, data-driven world, maintaining secrecy and conducting undercover operations have become increasingly challenging. Externally,
6667-400: The SOE's training establishment in Beaulieu, Hampshire . In May 1940, MI6 set up British Security Co-ordination (BSC), on the authorisation of Prime Minister Winston Churchill over the objections of Stewart Menzies. This was a covert organisation based in New York City, headed by William Stephenson intended to investigate enemy activities, prevent sabotage against British interests in
6780-653: The Second World War, the name MI6 was used as a flag of convenience, the name by which it is frequently known in popular culture since. In the immediate post-war years under Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming and throughout most of the 1920s, SIS was focused on Communism, in particular, Russian Bolshevism. Examples include a thwarted operation to overthrow the Bolshevik government in 1918 by SIS agents Sidney George Reilly and Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart , as well as more orthodox espionage efforts within early Soviet Russia headed by Captain George Hill. Smith-Cumming died suddenly at his home on 14 June 1923, shortly before he
6893-461: The UK, offering the names of all Soviet agents working inside British intelligence. Philby received the memo on Volkov's offer and alerted the Soviets, so they could arrest him. In 1946, SIS absorbed the "rump" remnant of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), dispersing the latter's personnel and equipment between its operational divisions or "controllerates" and new Directorates for Training and Development and for War Planning. The 1921 arrangement
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#17328588658817006-455: The UN delegations of six countries as part of a "dirty tricks" campaign to pressure these six countries to vote in favour of using force against Iraq. SIS and the CIA forged a surveillance partnership with Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi to spy on Libyan dissidents in the West in exchange for permission to use Libya as a base for extraordinary renditions . As of 2010 , Five Eyes-affiliated agencies also have access to SIPRNet ,
7119-413: The US entry into the war. The first record of these meetings is a February 1941 diary entry from Alastair Denniston , head of Bletchley Park, reading "The Ys are coming!" with "Ys" referring to " Yanks ". An entry from 10 February reads "Ys arrive". British and US intelligence shared extremely confidential information, including that the British had broken the German Enigma code and that the US had broken
7232-422: The US government's classified version of the Internet. In 2013, documents leaked by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the existence of numerous surveillance programs jointly operated by the Five Eyes. The following list includes several notable examples reported in the media: In March 2014, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Australia to stop spying on East Timor . This marks
7345-464: The US. They had been meeting privately nearby in Palo Alto . Present were: They made public statements on topics such as the death in Canada of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Chinese state-backed hackers . The Five Eyes alliance is sort of an artifact of the post World War II era where the Anglophone countries are the major powers banded together to sort of co-operate and share the costs of intelligence gathering infrastructure. ... The result of this
7458-402: The United Kingdom not to use Huawei technology in its 5G network . In 2021, the UK Government announced it no longer planned to use Huawei's 5G technology. In November 2020, the Five Eyes alliance criticised China's rules disqualifying elected legislators in Hong Kong. In mid-April 2021, the New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta issued a statement that New Zealand would not let
7571-412: The Z section was the British Industrial Secret Service headed by a Canadian businessman living in London, William Stephenson that recruited British businessmen active in Germany for intelligence about German industrial production. For intelligence on German military plans, MI6 largely depended upon Czechoslovak military intelligence from 1937 onward as Paul Thümmel , aka "Agent A-54", a senior officer in
7684-533: The aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991, an ASIS technician bugged Kuwaiti government offices for SIS . By the end of the 20th century, the FVEY members had developed the ECHELON surveillance network into a global system capable of collecting massive amounts of private and commercial communications including telephone calls , fax , email , and other data traffic . The network's information comes from intercepted communication bearers such as satellite transmissions and public switched telephone networks . Two of
7797-497: The aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon , Five Eyes members greatly increased their surveillance capabilities as part of the global war on terror . During the run-up to the Iraq War , the communications of UN weapons inspector Hans Blix were monitored by the Five Eyes. Around the same time, British agents bugged the office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan . An NSA memo detailed Five Eyes plans to increase surveillance on
