US Committee mulling to expand 'Five Eyes' to include India, Japan, South Korea: Report

United States House Armed Services Committee has asked director of national intelligence (DNI) and secretary of defence to weigh both “benefits” and “risks” of expanding Five Eyes (FVEY) network to include India, Japan, Germany and South Korea. Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance that presently constitutes US, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a member of Armed Services Committee told US news website Defence One on Tuesday that “Five Eyes intelligence-sharing pact is a World War II relic that needs updating to better keep tabs on China.” Reportedly, he has also introduced an amendment in National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) for year 2022 to formalise House committee’s proposal. 

Sputnik has stated that NDAA is meant to authorise defence spending by American government and NDAA 2022 is first during presidency of Joe Biden. It has proposed a budget outlay of at least $715 billion as defence spending for current fiscal year. Reportedly, proposal by House committee has said, “ committee ackwledges that threat landscape has vastly changed since inception of Five Eyes arrangement, with primary threats w emanating from China and Russia.”

“ committee believes that, in confronting great power competition, Five Eye countries must work closer toger, as well as expand circle of trust to or like-minded democracies", it added.

India’s addition is a 'natural extension'

Sputnik quoted Seshadri Vasan, an Indian Navy veteran and presently director of Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S) as saying that India in ‘Five Eyes’ reflects America’s “increasing reliance” on New Delhi for strategic cooperation. According to him, this cooperation includes intelligence garing, surveillance, and maritime domain awareness. ex-Navy veteran reportedly said, “ US clearly wants India to play role of a security facilitator in (Asia-Pacific) region.” He also stated that if India does become a part of intelligence-sharing network, it will be a “natural extension” of enhanced defence cooperation between US and India, especially in recent years. "India, Australia, US, and Japan are already cooperating under Quad framework", ted Vasan, as per report.

Im: AP