Eyes Wide Shut for "Five Eyes" Intelligence Alliance

Edward Snowden
(photo: csmonitor.com)

Edward Snowden's revelations about the depth and breadth of American electronic intelligence gathering did result, among many other things, in light being shed on something called "Five Eyes."

The name is not wacky spook code for a Jason Bourne-style escapade. Instead, it refers to a quintet of Anglo-Saxon nations who share intelligence. Those countries and their respective spy services represent, according to a Financial Times piece, "the hidden core of the western alliance."

The FT article notes that the Five Eyes "global system tracks everyone and everything...Geographically diverse, the five countries have built the kind of deep institutional links and technical capabilities that China can only dream about."

The Five Eyes membership did not desire any light shone on their activities. Their preference was for those they presumably protect and serve to, in Stanley Kubrick's phrase, keep their "eyes wide shut." Snowden's actions helped the blind see. Whether or not they liked what they saw was quite another question.