Publication Date: January 7, 2025
This is the definitive account of the Western world’s most powerful—but least known—intelligence alliance, which remains central to the defense of the free world in a dangerously uncertain time.
The Five Eyes—a spy network between the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—has been steeped in secrecy since its official formation in 1956. Yet the Five Eyes’ very existence is not legally binding—it functions as a marriage of convenience riddled with distrust, competing intelligence agendas, and a massive imbalance of power that favors the US. Richard Kerbaj draws on interviews with intelligence officials, world leaders, and recently declassified archives to reveal the authoritative but unauthorized stories of the alliance. In bypassing the usual censorship channels, he tells this extraordinary account of the Five Eyes’ unlikely cast of characters who played a crucial role in its history, and exposes the network’s hidden role in influencing global events that continue to shape our daily lives.
Readers who enjoy spy novels are no strangers to the CIA or England’s counterpart, MI6. However, author Richard Kerbaj has unveiled a deep dive into a little-known alliance formed after World War II.
The Secret History of the Five Eyes pulls back the curtain on this secretive network that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The author’s investigative background is evident in the more than 400-page book. Of special note is the inclusion of a thorough set of resources such as notes and sources, a glossary, timeline, and photographs.
The author’s choice to focus on specific people who have played a role within the Five Eyes offers a unique opportunity to go beyond the history of each country’s intelligence-gathering community and showcase the men and women living ordinary lives doing extraordinary things. It is also fascinating to see how the story comes together of a spying network that was only publicly declared in 2010, almost 60 years after its creation.
Organized into four parts, the book starts with a 49-year-old grandmother recruited by the Germans in 1937. The author effectively brings the story to life with plenty of details. The second part focuses on activities during the Cold War, highlighting the influx of Soviet unrest. Moving into the third part, the War on Terror unfolds, along with highlighting Edward Snowden. The final part brings the story to today’s issues, such as artificial intelligence and technology. The “push and pull” is to be expected since each country has its own agenda. While united for a common cause, the personalities don’t always agree.
The Secret History of the Five Eyes offers an intimate look into the challenges faced by an alliance made up of people who have passed on both successes and failures, leading us to face a new generation of threats. 
Richard Kerbaj is a BAFTA-winning and twice Emmy-nominated filmmaker and writer who has specialized in investigating crime and national security-related stories for more than fifteen years. He has written extensively about the impact that counterterrorism and counterespionage have had on intelligence agencies, including MI5, MI6, GCHQ, and the CIA, in their battle against ISIS and al-Qaeda, Russia’s widespread disinformation campaigns, and China’s industrialized thefts of Western intellectual property. He lives in London.
