STOP

NUCLEAR

TESTING

Graphic for Western Shoshone Council poster

for October 1992 Indigenous Forum and
Ceremony to stop nuclear testing in Nevada

In this issue:
•• Report: lOOth Monkey Project to Stop Nuclear Testing in Nevada
"'. Introduction to the Intelligence articles
•• British Intelligence: covert operations. Granada TV transcript, UK
** Electronic spying - implications for New Zealand.
** The signals intelligence agencies
** U.S.I.S. - The Press bemoans loss of a propaganda centre.
$* Studying for suppression? - A critical review of an ANZUS project
.. Index of articles· issues 21 to 32 inclusive
2

Report:
100th Monkey Action to
Stop Nuclear Testing in Nevada

"As the 10011$ Monkey Project to End Nuclear Testing got underway, activists were buoyed
by France's anllOuncement that their nuclear testing program would be suspended for the
remainder of 1992. With Russia aiso committed to a moratorium through 1992, and China's
test site silent since August 1990, the French action left the Nevada test site as the only active
nuclear weapons test site in the world." (The Nuclear Resister, No. 83, April 1992)

It was spring in the Nevada desert and the wildflowers were in magnificent bloom
because it had rained hard a few days earlier. And there was virtually no dust. The flood
control basin where the lOOth Monkey Event took place was carved out of the desert landscape
a few km up the slopes west of Las Vegas. It had a small lake in it from the rain. It was an
oddly suitable location for the start of a protest against nuclear weapons testing. The basin is a
scar on the beauty of the desert. The locals have long used it as an casual shooting range (the
formal range was over the other side of the hill and we were warned not to wander over there at
our peril, apparently there had already been some threats made toward our kind) - there was

shattered glass everywhere. Cut feet were common despite warnings about the dangers.

Suntanning for more than about 20 minutes was also dangerous. You had to cover up
well in the midday heat which reached into the 30s. The medical tent provided litres of
sunblock over the four days.

A solar concert

Damaged ears were. another very real threat, the Event being musical as well as protest.
The sound stage for the weekend's music was well placed to take advantage of the marvellous
acoustics provided by the earthfil! dam, the concrete spillway and the hills behind. You could
enjoy the music from just about anywhere within a distance of hundreds of metres. Electricity
was provided b y hundreds of large solar panels and storage batteries. There was plenty of
power for the amplifiers well past sunset. The organizers said it was the world's fITSt entirely
solar-powered rock concert.

The mountain backdrop of Red Rock Bowl was spectacular in the clear air to the north.
To the southeast Las Vegas sprawled under a blanket of air pollution. The lights of the city and
casinos were visible at night from our campsite on the hill peeking over the lip of the spillway.
I was born in northern Nevada and long ago swore that I would never visit Las Vegas - Reno
was bad enough. But the opportunity to join the nuclear testing protest was too good to pass up
since I was 10 be in Los Angeles in April. Thanks to the generous support of a number of
people and groups in New Zealand I was able to travel to Las Vegas to represent Nuclear-Free
Aotearoa/NZ a t the protest.

There was at least one other at the protest from New Zealand. She was Judy
Lloyd, a documentary producer living in Los but born in Fiji and raised in NZ. She
made herself known to me as I was up the Nuclear-Free New Zealand/Aotearoa rainbow..$
 3
;r banner on the bluff overlooking the sound stage. She and her crew were making a documentary
on the entire 10 days of protest action. I was able to do a short video interview on the nuclear­
free situation in New Zealand for the documentary which also includes such luminaries as
Daniel Ellsberg, Paul Krassner and Susan B. Rodriguez. The video should eventually be
available in New Zealand through Peace Researcher.

The " Event"

The "Event" at Red Rock Bowl occupied the first three days (April 10-12) of the ten.
Attendance was in the thousands but did not reach anywhere near the levels of the 1991 actions.
The activities during the fIrst four days that I attended were varied - fun, thought provoking and
depressing in different measures. The main events during the Saturday and Sunday were music,
much of it excellent, if a bit loud (at least there was plenty of room to back away to a
comfortable listening distance), alternating with talks from a variety of people including Native
Americans and visitors from many countries.

