The ‘Five Eyes’ Are Blinking

The Steady State | by Kevin Carroll, as published by The Dispatch

The military buildup around Venezuela has prompted allies to stop sharing some intelligence with the U.S.

Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch (Photos via Getty Images)

“The Trump administration’s military buildup around Venezuela has drawn condemnation and concern from allies, and the U.K. and Canada are not just speaking out: Reports indicate that their intelligence and security services have stopped sharing some counternarcotics information with American colleagues. This is a meaningful development, as no liaison relationships are more important for U.S. intelligence than those with our “Five Eyes” British Commonwealth partners: the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand….

…While thus far reports indicate that the U.K. and Canada are withholding only counternarcotics intelligence, it’s worth looking at the larger stakes. U.S. intelligence cannot do its best work without the Five Eyes’ assistance. Russian, Chinese, or North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles seeking the shortest path to carry out nuclear strikes on America would fly over Canada; some might first be spotted from Britain. The U.S. therefore relies upon radars based in those countries. Signals intelligence platforms based in Australia and Britain seeking to intercept adversaries’ communications are much closer to Beijing and Moscow than similar bases in America. For diplomatic reasons, the U.S. does not maintain embassies in Caracas, Damascus, Minsk, Pyongyang, or Tehran. Do Five Eyes allies who maintain such presences do U.S. intelligence any professional courtesies? I suspect they do, as when Canada helped exfiltrate American personnel from Iran during the hostage crisis in 1980.”

To enjoy the entire article: https://thedispatch.com/article/military-venezuela-intelligence-sharing-allies/ as published by The Dispatch on November 20 2025

Kevin Carroll served as senior counsel to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly (2017-18) and House Homeland Security Committee chairman Peter King (2011-13), and as a CIA and Army officer. Now in private practice, the views expressed by Carroll are solely his own and do not represent the views of his law firm or its clients. Kevin is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 360 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.