7910-534: The aims of German foreign policy. On 18 September 1938, a memo entitled "What Shall We Do?" written by Malcolm Woollcombe, the chief of the Political Intelligence, declared that the best way of resolving the Sudetenland crisis was for the Sudetenland to be peacefully annexed to Germany. The report concluded that allowing the Sudetenland to be annexed would allow Britain to finally discover "what really legitimate grievances Germany has and what surgical operations are necessary to recify them". In January 1939, MI6 played
8023-429: The alliance, though Singapore, Israel, South Korea and Japan are formally non-members. According to French news magazine L'Obs , in 2009, the United States propositioned France to join the treaty and form a subsequent "Six Eyes" alliance. The French President at the time, Nicolas Sarkozy , requested that France have the same status as the other members, including the signing of a "no-spy agreement". This proposal
8136-477: The alliance. Several countries have been prospective members of the Five Eyes including Israel, South Korea and Japan, that have collaborated with FYEY. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked documents from the NSA that showed Singapore, one of the world's biggest digital telecommunications hubs, is a key “third party” working with the “Five Eyes” intelligence partners , and continue to collaborate intensively with
8249-501: The anti-Nazi chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris . This alliance allowed for the exchange of critical intelligence information and further strengthened the cooperation between the British and Polish intelligence services during this pivotal period in history. 1939 saw the most significant failure of the service during the war, known as the Venlo incident for the Dutch town where much of
8362-679: The book in a 1998 report titled " An Appraisal of the Technology of Political Control " (PE 168.184). On 16 March 2000, the Parliament called for a resolution on the Five Eyes and its ECHELON surveillance network which would have called for the "complete dismantling of ECHELON". Three months later, the European Parliament established the Temporary Committee on ECHELON to investigate the ECHELON surveillance network. However, according to
8475-541: The cabinet ministers, who in turn, enable the government's policies to help achieve national security and defence. The JIC also reports the intelligence analysis, based on SIS gatherings, to the Cabinet Office itself. Committee members are required to bring the reports and findings to their perspective ministers and departments, so as to make appropriate assessments that help in planning, preparing operational activities, planning or making policy decisions. The Chairman of
8588-427: The chief also operates as a secret diplomat, tasked with maintaining vital alliances that support intelligence cooperation. Additionally, they may need to establish discreet communication channels with countries where traditional diplomatic relations are delicate. Successfully navigating these dual roles requires a nuanced understanding of both internal operations and international relations. Since 2020, Sir Richard Moore
8701-400: The collected information with each other. Shami Chakrabarti , director of the advocacy group Liberty , claimed that the FVEY alliance increases the ability of member states to "subcontract their dirty work" to each other. FVEY countries maintain that all intelligence sharing is done legally, according to the domestic law of the respective nations. As a result of Snowden's disclosures,
8814-434: The environmental group Greenpeace . In 2012, one of Hakluyt's operatives, Neil Heywood, was found dead in his Chongqing hotel room. Heywood had been close to the local Communist party representative, Bo Xilai, and his wife Gu Kailai . The event became an international incident which included the involvement of then-UK prime minister David Cameron. Gu was in due course convicted of murder and sentenced to death; her sentence
8927-465: The first such restrictions imposed on a member of the FVEY. On 1 December 2018, Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou , a Huawei executive, at Vancouver International Airport to face charges of fraud and conspiracy in the United States. China responded by arresting two Canadian nationals. According to the South China Morning Post , analysts saw this conflict as the beginning of
9040-618: The general election of that year by leaking the so-called Zinoviev letter to the Daily Mail , which published it on its front page on 25 October 1924. The letter, which was a forgery, was supposedly from Grigory Zinoviev , the chief of the Comintern, ordering British Communists to take over the Labour Party. The Zinoviv letter, which was written in English, came into possession of the MI6 resident at
