A team of authors from Australia, Japan and the United States (AJUS) have underscored how burgeoning trilateral defence cooperation between their countries must overcome significant gaps in intelligence and information sharing to reach its full potential, in a new report from the United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney.

In AJUSINT: Advancing defence information and intelligence-sharing between Australia, Japan and the United States, USSC Research Fellow Tom Corben, Institute of Geoeconomics Senior Research Fellow at the International House of Japan Hirohito Ogi, Principal with The Asia Group Luke Collin and CEO of Kohei Consulting Carl Herse analyse the current state of trilateral information and intelligence sharing, and identify points of consensus and opportunities to advance cooperation in this space.

“The Australia-Japan-US trilateral has emerged as the core of all three countries’ regional deterrence strategies,” USSC Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Dr Lavina Lee noted, adding, “But without addressing gaps in information and intelligence sharing, AJUS will not be able to deliver on its ambitious agenda.”

In his conclusion of the report Tom Corben recommends developing a roadmap for Japan to achieve “Five Eyes-like” status for information sharing with Australia and the United States, recognising that Japan is not currently positioned to be a full partner in the Five Eyes but nevertheless has critical capabilities and requirements under the growing security cooperation framework with Australia and the United States. As a first step AJUSINT argues for accelerating Australia’s integration into the US-Japan Bilateral Intelligence Analysis Cell (BIAC) to advance operational cooperation, and deepening collaboration on space-based intelligence as a key opportunity to both deepen integration and pursue national priorities.

“The tailwinds for the AJUS partnership are that all three countries are more closely aligned than ever, but each country will need to play its role to turning that consensus into practical action. Streamlining intelligence and information cooperation is perhaps the essential step in that process” Dr Lee concluded.

AJUSINT: Advancing defence information and intelligence-sharing between Australia, Japan and the United States is now available for download.

Key recommendations

To advance trilateral cooperation in this space, Australia, Japan and the United States should:

  • Establish a trilateral mechanism to identify and address key pain points in defence information and intelligence-sharing between the AJUS countries, including comparative regulations, technical innovation and comparable implementation guidance across the three countries.
  • Develop a roadmap for Japan towards achieving ‘Five Eyes-like’ sharing status with Australia and the United States, without necessarily being integrated into that grouping.
  • Accellerate Australia’s integration into the US-Japan Bilateral Intelligence Analysis Cell (BIAC), with the objective of creating a trilateral intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and maritime domain awareness (MDA) arrangement with a broad regional remit.
  • Harmonise and, where prudent, combining separate bilateral defence industrial and technology initiatives to simplify and standardise information-sharing reforms across various trilateral projects.
  • For Australia and Japan, greater cooperation on space-based intelligence collection figures as a means both for developing both countries’ sovereign capabilities and, by extension, making greater contributions to a trilateral defence information and intelligence sharing enterprise with the United States.

Media enquiries

+61 468 480 165
ussc.media@sydney.edu.au