Details of a spying deal between Britain and the US are made public today, more than 60 years after it came into force.
Headed “top secret”, the UKUSA Agreement was drawn up after the Second World War to enable the two allies to share almost all information gathered on foreign governments, military forces and other organisations.
The seven-page document, released by the National Archives, formed the basis for co-operation between London and Washington throughout the Cold War and beyond, in an arrangement unparalleled in Western intelligence.
Ed Hampshire, principal records specialist at the National Archives, said: “The agreement represented a crucial moment in the development of the ‘special relationship’ between the two wartime allies and captured the spirit and practice of the signals intelligence co-operation which had evolved on an ad hoc basis during the Second World War.
“As the threat posed by Nazi Germany was replaced by a new one in the East, the agreement formed the basis for intelligence co-operation during the Cold War.”
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Today intelligence sharing between Britain’s MI6 and the US is well established, although it has come under pressure recently because of concerns over alleged human rights violations, including the secret rendition by the CIA of British residents.
National frictions were also evident in the forging of the intelligence pact, as illustrated in the minutes of a number of covert meetings held by British and American officials, which were also released by the National Archives. In one meeting on October 29, 1946, the two sides work through a draft version. “Sir Edward Travis said that too many items were implied in the words ‘as mutually agreeable in specific instances’ ... Brigadier Tiltman pointed out that freedom of liaison would be reduced by such a provision, Admiral Redman said that it is not the intention to allow the British complete access to our intelligence activities.”
National sensitivities were overcome and the deal was finalised on March 5, 1946, although it took 60 years for Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to confirm that it even existed. The areas covered are listed as: “1) collection of traffic; 2) acquisition of communication documents and equipment; 3) traffic analysis; 4) cryptanalysis; 5) decryption and translation; 6) acquisition of information regarding communication organisations, practices, procedures, and equipment.”
The pact stressed that the exchange of intelligence would be unrestricted, except when both sides agreed that specific information could be excluded. “It is the intention of each party to limit such exceptions to the absolute minimum.” Britain and Washington also pledged not to collect intelligence against each other or to tell any “third party” about the accord’s existence.The UKUSA Agreement was extended later to include three other English-speaking nations: Canada in 1948 and Australia and New Zealand in 1956. It forms the foundation for co-operation in signals intelligence between these five countries today.
The archives can be viewed free for a month here