The music covered a wide spectrum of tastes - Joe Marshalla Band,Winterhawk (Native
American rock!), Michelle Shocked, Clan Dyken, Richie Havens and the very noisy X. There
were many lesser known groups, including some from Russia. One chap played a massive
baialaika from the Semipalatinsk nuclear test area. He blamed radiation in the heavily
contaminated area for the size of the instrument.

The most moving testimony came from Native Americans on whose lands the bombs are
exploded. The lands of central and southern Nevada belonged to the Western Shoshone Nation
prior to the European invasion. The Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863 created a vast reservation in
Nevada for the Shoshone people. But that Treaty has been systematically violated ever since.
Most signifIcantly, the Nevada test site and other military uses have carved vast chunks out of
the Shoshone land without due process of congressional law; thereare plans for further military
expansion. The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers the land around the
Nevada test site and also the land around Las Vegas. Although the Shoshone Council gave
permission for each and every anti-nuclear demonstrator to be on Indian land, the various
agencies of county, state and federal government ignored Shoshone sovereignty and arrested
large numbers of protesters as described below.

On Monday I attended the protest at the Department of Energy early in the morning and
then returned to Red Rock Bowl to help with the massive cleanup. My flight back to Los
Angeles was in late afternoon. �
(The following text is abridged from a repon in The Nuclear Resister, No. 83, April 1992)

Monday morning., April 13, hundreds of "monkeys" gathered at the Department of Energy's
Nevada Operations Office in Las Vegas, A five-day. 65 mile walk le !he test site began a spirited
demonstration there,

The office building and parking lot were easUy encircled as people linked hands. A few people
blocked access to the parking lot at the rear of the building, while a larger group attempted to occupy !he
lobby. Officials were prepared and had themselves blocked the doorway. People staged a die-in in front
of the doors, leading le the eventual arrest of 22 people.

A few who passively resisted and were somehow identified as leaders were roughiy handled. One
man was repeatedly maced after being handcuffed. Witnesses reported one officer lifted the man's head
by the hair, up from the prone position he lay in, exposing his face so another officer could spray it
direClly with the gas.

As the blockade was removed, about 200 people began the walk. Walkers detoured through the
downtown convention center and the federal building, singing and chanting their demand for an end to
nuclear testing. At the convention center, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) was meeting,
Rick Springer had received a press pass from aLas Vegas-based publication, and went alone to the
convention on Monday with the intention of addressing the assembled reporters about the is sue of
nuclear testing during a speech by Edward Fritz, President of !he NAB.

To Springer's surprise, he found himself present when the NAB presented former President
Reagan with their Distinguished Service Award. The award, represented by a 30-pound crystal eagle,
appalled Springer. He recognized it as the symbol of a great bird regarded as sacred by Native
Americans, including the Western Shoshone. in violation of the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, Western
Shoshone lands are now devastated by U.S, and British nuclear weapons tests.

Seizing the moment, Springer also seized more attention - for better or worse - than the anti­
testing movement has known in the 30 years since the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty. In slow­
motion, stop-action, instant replay video, what happened next was top of the news for the following day.
Springer calmly walked onto the stage and approached the podium where Reagan spoke. Excusing
himself, he picked up the crystal eagle, threw it down, and attempted to address the audience on the
issue of nuclear testing. Few words escaped his lips before an embarrassed Secret Service detail
engulfed Springer and hustled him from the room. Buried in the news reports focusing on the flying
pieces of glass which hit Reagan, careful viewers and readers also found the anti-testing message
Springer had sought to present.

Reaction among the walkers - who by nightfall numbered about 300 camped on the outskins of
Las Vegas - varled from frustrated disagreement to jubilant affirmation. There was clear agreement that
the rest of the walk and weekend's actions needed to maintain a diScipline of nonviolence and keep the
focus clearly on the issue of nuclear testing.

Springer was jailed overnight after about an hour of questioning by the Secret Service and FBI.
In an appearance the next day before Federal JudgeLawrence Levin, Springer was released on his own
recognizance over the vehement objections of the government. Levitt declared !ha! all the background
evidence he had seen on Springer confirmed that he was "not a man to lead a violent life and there is
nothing to indicate t..'u! he would be a danger to the community. It is true that he has no longstanding
ties to any communities ""' but the Government's portrayal of him as nomadic is unwarranted, because
his movement around the coulltry was of his purpose of organizing protests for social causes ....

