While it carved out exceptions for diplomatic channels and battlefield intelligence for Ukraine, it strikingly excludes sharing from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, one of the closest spy networks in the world.
“When you talk about Five Eyes, you’re talking about a lot of integrated systems and capabilities,” said Philip Davies, director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies in London.
Davies added that there has been a lot of speculation that sharing with the U.S. is being dialed down by the other four members because of “the vagaries of the Trump administration.”
The move by Gabbard is the second major curb on intelligence-sharing by President Donald Trump’s administration this year. In March, the U.S. abruptly cut Kyiv off in a bid to pressure Ukraine into talks with Russia. That move rattled Europe’s spy chiefs, who quickly convened in Paris to ramp up their own support to Ukraine — including beefing up intelligence from European satellites.
Meanwhile, earlier this week The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. could once again use intelligence-sharing as a pressure mechanism to encourage Kyiv to agree to a potentially disadvantageous deal with Moscow.
“It is quite a sad read,” one European intelligence official said of the latest Gabbard decision, after being granted anonymity to speak candidly. “We don’t feel it yet, but it is not a good direction. It is said [Gabbard] is strongly pro-Russian.”
