Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 2, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 8 Winnipeg free november 1981 h in n m i v m w s w f by William Branigin Washington Post Pine Australia nestled in a Valley surrounded by Rocky ridges right in the Middle of the vast austra Lian Outback lie six Silver White spheres that look like huge Golf they Are the main features of a to secret intelligence operation officially named the joint defence space research residents of nearby Alice Springs Call it the space some worry that it makes their out of the Way but unloving Little town scene of probably the worlds Only dry riverbed boat race nuclear that thought is a bit unsettling to some australians since their Remote Down under continent otherwise must be one of the worlds safest places in the event of a u nuclear the facility six radome House sophisticated antennae that receive a variety of intelligence and communications from spy Satel Lites in mainly on soviet missile positioned to intercept the telemetry from soviet rocket launches and pick up soviet and chinese military comm the satellites cannot operate directly to the United states because of the physical geometry of the according to australian this is the Best place to receive the Sig Security is Al though the radome Are visible from the planes Are not allowed to Fly directly Over Pine two Security fences bound the and austra Lian police politely but firmly refuse entry to visitors at a checkpoint Well out of sight of the the Pine Gap station and a complementary one at South aus that is linked to the main Early warning satellite system represent americas biggest and most vital such installations outside the United they also symbolize the traditionally close defence despite periodic outbursts of critic that relationship appears to be growing this month elements of All four service branches Are joining australian and new zealand forces in the most sophisticated and May threaten a town like Alice b52s and satellite tracking stations remind australians that nuclear War cannot be restricted to Northern hemisphere one of the Hilpp St Init Militaru ovoid adj Iii one of the biggest joint military exercises Ever staged in among the 100 aircraft participating in the three week exercises now under Way codenamed Kangaroo 81 along with servicemen and 25 will be american b52 bombers based on Guan ii earlier this year the australian and governments concluded an agreement allowing unarmed b52s to land at Darwin in Northern Australia in connection with sea surveillance Over the Indian Ocean and navigational the australian government has Cho sen the Mcdonnell Douglas f18 Jet fighter in a billion Deal for 75 aircraft to replace the country aging French supplied although Australia relationship with the United particularly regarding the installations and b52 is denounced by the left Wing of the opposition labor party and other Radical government re cent opinion polls show that a Large majority of australians approve of these according to a sur vey published in 60 per cent of votes favored the presence of the installations in 22 per cent were opposed and 18 per cent either had no opinion or did not the same Survey showed 58 per cent of voters agreed with the governments decision to allow b52s to use Darwin As a staging Point for recon Naissance 29 per cent disagreed and 13 per cent were according to the 47 per cent of the voters interviewed were unable to name any of the four communications bases in besides the Pine Gap the others Are the North West Cape naval communications station in the state of West the Thanet station at Smithfield in South Australia and the joint defence space communications station at the australian defence department strongly defends the arguing that All now have australian participation and share their information with the Canberra we derive quite a lot of Benefit said Ross Thomas an assistant defence Secretary for strategic and International in an inter View in the australian there not just facilities that exist to support More sensitive is the question of whether the presence of the stations makes Australia a soviet nuclear tar the governments somewhat fuzzy position is that it does not consider any of the facilities nuclear targets except possibly in the event of a general nuclear the soviet ambassador to Canberra contributed to the debate in March when he told reporters Australia could become a nuclear target be cause of the b52 agreement and re ported proposals to base warships near Perth and to expand the Pine Gap in Alice Springs Popula Tion 20 Kilometres Northeast of Pine Roger Vale has never tested any apprehension by the Community at the presence of the space which has been operational since a conservative member of the Northern territory Vale said he thought the nuclear target claim was All Guesswork put Forward by leftist a huge majority of the Alice Springs Community either supports the Pine Gap facility or is he Vale added that demonstrations against the station the most recent was at easter and Drew about 100 people represent a very minute Section of the population Over reacting to Ian an administrator of an aboriginal school and a member of a local left leaning outfit known As the peace takes a different people Here Are not too keen on Alice Springs being a nuclear he he also condemned the secrecy surrounding the saying that in a democracy we have a right to know what its functions As a first Yule the peace group wants the Pine Gap facility placed under direct australian then eventually even critics such As Yule that the approximately 240 americans employed at Pine Gap mostly by the the National Security Agency and their contractors have been Model said Vale of the i cant think of any other group More Amena ble to mixing with the thanks to baseball has become a big sport they helped raise Money for lights on a local playing participate in an Alice Springs music society and Are always ready to help with Vale Pine Gap even enters the annual Todd River called in which participants in bottomless boats run along the dry River bed cheered on by spectators amid great consumption of Vale added that the station was most Welcome from an economic Point of View and has helped main Tain our growth a leading australian expert on the Desmond said he thought there was no doubt that the Pine Gap facility makes Australia a target for soviet nuclear so Viet he is to hit critical intelligence a senior research fellow at the strategic and studies Centre of Canberra australian National uni Ball argues in a Book published late last year that the United states has taken Australia for granted and treated its people and interests with Dis Dain in establishing and running the stations he is also highly critical of continued Lack of Candor on the part of the United states and of extraordinary evasion and deception on the part of australian gov the former labor Ball Calls for an informed Public debate on the but he stops Short of demanding their Ball sees australian reaction against the installations ebbing and flow ing with other at the moment its at one of its peaks he some people feel the Pine Gap installation represents an ability to carry out intelligence activities inside said Robert the head of the strategic and defence studies Centre in i cant see Why they the Pine Gap operators would want to do but it does make some people in Australia paranoid be cause they have to take it on and there Are people who dont Trust the the new civic go if you look closely at this new civic youll notice something rather it has grown a two rear and it has a longer which gives it a smoother ride and some More unexpected room once you climb youll also discover that it is unexpectedly with comfortable Rich carpet and Lush Moquette and if you drove this new civic youd find unexpectedly that it had the performance and handling characteristics of a which it rather than those of an exceptionally comfortable which it in about the 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