Five Eyes developing ‘secret cloud’ – media

The technology would reportedly allow intelligence agencies from the US, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia to share data

The Five Eyes intelligence group is reportedly considering the creation of a top-secret cloud environment that would allow its members to more easily share data, the outlet Breaking Defense reported on Tuesday.

Officials from all of the group’s member countries, which include the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, reportedly agreed at a recent Department of Defense Intelligence Information System conference (DODIIS) that such technology would “turn information technology interoperability into a reality,” the outlet said.

It is also envisioned that the information stored on the cloud could be “tagged” with metadata that would help identify where the intelligence came from, according to Brig. Gen. Eric Vandenberg, who heads the general intelligence enterprise for the Canadian Department of National Defense.

“Not only would this cloud be a Top Secret cloud, but it would be classification agnostic as well, because the data is all tagged, because all of my users all have the correct digital identities, I can store all the data in the cloud. Everyone can access what they’re allowed to access when they’re allowed to access it. It would enable interoperability,” Vandenberg told an audience at the DODIIS conference this week.

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Jack Maxton, the chief information officer for defense intelligence at the British Ministry of Defense has also expressed hope for the creation of such a network and also called for cutting down on “unnecessary bureaucracy” within the intel sharing group.

“[Bureaucratic restrictions] are adding very little value, either to our security or to our intelligence mission, but because they’ve been there for so long, we’ve just got really, really comfortable,” Maxton said.

However, Breaking Defense cited Brig. Andrew McBaron, director general of intelligence data and targeting for the Australian Department of Defense, as saying that the creation of such a cloud is still only being considered and is an “ambitious” aspirational goal for the time being. No Five Eyes officials have suggested when such a network could be launched; nevertheless, they reportedly believe that it would “transform” how member agencies work together.