Critics argue that the alliance, traditionally dominated by Anglo-Saxon nations, could benefit from a broader perspective.
New Delhi: In September 2021, after The Sunday Guardian published a report about an imminent terror attack on New Zealand cricket team members, the team touring Pakistan went back without playing a single match. This was followed by the England cricket team also backing out.
Hours later, the Pakistan government, led by its Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, addressed a nearly two-hour press conference in Islamabad, claiming that The Sunday Guardian report, which led to the cancellation of the tour, was part of a fifth-generation hybrid warfare against the country.
However, these allegations by the Pakistan government fell flat days later after it was confirmed that the findings of the report by The Sunday Guardian were also collectively verified by the “Five Eyes”—an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada. According to people aware of the workings of the Five Eyes, the United States and the United Kingdom are the two countries that contribute the most to the intelligence shared on the platform, especially in matters related to Asia.
In June 2023, when Khalistani operative Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada, US Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, stated that “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” informed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion of a potential link between Indian agents and Nijjar’s murder.
Who contributed what part of the intelligence to link Nijjar’s death to India was never made public, but informed guesses suggest that the allegations were first put on the table by Canadian officials.
In January 2024, the Canadian government sought 30 years of imprisonment for one of their own, Cameron Ortis—a former director-ranked official with the National Intelligence Coordination Unit of the RCMP—who in 2023 was found guilty of leaking secret information to members of an international terror network. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.
His betrayal was seen as a significant development because it directly compromised a Five Eyes operation targeting the Altaf Khanani network, which was engaged in money laundering for terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The scandal has sparked concerns about whether the intelligence shared within Five Eyes is always reliable, secure, or free from internal biases.
This has raised questions: if Canada had such a major intelligence failure internally, how can its intelligence against foreign nations (like India) be trusted without independent verification?
The question of Canada’s relevance in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance—formed during World War II—has resurfaced, especially after Peter Navarro, a senior adviser to former US President Donald Trump, suggested removing Canada from the group. While the reasons for this suggestion may be political, observers believe that now is the right time to reform Five Eyes and introduce an Asian partner.
Critics argue that the alliance, traditionally dominated by Anglo-Saxon nations, could benefit from a broader perspective. They suggest that India, with its extensive intelligence-gathering capabilities and experience in counterterrorism, could be a valuable addition. Given the complex security challenges India has faced, as well as its deep intelligence-sharing ties with Washington and Tel Aviv—two of the world’s most advanced intelligence powers—its inclusion could enhance Five Eyes’ global reach and effectiveness.
India and the United States have a strong and steadily expanding intelligence-sharing relationship, driven by mutual concerns over terrorism, China’s rise, and regional stability. While their cooperation is not yet at the level of the United States’ closest intelligence allies (such as the Five Eyes alliance—United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), it has deepened significantly in recent years.
The two countries have collaborated extensively since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, after which intelligence-sharing mechanisms were strengthened. India and the United States conduct joint counterterrorism exercises and share intelligence through agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA) from the United States, along with India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).
Similarly, the Homeland Security Dialogue and the Counterterrorism Joint Working Group (CTJWG) facilitate intelligence exchanges.
The Homeland Security Dialogue (HSD) is a bilateral platform between India and the United States that focuses on strengthening cooperation in counterterrorism, intelligence-sharing, cybersecurity, border security, and law enforcement. It was established in 2010 under the framework of the US-India Strategic Partnership.
The CTJWG is a key bilateral mechanism established in 2000 to enhance intelligence sharing, operational coordination, and counterterrorism efforts between the two nations. It serves as a crucial platform for discussing terrorism-related threats, strategies, and collaborative efforts. The CTJWG facilitates the exchange of real-time intelligence on terrorist organizations, financial networks that support terrorism, and radicalization trends, bringing together agencies such as the FBI, CIA, and NSA from the United States, and RAW, IB, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from India.
Under key bilateral agreements, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), signed in 2016, allows logistical cooperation between the two countries, indirectly aiding intelligence-sharing. The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), signed in 2018, grants India access to secure US intelligence communications and real-time battlefield data. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), signed in 2020, enables India to receive precise geospatial intelligence for military and strategic operations.
The two countries also collaborate on cyber intelligence to combat hacking threats, particularly those linked to China and North Korea. Intelligence-sharing efforts extend to closely monitoring Chinese military movements, especially along the Ladakh border, Tibet, and the South China Sea.
However, despite this extensive collaboration, some limitations remain, primarily due to a lack of mutual trust at certain levels. The United States prioritizes sharing high-value intelligence with Five Eyes members first, while India often receives filtered intelligence. At the same time, India exercises caution in sharing sensitive data due to past Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and concerns over potential leaks.
On the domestic front, in the past decade, India has aggressively expanded its intelligence-gathering capacity and allocated more resources to the IB, whose budgetary allocation has seen an upward trend in the last five years—from Rs 2,700 crore to almost Rs 3,900 crore now.
At least a dozen dedicated spy satellites, operated by various agencies, are now orbiting in space, with the number expected to grow by another dozen by the end of this year.
While the intelligence gathered by the Research and Analysis Wing and the Intelligence Bureau is rarely made public, some examples of their operations exist in the public domain, as well as in the files and mobile phones of intelligence officials from foreign countries who collaborate with Indian agencies from time to time—including thwarting terror attacks planned on their soil.
India also has a close intelligence-sharing arrangement with Saudi Arabia, a powerhouse in intelligence gathering in the Gulf.
In March 2023, the Saudi Arabian Cabinet signed an agreement to extensively cooperate in the field of combating terrorism between the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the Presidency of State Security (PSS), which is responsible for all security matters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
While Indian officials remain tight-lipped on whether India would be interested in joining the Five Eyes, the possibility of expanding the alliance—potentially at Canada’s expense—raises strategic questions. Given India’s growing intelligence capabilities and its existing cooperation with key Five Eyes members, an expanded intelligence alliance including India could make Five Eyes more relevant and effective in addressing 21st-century security challenges, especially those emanating from Asia.