Vigilant Pacific 2026 opening ceremony strengthens Five Eyes intelligence interoperability

Intelligence professionals from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States opened Vigilant Pacific 2026 here Sept. 14, beginning two weeks of multinational training focused on strengthening intelligence interoperability across the Indo-Pacific region.

The 31st iteration of VIGPAC brings the Five Eyes (FVEY) partners together to integrate capabilities, exchange tactics, techniques and procedures, and improve cooperation across Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Counterintelligence (CI) and 2X functions. The exercise is scheduled to conclude Sept. 25.

Australian Army Brigadier Christopher Alder, vice director for intelligence, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, opened his remarks by describing how technical collection can identify an object or activity without revealing the human behavior surrounding it. He used the example of a satellite detecting a newly constructed deep-water pier that initially appears to support routine commercial activity.

Alder explained that information gathered through people and regional relationships could provide the missing context needed to recognize the site's actual purpose.

"Technology allows us to find the target, but human intelligence is essential for establishing the context and determining intent," Alder said.

That human context is particularly important in the gray zone, the space between peace and open conflict, where competitors may conceal their intentions through activity that appears routine when viewed only through technical sensors. Vigilant Pacific gives intelligence professionals an opportunity to examine those challenges with partners who bring different capabilities, experience and regional knowledge.

The FVEY intelligence partnership provides an operational advantage by combining those national strengths, but Alder emphasized that the advantage depends on sustained cooperation and cannot be assumed simply because the partnership exists.

"That advantage is not automatic," Alder said. "It is forged through trust, shared tradecraft, interoperability and the commitment of your respective nations to invest in exercises such as Vigilant Pacific."

Vigilant Pacific was established in 1995 to develop common intelligence standards among trusted allies. Since then, the exercise has expanded into a leading FVEY intelligence exercise in the Pacific, allowing participants to study how partner organizations approach similar operational problems.

Alder noted that professional relationships developed during previous iterations have supported participating nations during armed conflict and steady-state operations over the past three decades. He also drew from his own participation in earlier exercises, explaining that the tactics and procedures he encountered later informed his work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This year's participants may operate in mixed FVEY teams or apply an ally's procedures to their own problem sets. Training covers counterintelligence, source operations, interrogations and technical surveillance countermeasures within an integrated command-and-control structure.

Rather than having national elements complete separate efforts beside one another, the exercise requires participants to share methods, understand partner capabilities and work toward common intelligence outcomes. Alder described that integration as essential to preparing the FVEY community for future competition or conflict.

"Every year, this exercise brings the best of the FVEY community together to work together, challenge each other and learn from each other so that we can all be better prepared to defend our nations, as well as our shared interests and values," Alder said.

Amy K. Sumida, the Human Intelligence Operations Cell chief and exercise director for Vigilant Pacific, outlined the structure supporting that collaboration. Each training team will work with a mentor, allowing questions, observations and concerns to move through an established multinational chain while exercise leaders coordinate the broader training audience.

Exercise leaders will also use internal and collective After Action Reviews (AARs) to evaluate the training and identify improvements. Sumida explained that planners maintain an archive of participant observations and review those records while developing each subsequent iteration.

"We take it very seriously," Sumida said. "Every time we plan, we pull out those AARs. We look at those comments, we see what we can change, what we can make better and what we can affect."

The opening ceremony also connected the exercise's technical objectives to the personal trust required among multinational teammates. U.S. Army Chaplain (Maj.) Gregory S. Davis, battalion chaplain assigned to the 715th Military Intelligence Battalion, encouraged participants to view vigilance as a shared responsibility.

Davis recalled that having another cadet beside him during fire watch helped him remain awake and focused. He used the experience to illustrate how teammates help one another maintain the clarity and readiness required during demanding operations.

"We need each other to stay vigilant," Davis said. "What kept me awake was having someone there with me - keeping me vigilant, keeping me focused. A battle buddy, a teammate, a fellow Soldier there with me."

As participants move from the opening ceremony into two weeks of integrated training, those professional relationships will underpin the exercise's larger purpose: preparing five allied nations to understand one another's capabilities and operate as a unified intelligence partnership.

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