UKUSA Agreement The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement ( UKUSA , ) is a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between the United Kingdom , the United States , Canada , Australia , and New Zealand . The alliance of intelligence operations is also known as Five Eyes ( FVEY ) . Emerging from an intelligence sharing agreement related to the 1941 Atlantic Charter , the secret treaty was renewed with the passage of the 1943 BRUSA Agreement , before being formally enacted on 5 March 1946 by the United Kingdom and the United States . In the following years , it was extended to encompass the three Commonwealth realm s of Canada , Australia and New Zealand . Other countries , know as " third parties " , such as West Germany , the Philippines and several Scandinavian countries also joined the UKUSA community . Much of the sharing of information is performed via the ultra - sensitive STONEGHOST network , which contains " the Western world ' s most closely guarded secrets " . In addition to intelligence sharing , the UKUSA agreement forms the basic foundation of the Special Relationship between the UK and the USA . Due to its status as a secret treaty , its existence was not known to the Prime Minister of Australia until 1973 , and it was not disclosed to the public until 2005 . On June 25 , 2010 , for the first time in history , the full text of the agreement was publicly released by Britain ' s National Archives , and can now be viewed online . Shortly after is release , the seven - page UKUSA Agreement was recognized by " Time magazine " magazine as one of the Cold War ' s most important documents with immense historical significance . Currently , the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden has shown that many intelligence - sharing activities between the First World allies of the Cold War are rapidly shifting into the realm of the World Wide Web . History . The agreement originated from a ten - page British – U . S . Communication Intelligence Agreement , also known as BRUSA , that connected the signal intercept networks of the U . K . Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ ) and the U . S . National Security Agency ( NSA ) at the beginning of the Cold War . The document was signed on March 5 , 1946 by Colonel Patrick Marr - Johnson for the U . K . ' s London Signals Intelligence Board and Lieutenant General Hoyt Vandenberg for the U . S . 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 June 25 , 2010 . Under the agreement , the GCHQ and the NSA shared intelligence on the Soviet Union , the People ' s Republic of China , and several eastern European countries ( known as Exotics ) . The network was expanded in the 1960s into the Echelon collection and analysis network . 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 . 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 . Overview . 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 : Global coverage . Each member of the UKUSA alliance is officially assigned lead responsibility for intelligence collection and analysis in different parts of the globe . Five Eyes . Australia . Australia hunts for communications originating in Indochina , Indonesia , and southern China . Canada . Formerly the northern portions of the former Soviet Union and conducting sweeps of all communications traffic that could be picked up from embassies around the world . In the post - Cold War era , a greater emphasis has been placed on monitoring satellite , radio and cellphone traffic originating from Central and South America . New Zealand . New Zealand is responsible for the western $ 3 . Listening posts in the South Island at Waihopai Valley just south - west of Blenheim , and on the North Island at Tangimoana . The Anti - Bases Campaign holds regular protests in order to have the listening posts closed down . New Zealand is responsible for targeting Southeast Asia . United Kingdom . Europe , Africa , and European Russia . United States . Monitors most of Latin America , Asia , Asiatic Russia , and northern China . Third parties . The " Five Eyes " community is part of a huge alliance of Western democracies sharing signals intelligence with each other . These allied countries include NATO members ( such as Denmark ) and other U . S . allies ( most notably Singapore and South Korea ) . As early as the 1950s , several Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden joined the community . They were soon followed by Denmark ( 1954 ) and West Germany ( 1955 ) . These countries became " third parties " participants in the UKUSA network . 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 . However , being a partner of the NSA does not automatically exempt a country from being targeted by the NSA . 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 . " Controversy . During the 2013 NSA leaks cyber 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 . The 2013 NSA leaks are not entirely new , but rather , they are a confirmation of earlier disclosures about the UK - USA espionage alliance . For example , the British newspaper " The Independent " reported back in 1996 that the U . S . 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 . The mutual surveillance and sharing of information between allies of the UK and USA 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 . " According to " The Guardian " , the " Five Eyes " community is an exclusive club where new members " do not seem to be welcome " : Espionage . Political . On behalf of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , the Communications Security Establishment of Canada ( CSEC ) spied on two British cabinet ministers in 1983 , according to former CSEC agent Mike Frost . Thatcher ' s office refused to confirm or deny these claims .