http://theaustralian.com.au/common/story_page/0,4511,1651661%255E601,00.html
Elite US spy unit sent to Pine Gap
By Cameron Stewart
27jan01
AN elite team of US Navy code-breakers has been established at the joint
Australia-US intelligence base at Pine Gap as part of a push to boost
surveillance of foreign navies in Asia.
The group – known as the US Navy Detachment Combined Support Group, Alice
Springs, Australia – was formally set up in early 1998, according to US naval
documents obtained by The Australian.
Intelligence experts believe the group was probably set up to help monitor
developments in China's navy, which is undergoing a modernisation program
amid continuing tensions with neighbouring Taiwan.
China is one of several Asian navies, including India's, that are looking to
acquire extra firepower to assert their strategic influence in the region – a
development being carefully monitored by Western allies.
Australia would have access to the information obtained by the US group at
Pine Gap under longstanding intelligence-sharing arrangements between the two
countries.
In 1997 the federal Government foreshadowed increases in both US and
Australian civilian and military personnel at Pine Gap but did not provide
details.
But a letter from the commander of the US Naval Security Group Command to the
US Chief of Naval Operations in January 1998 provides a rare insight into the
build-up at the base.
"The NSGC Command has entered into a host nation partnership at the Joint
Defense Facility, Pine Gap, Australia that requires assignment of a cadre of
navy cryptologic officers and technicians," it says.
"This action is required to support NSGC participation in a joint operational
venture at the Joint Defense Facility, Pine Gap, Australia.
"The letter proposes that the detachment comprise about 43 US naval officers
and enlisted personnel, but does not make it clear if any of these would
already have been serving at Pine Gap when the unit was set up.
A spokesman for Defence Minister John Moore declined to comment specifically
on the letter but said: "The Government in 1997 foreshadowed staff increases
as Pine Gap's role continues to evolve to meet the demands of the post-Cold
War environment."
A spokesman for the US embassy in Canberra also declined to comment but
pointed to the Australian Government's 1997 announcement about planned
staffing increases at Pine Gap.
An intelligence expert from Canberra's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre,
Des Ball, said the US naval unit would probably be responsible for monitoring
specific developments in command and control of a major regional navy, most
likely China's.
"They are obviously monitoring some naval communications in the region that
are of very high value to them," Professor Ball said.
The tasks carried out by the US naval group might also include monitoring
telemetry associated with development of long-range anti-ship missiles in the
region, he said.
China is seeking to develop a blue-water navy to maximise its strategic clout
in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Straits and the Sea of Japan.
US air force and army personnel have also been stationed at Pine Gap for some
years, although their numbers are unknown.
When the joint US-Australian intelligence facility at Pine Gap was built in
1967, it used satellites to detect and monitor missile launches in the former
Soviet Union. Since then it has expanded into a huge high-tech ground station
that monitors a vast range of military targets in South and East Asia.
Since 1980, Australia has reportedly had full access to all intelligence
gathered at Pine Gap.
Professor Ball said the establishment of the NSGC detachment at Pine Gap
marked the first time that a US intelligence agency other than the CIA had
had a permanent presence there.
The NSGC reports to the National Security Agency rather than the CIA, which
runs Pine Gap. The NSGC's letter appears to reflect some sensitivity about
this point, advising that "due to operational security concerns at the Joint
Defence Facility, Pine Gap, the proposed title of the detachment does not
indicate a relationship to the Naval Security Group".
The Pine Gap base could become the subject of controversy later this year if
the new Bush administration in Washington asks Australia to help establish
its proposed national missile defence system.
Such a system would almost certainly use the facilities at Pine Gap. The
Howard Government has indicated its support for the planned system but the
ALP has expressed serious reservations.