There is nothing illegal about demonslmting for a cause .in the United States"

Through his attorney, stated that had he known that the breaking of Reagan's award
would cause such he would never have don� that as a part of the civil disobedience action. .J
/" Springer was released on the condition that he remain in the COllIlty area until his May 4
preliminary hearing on charges of assaulting a federal officer. was also permIssIon te attencl
the last two days of the lOOth Monkey LI1 Nye COll11ly (at the test site

At a press conference the next day, Springer said, "j must begin with an apology to Mr Reagan.
As an advocate of nonvioience, it was never my intention to hurt anyone. My intent was te draw media
attention to the urgency of stopping nuclear testing. 111e press and media gave minimal coverage to this
issue. I believe there are several obvious reasons for this. I believe respollsible journalism means
reporting the news regarding the nuclear weapons testing program and the ongoing efforts by citizens in
this COIlIItry to petition their government to stop nuclear testing as our constitution permits".

The grand jury indicted Springer on onc misdemeanour - obstructing the Service - and one
felony - forcibly assaulring or Impeding federal employees. He was to be arraigned on the charges on
MayS.

The walk proceeded towards the test site, travelling about 13 miles each day. Dozens more
people joined the walk during the wcek, and began to prepare for a variety of re sistance actions.

Highway blockade

On Friday, April 17, the walkers entered Nye County, a few miles from their destination at the
Mercury gate. About 200 people crossed from the southboll11d shoulder of the divided highway into the
northbound lanes. The Nevada Highway Patrol, aware of some of the walkers' intention to take over the
highway, assisted in bringing traffic to a halt sarely behind the walkers.

When it became clear that the walkers intended to continue their occupation of the highway for
the remainder of the walk, the authorities responded in force. A contingent ofWackenhut Security
peIllODnel from the test site came out and met the walk as a baton-wielding barrier. In the face of the
standoff, alieut two-thirds of the walkers returned to the southbound shoulder of the road. while those
remaining sat down, bringing their mobile blockade to a stop.

The Wackenhuts advanced and proceeded to arrest anyone who refused to vacate the roadway.
Those who declined to cooperate with their own arrest were subject te particularly rough handling, with
the commanding officer baridng an order to "make it hurt!" with pain compliance holds. A total of 63
people were arrested on the highway.

Later in the da)!. when the majority of walkers had artived at the test site, 69 more were arrested
as they attempted to continue the march into the rest site.

At first light Saturday, April 18, a trio of men walked down the main street of Mercury looking for the
dormitories that provide housing for some employees during the work week. They intended to wake up
Mercury with the news that it was time to stop nuclear testing. Before they could begin their reveille,
the interlopers were stepped and tak:en in handcuffs to the holding pen at the main gate.

Not long after sunrise, a woman stood at the cattle guard and expressed her feelings about nuclear
testing in poetry to a handful of supporters. She turned and crossed the line, into the waiting plastic
handcnffs.

By that time, dozens of deputy sheriffs, security guards and highway patrol officers had si gned in
at the gate for a long day of overtime duty. Individuals and affinity groups began entering the test site
before lunch time, many crossing the line at the gate, others going over or through the fence and making
their way across the open desert At least 220 arrests were reported by day's end. All were cited fo r
trespass by Nye County and most were bussed to the town of Beatty before being released.

Late Saturday night, a large litter of overgrown bunnies hopped over tbe fence in the vicinity of
the main gate, where they hid twelve dozen Easter eggs among the cactus, creosote bushes and
wildflowers. Before the raiding rabbits could be caught, they hopped back over the fence and on down
to the main gate. To the bewilderment of the late shift guards, eight adults wearing long cardboard Iop�
-

ears joined in a chorus "We are angry bopping for our lives" -�
6
I'" Sunday moming, the first wave of civil resisters to cross the line were those taking part in the
Easter service concluding the Lenten Desert Experience.

Western Shoshone spiritual leader Coroin Hamey then drew the lOOth Monkey participants
together with drumming and prayer. At the conclusion of his prayers and a few words, a woman told the
story of Easter as celebrated by the Yaqui people of southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. The Yaqui
have merged the colourful pageantry of their own culture with the imported Christian rituals that both
celebrate the rebirth of life over the forces of death. The Yaqui way of showeriog celebrants with flower
petals was described, as several people moved through the crowd sharing from baskets of blooms.

