Over the hill, well, about 5 hours hard walking (not that i've done the walk myself), from our camp at Hamilton Downs is Pine Gap, a joint US-Australia military facility. Using the rocken 7200 baud net connection, I've been gathering some shards of information on its history and role. It's spooky having so many secret US bases in Australia (around 30 in all), and it's spooky+ being next to one right now, especially now the War on Terrorism has been declared.
The large white ears of Pine Gap lie behind the Caterpillar Dreaming
some
fragments....
Pine Gap, officially known as the Joint Defence Space Research Facility, is
one of the largest and most important US satellite ground control stations in
the world. Its precise functions remained classified until the arrest of a US
spy revealed it was a CIA intelligence base. It controls a small number of geostationary
signals intelligence satellites, "the most secret of all US intelligence collection
satellites".
According to bases expert Des Ball, "The undeniable fact is that Pine Gap is concerned with espionage", and the information gathered "undeniably enhance[s] US strategic nuclear war-fighting capabilities".
Established in 1968 as a CIA intelligence base and situated in Central Australia, 19 km south-west of Alice Springs, it consists of a large computer complex with eight radomes protecting its antennae from the elements and satellite reconnaissance. In the 1960s, there was much technical expansion of electronic communications in space. Satellites equipped with powerful receivers were strategically positioned to eavesdrop on selected communications. The satellites act as giant microphones which can accurately pick up even minor transmissions and rebroadcast them to receiving stations (such as Pine Gap) on earth, which then process or redirect the signals.
The first generation of satellites, launched in 1970 the year Pine Gap became operational, were designed to spy on Soviet missile developments and for general espionage in Asia. They were used during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, in Vietnam, and later to spy on China. A second generation was launched in the mid-1970s, especially designed for communications surveillance -- for example, conversations and radio communications between Soviet military commanders. The development of third generation satellites, launched in 1978, was stepped-up after the 1979 fall of the Shah forced the closure of US eavesdropping bases in Iran. A fourth generation, Magnum, was launched on the space shuttle Discovery in January 1985. These were huge receivers designed to pick up information on Soviet missile tests, and military and diplomatic communications. From 1983, Pine Gap was expanded to receive the increased volume of signals from these satellites.
Pine Gap's most important role is processing information gathered by Rhyolite signals intelligence (SIGINT) satellites and transmitting that information to the United States. These satellites suck up radio transmissions across a wide spectrum. Military intelligence is obtained, along with economic, political and domestic information from national and international telephone and radio communications. Pine Gap's satellites gather military radio transmissions, giving information on military readiness, troop and ship movements and other matters. The satellites can intercept radar emanations, allowing mapping of air defences, anti-ballistic missile radars and early-warning radars.
During a May 1992 visit, US defence secretary Dick Cheney confirmed that the US bases in Australia had been used in the Gulf War. US Chief of Staff during the war, Colin Powell, also confirmed that he ordered detailed planning for a nuclear strike against Iraq. Pine Gap played a significant role in providing information on Iraqi air and ground defences, troop deployments and military infrastructure - the information supplied helped make possible the final American assault on Iraqi forces. The joint US-Australia facilities were also, according to Cheney, to play a role in the Strategic Defence Initiative or "Star Wars".
some links:
http://anti-bases.org/blue_paper/mapw4_closepinegap.htm
http://www.eotw.orac.net.au/articles/pine.html
http://www.infoshop.org/grid/gsn_fall2000.html
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