The Five Eyes (sometimes written as 5 Eyes or FVEY) is a reference to the five anglophone countries that are members of the UKUSA agreement: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although you would be forgiven for thinking “Eyes” refers to snooping, the term “Five Eyes” was actually originally used as shorthand for “AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY” on secret documents. As more intelligence alliances — the Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes — were formed, they adopted the same naming convention, although there is no evidence that they were used as shorthand in the same way.