9153-530: The government regarding Germany was for MI6 to collect intelligence about German rearmament in order to establish the level of British rearmament that was be pursued in response. British decision-makers were especially concerned about the prospect of German strategic bombing of British cities as contemporary experts vastly exaggerated the power of strategic bombing to kill millions within a few days. Harold Macmillan later recalled: "We thought of air warfare in 1938 rather as people think of nuclear warfare today". As
9266-487: The intelligence agency when recruited to work at Hakluyt. Hakluyt works for large corporations, and has close links with large oil firms. Peter Cazalet, former deputy chairman of BP , helped establish Hakluyt and Peter Holmes , former chairman of Shell , has been president of its foundation. Its London office compiles reports provided by its field operatives. In 2001, The Sunday Times reported that oil companies Shell and BP hired Hakluyt to collect information on
9379-531: The intelligence back to its consumer departments, mainly the War Office and Admiralty . Recruitment and the training of spies in the interwar period was quite casual. Cumming referred to espionage as a "capital sport", and expected his agents to learn the "tradecraft" of espionage while on their missions instead of before being dispatched on their missions. One MI6 agent Leslie Nicholson recalled about his first assignment in Prague: "nobody gave me any tips on how to be
9492-480: The interests of 'national security,' but were regularly abused for corporate espionage in the service of US business interests. The piece passed largely unnoticed outside of journalism circles. In 1996, New Zealand journalist Nicky Hager provided a detailed description of ECHELON in a book titled Secret Power – New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network . The European Parliament cited
9605-554: The late 1990s, the existence of ECHELON was disclosed to the public, triggering a debate in the European Parliament and, to a lesser extent, the United States Congress and British Parliament . Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the Five Eyes as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that does not answer to the known laws of its own countries". 2010s global surveillance disclosures revealed FVEY
9718-680: The letter was a forgery at the time. With the emergence of Germany as a threat following the ascendence of the Nazis , in the early 1930s attention was shifted in that direction. In 1934, a defense requirements commitment that consisted of Sir Robert Vansittart of the Foreign Office, Sir Warren Fisher of the Treasury, General Sir Maurice Hankey of the Committee for Imperial Defense, and the three service chiefs produced an influential memo that labelled Germany
9831-596: The majority of military spending being devoted the RAF and the Royal Navy. As such, Britain simply did not possess the military force to save the Netherlands, leading to urgent requests being made to Paris to ask if France would be willing to assist with the defence of the Netherlands. In response, the French replied that Britain would need to do more for France if the British wanted the French to do something for them. On 6 February 1939 in
9944-748: The maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy . This specialisation was formalised before 1914. During the First World War in 1916, the two sections underwent administrative changes so that the foreign section became the section MI1(c) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence . Its first director was Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming , who often dropped the Smith in routine communication. He typically signed correspondence with his initial C in green ink. This usage evolved as
10057-617: The much feared Japanese military police. In 1944, about 90% of the human intelligence in Burma came from the SOE while 70% of the human intelligence in Malaya, Thailand and French Indochina came from the SOE. General William Slim , the GOC of the 14th Army, complained about the low quality of SIS intelligence in late 1943 as he stated that the intelligence he received from MI6 was "far from being complete or accurate". In late 1944-early 1945, Slim attempted to have
10170-469: The necessary laws, regulations and funding needed to keep the SIS operating and to conduct its activities. Under these rules, SIS is accountable to the government of the time and the SIS carry out their work in accordance to the government's foreign policy . The Prime Minister is ultimately responsible for intelligence and security, with day-to-day ministerial responsibility with the Foreign Secretary , to whom
10283-450: The operation took place. Agents of the German army secret service, the Abwehr , and the counter-espionage section of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), posed as high-ranking officers involved in a plot to depose Hitler . In a series of meetings between SIS agents and the 'conspirators', SS plans to abduct the SIS team were shelved due to the presence of Dutch police. On the night of 8–9 November,
