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[[Image:As-map.png|thumb|right|250px|Pine Gap is just west of Alice Springs, near the geographic centre of Australia.]]
[[Image:PineGap-sign.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Warning sign on the road to Pine Gap]]

"'''Pine Gap'''" is the commonly used name for a [[satellite]] [[tracking station]] at
{{Coord|23.799|S|133.737|E|region:AU_type:landmark}}, some {{convert|18|km|mi}} south-west of the town of [[Alice Springs, Northern Territory|Alice Springs]] in the centre of [[Australia]] which is operated by both Australia and the [[United States]]. It consists of a large computer complex with eight [[radome]]s protecting antennas and has over 800 employees. It is officially called the '''Joint Defence Space Research Facility'''. It is believed to be one of the largest [[ECHELON]] ground stations and appears to be physically and operationally similar to the American signals intelligence facilities at [[Buckley Air Force Base]], [[Colorado]] and [[RAF Menwith Hill|Menwith Hill]], United Kingdom. United States government personnel at Pine Gap are believed to be mostly from the [[National Security Agency]] and subordinate service-associated agencies as well as the [[Central Intelligence Agency]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}
As published in ERSA by [[CASA]] the airspace around Pine Gap is the only area in Australia designated as "prohibited" which prohibits entering and overflying the airspace up to a height of [[Flight Level]] 180 (approx. 18,000 ft).
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While much of its operation is secret, Pine Gap is known to be involved in numerous [[military satellite]] operations. As a result, it is occasionally targeted for protests, most recently during the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|war in Afghanistan]].

In 1999, with the Australian Government refusing to give details to an [[Australian Senate]] committee on treaties, Intelligence expert Professor Des Ball from the [[Australian National University]] was called to give an outline of Pine Gap. According to Professor Ball, since 9 December 1966 when the Australian and United States governments signed the Pine Gap treaty, Pine Gap had grown from the original two antennas to about eighteen in 1999. The number of staff had increased from around 400 in the early 1970s to 600 in the early 1990s and then to an expected 1,000. The biggest expansion occurred after the end of the [[Cold War]].

Ball described the facility as the ground control and processing station for [[geosynchronous satellite]]s engaged in [[SIGINT|signals intelligence]] collection, outlining four categories of signals collected:

* [[telemetry]] from advanced [[weapons]] development, such as [[ballistic missile]]s, used for [[arms control]] verification;
* signals from anti-missile and [[anti-aircraft]] [[radar]]s;
* transmissions intended for [[communications satellite]]s; and
* [[microwave]] emissions, such as long-distance [[telephone]] calls.

Ball described the operational area as containing three sections: ''Satellite Station Keeping Section'', ''Signals Processing Station'' and the ''Signals Analysis Section'', from which Australians were barred until 1980. Australians are now officially barred only from the ''National Cryptographic Room'' (similarly, Americans are barred from the ''Australian Cryptographic Room''). Each morning the ''Joint Reconnaissance Schedule Committee'' meets to determine what the satellites will monitor over the next 24 hours.

With the closing of the [[Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar|Nurrungar]] base in 1999, an area in Pine Gap was set aside for the [[United States Air Force]]'s control station for [[Defense Support Program]] satellites that monitor heat emissions from missiles, giving first warning of ballistic missile launches.


==Protests==
==Protests==

Revision as of 21:48, 21 April 2010

Protests

Pine Gap has been the subject of many protests over the years:

  • On 11 November 1983, Aboriginal women led 700 women activists to the Pine Gap gates where they fell silent for 11 minutes to mark Remembrance Day and the arrival of Pershing missiles at Greenham Common women's peace camp in Britain. This was the beginning of a two week women only peace camp, organised under the auspices of Women For Survival. While the protest was non-violent, women trespassed onto the military space and on one day 111 were arrested and gave their names as Karen Silkwood, the American anti-nuclear campaigner. There were allegations of police brutality and a Human Rights Commission Inquiry entailed.[1]
  • In 1986 the base was issued with an eviction notice to be 'closed by the people' in a Close the Gap campaign; there was a protest by both women and men in which bicycles featured strongly.
  • In 2002 about 500 people protested at the gates of Pine Gap, including some politicians. They were objecting to its use in the then impending Iraq war and missile defence, with a massive police presence. A few were arrested after a scuffle with police.
  • In December 2005 six members of the Christians Against All Terrorism group staged a protest outside Pine Gap. Four of them subsequently broke into the facility and were arrested. Their trial began on 3 October 2006 and was the first time that Australia's Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952 was used.[2] In June 2007 the four were fined $3250 in the Northern Territory Supreme Court with the possibility of a seven year jail term. The Commonwealth prosecutor appealed the decision saying that the sentence was "manifestly inadequate".[citation needed] The Pine Gap four cross-appealed to have their convictions quashed. In February 2008 the four members successfully appealed their convictions and were acquitted. Judges who worked on the case stated that a "miscarriage of justice" had taken place because the four were not allowed to argue before a jury that Pine Gap was not a "defence facility" for Australia.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Anti-Nuclear Campaign
  2. ^ Donna Mulhearn and Jessica Morrison (6 October 2006). "Christian Pacifists Challenge Pine Gap In Court" (Press release). Scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 2007-02-24.
  3. ^ Australian court quashes convictions of protesters for entering US spy base
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