Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard (photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP / Profimedia)
A July 20 Directive has established that all analyzes and information related to peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine can no longer be shared with another country or foreign citizens, writes CBS News.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence services, issued a few weeks ago a directive to the US Information Community, ordering that all the information regarding the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will no longer be shared to the US partners.
The Memorandum on July 20 ordered the agencies not to share information with the so-called Five Eyes Alliance, the post-war information alliance in the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, several American information services for CBS News said.
Officials said that the Directive has classified all the analyzes and information related to the volatile peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine as “NOFORN”, that is, without broadcasting abroad, which means that the information could not be shared with any other country or foreign citizens.
The only information that could be shared were the ones that had already been made public. The memo also limits the distribution of materials regarding the peace negotiations to the agencies that created or generated the information.
The memorandum does not seem to prevent the exchange of diplomatic information obtained by other means, separated by the US Information Community, or by military operational information that is not related to negotiations – such as the details that the US shares to the Ukrainian army to help in defensive operations.
“In general, the value of the Information Partnership of the FIVES EYES Alliance is that when we make political decisions and they do the same, we can complete each other and, thus, find out more about our opponents,” explained Steven Cash, former information officer at the central information agency.
“Among the reasons for this type of default involvement are the expectation that we and the other four are all on the same side of the table, with another opponent on the other side,” said Cash, quoted by CBS.
Some former information officers believe that Gabbard's Directive is common in the US Intelligence Community, and criticisms are not meaningless.
They said that both the US and the other members of the information alliance frequently hide their information in areas of divergent interest.
Washington has recently intensified efforts for peaceful resolution of the Ukraine military conflict.
The US President Donald Trump had discussions with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, and on August 18 he received the Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski and European leaders at the White House.
Then he announced the preparations for a bilateral meeting between Zelenski and Putin.
For now, this seems far from materializing, Moscow announcing a number of maximalistic conditions for Ukraine who, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, must be met before any high level meeting.