10396-753: The organisation was known in Whitehall by a variety of titles including the Foreign Intelligence Service , the Secret Service , MI1(c) , the Special Intelligence Service and even C's organisation . Around 1920, it began increasingly to be referred to as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a title that it has continued to use to the present day and which was enshrined in statute in the Intelligence Services Act 1994. During
10509-445: The rest of the war with any more contact with the Wehrmacht generals. During the Second World War the human intelligence work of the service was complemented by several other initiatives: GC&CS was the source of Ultra intelligence, which was very useful. The chief of SIS, Stewart Menzies , insisted on wartime control of codebreaking, and this gave him immense power and influence, which he used judiciously. By distributing
10622-465: The service since the end of World War I. On 9 November 1939, MI6 was embarrassed by the Venlo incident . The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, was unenthusiastic about the prospect of war, and clung to the hope all through the Phoney War that the Wehrmacht generals would overthrow Hitler, after which the war would end. Two MI6 officers, Sigismund Payne Best and Henry Stevens had been dispatched to
10735-566: The two nations played a significant role in shaping the course of World War II. In July 2005, the governments of the United Kingdom and Poland jointly produced a comprehensive two-volume study that shed light on their bilateral intelligence cooperation during the war. This study, which unveiled information that had been classified as secret until that point, was known as the Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee. The report
10848-567: The two parties included critical information such as advance warnings of the ' Afrikakorps' departure for Libya, insights into the readiness of Vichy French units to either fight against the Allies or switch sides during Operation Torch , and early warnings regarding both Operation Barbarossa and Operation Edelweiss , the German Caucasus campaign . Polish-sourced reporting on German secret weapons began in 1941, and Operation Wildhorn enabled
10961-625: The war, MI6 had its main European office in Rotterdam from where it coordinated espionage in Germany and occupied Belgium. A crucial element in the war effort from the British perspective was the involvement of Russia, which kept millions of German soldiers that would otherwise be deployed on the Western Front, engaged on the Eastern Front. On 7 November 1917 the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin overthrew
11074-517: The war. On 26 and 27 July 1939, in Pyry near Warsaw , British military intelligence representatives including Dilly Knox , Alastair Denniston and Humphrey Sandwith were introduced by their allied Polish counterparts to their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment, including Zygalski sheets and the cryptologic " Bomba ", and were promised future delivery of a reverse-engineered, Polish-built duplicate Enigma machine. The demonstration represented
11187-625: The world was equal to the cost of maintaining one destroyer in home waters, and that the demands placed upon his service exceeded its budget. The focus on the Luftwaffe along with MI6's relatively small budget led to constant complaints from both the War Office and the Admiralty that MI6 was neglecting both the German Army and the Kriegsmarine . The Asian branch of the SIS was known as the "Cinderella branch" owing to its neglect by London. MI6 assisted
11300-430: The world. The SIS regularly cooperates and works with MI5 and GCHQ regarding domestic and cyber intelligence. SIS has three primary tasks: The impact and success in these situations helps to prevent hostile influence, keep the UK's defences on alert to reduce serious and organised crime, and to detect violations of international law. SIS is governed under the laws of the United Kingdom . The government sets
11413-449: The year before in 1960. In 1973, the ASIS and the CIA jointly orchestrated the overthrow of Chile's President Salvador Allende . Over a period of at least five years in the 1970s, a senior officer named Ian George Peacock, who was in the counterespionage unit of Australia's ASIO , stole highly classified intelligence documents that had been shared with Australia and sold them to
11526-521: Was a belief that British rearmament would increase international tensions and would make a war more likely than less likely. On the converse, there was the possibility if Germany rearmed while Britain did not, it would leave the Reich in a strong position to launch a war. It was decided that British rearmament would be linked to the extent of German rearmament with British rearmament to be reactive rather than preemptive. The primary request from decision-makers in
11639-431: Was authored by leading historians and experts who were granted unprecedented access to the archives of British intelligence. One of the most remarkable findings was that 48 percent of all reports received by British secret services from continental Europe during the years 1939–45 had originated from Polish sources. This significant contribution from the Polish intelligence was made possible by the fact that occupied Poland had
