Digital Allies: Preserving National Security through Signals Intelligence Cooperation within the UKUSA Agreement

Abstract

The disclosure of the global surveillance practices of five democratic nations shook the world in June 2013. Though some were content with official justification as a matter of national security, many more were concerned with the implications these oversight abilities had on individual privacy and the possibility of a surveillance state. Using information released on the document disclosures from 2013 to 2015, the following thesis researches the impact mass surveillance practices and signals intelligence have had on the concept of national security and analyzes how democracies utilize signals intelligence data to fulfill their national security goals. This thesis focuses on the current national security strategies of the United States and United Kingdom, comparing each nations usage of signals intelligence, post-Snowden actions, and subsequent domestic response. Based off of these findings, this thesis analyzes and critiques the current strategy of mass surveillance practices as utilized by democratic states, proposes policies to promote better practices, and discusses the concept of individual privacy in the context of national security.