11752-720: Was developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc ; it is now used to monitor communications worldwide. The FVEY expanded its surveillance capabilities during the course of the " war on terror ", with much emphasis placed on monitoring the Internet . The alliance has grown into a robust global surveillance mechanism, adapting to new domains such as international terrorism , cyberattacks , and contemporary regional conflicts. The alliance's activities, often shrouded in secrecy, have occasionally come under scrutiny for their implications on privacy and civil liberties, sparking debates and legal challenges. In
11865-566: Was due to retire, and was replaced as C by Admiral Sir Hugh "Quex" Sinclair . Sinclair created the following sections: * Section D to conduct political covert actions and paramilitary operations in time of war. Section D would organise the Home Defence Scheme resistance organisation in the UK and come to be the foundation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. In 1924, MI6 intervened in
11978-810: Was introduced to Parliament, to place the organisation on a statutory footing for the first time. It provides the legal basis for its operations. Today, SIS is subject to public oversight by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament . The stated priority roles of SIS are counter-terrorism , counter-proliferation , providing intelligence in support of cyber security , and supporting stability overseas to disrupt terrorism and other criminal activities. Unlike its main sister agencies, Security Service (MI5) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), SIS works exclusively in foreign intelligence gathering;
12091-623: Was later commuted to 15 years imprisonment. In 2023, Bloomberg reported that the British Labour Party had "brought in" Hakluyt to help it court the British business community by arranging meetings with prominent business figures. A spokesperson for Hakluyt stated that "we do not work for political parties,” while a Labour spokesperson declined to comment on the association. Manfred Schlickenrieder Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS ), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6 ),
12204-540: Was over decades and decades some sort of a supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn't answer to the laws of its own countries. — Edward Snowden One of the Five Eyes' core principles is that members do not spy on other governments in the alliance. US Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis C. Blair said in 2013, "We do not spy on each other. We just ask." However, in recent years, FVEY documents have shown that member agencies are intentionally spying on one another's private citizens and sharing
12317-498: Was spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other, although the FVEY nations maintain this was done legally. Five Eyes is among the most comprehensive espionage alliances. Since processed intelligence is gathered from multiple sources, the information shared is not restricted to signals intelligence (SIGINT) and often involves military intelligence (MILINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), and geospatial intelligence (GEOINT). Five Eyes remains
12430-522: Was still committed to the Five Eyes alliance, it would not use the network as its first point of communication for non-security matters. While The Telegraph 's defence editor Con Coughlin and British Conservative Member of Parliament Bob Seely criticised New Zealand for undermining the Five Eyes' efforts to present a united front against Beijing, the Chinese Global Times praised New Zealand for putting its own national interests over
12543-564: Was streamlined with the geographical, operational units redesignated "Production Sections", sorted regionally under Controllers, all under a Director of Production. The Circulating Sections were renamed "Requirements Sections" and placed under a Directorate of Requirements. Following the Second World War, tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors attempted to reach Palestine as part of the Aliyah Bet refugee movement. As part of British government efforts to stem this migration, Operation Embarrass saw
12656-528: Was unsuitable to operating in that part of the world. MI6 was able to keep operating in Asia by making the argument that the SOE was only a temporary organisation that was to be disbanded after the war ended while MI6 was the permanent intelligence service that would continue after the war, and that to exclude MI6 from Asia would weaken British intelligence in the post-war world. In early 1944, MI6 re-established Section IX, its prewar anti-Soviet section, and Philby took
12769-525: Was £3.44 billion, with some $ 1.09 billion being further allocated to staff pay and agents and a further £636 million allocated to capital spending. The following legislation regulates the SIS: Oversight is undertaken by Parliament through the following organisations: The service derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded on 1 October 1909. The Bureau was a joint initiative of
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