A scenario was outlined for those who would participate in the direct action. Hamey led the
procession down to the gate, drumming. As the action proceeded, with waves of people crossing the
line, flower petals again floated in the breeze, descending on police and demonstrators alike.

Affinity group actions continued in turn for several hours, some at the gate, others over the fence
and into the desert. By day's end, 493 more arrests had been reported, and all were released after being
bussed to Beatry and issued citations.

Backcount!"! actions

When the walk began on Monday, monitored radio communications from the test site indicated
that all was in place for the second test of the year, a weapons effects test code-named "Diamond
Fortune". On Tuesday morning, April 14, two men entered the test site on fool, with the aim of stopping
the test by their presence on the site.

Ron "Global D. Forestation" Greene and Shaun "Duke Nukem" Stenshol hiked through the day
and most of the night, and by early the next morning found themselves at an airstrip about three miles
from ground zero. Vncertain whether the test was imminent, and whether or not their presence on the
site had been successfully communicated to DoE officials, they took advantage of the telephone located
in a trailer there. After cails to the DoE in Las Vegas, the lOOth Monkey office. a few friends. and two
calls to the security office in Mercury, they finally convinced officials that they were indeed present and
intent on disrupting the test.

Coincidentally, a security truck drove up a few minutes later, and the driver asked, "You guys
don't work here, do you?" Asked to identify themselves, they said they were "two guys really piSsed off
with the V.S. government". In the spirit of nonviolence. they ccoperated fully with being handcuffed
and blindfolded for the ride back into Mercury.

Security officials in Mercury phoned the V.S. attorney in Las Vegas who expressed no interest in
prosecuting th e case. The men were then cited by Nye County and released at the Mercury gate with a
warning not t o return.

The next day. Thuraday, "two guys really pissed off with the V.S. government" walked into the
site again, and attempted to hitchhike up the Mercury Highway leading from the government town to
Rainier Mesa, site of the impending test Once again. they were arrest ed and evicted from the test site
with another Nye County citation.

After a few days of rest and resupply, the two became three guys reaily pissed off with the V.S.
government as Dan CulJinan joined their ranks. Entering the test site on April 2 1 from a distant point
north of ground zero, the three hiked an estimated 80 miles to Rainier Mesa.

On Friday moming, April 24, the three men finished the last of their water supply and walked
straight into the area of the next test, seemingly invisible to some 50 people working in the vicinity.
Wearing gas masks and desert camouflage gear, they were perhaps indistinguishable from some
employees. En route to ground zero, one foreman even asked them where their (radiation detection film)
badges were. He seemed satisfied with their reply that "We don't need any, because we're wearing gas
masks",
 7

Finally, no more than ten yards from the entrance to the test shaft itself, the three men drew the
rr
attention of a security guard as he lounged in his truck, feet propped on the dash board. They
surrendered cooperatively, and were again handcuffed, blindfolded and taken into Mercury.

TIJis time the federal government agreed ID prosecute, and their arraigntnent was speedily
concluded as soon as they arrived Las Vegas. They were released on their own recognizance, pending
trial June 23.

Stenshol shared the view of the defendants, stating that "I believe my actions are legal because
nuclear testing violates the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, the 1968 Nonproliferation Treaty, international
law and the Nuremberg principles".

Greene returned again to cross the line at the Mercury gate on Monday, April 27, firm in his
belief that entering the test site is not a violation of the law and thus not in violation of the conditions of
his release from federal custody pending trial. He was cited for trespass and again released with a firm
waming of dire consequences should he again risk arrest.

The next day, Apri128, radio monitoring revealed that the "Diamond Fortune" test was on a
countdown to detonation. At the aasumed time, five people crossed the line at the Mercury gate. They
were cited and released, and later learned that the test had been postponed at the last minute. It was
fmally set off on Thursday, April 30.

Postscript: A phone call to Las Vegas in May revealed that all charges were dropped against the
hundreda who were arrested for trespass on federal or Nye County land during the walk and Easter
Sunday action. However, Rick Springer was due to stand trial for his a ctions at the Reagan award
ceremony. We have not heard further of his fate.

- Bob Leonard

Introduction to the Intelligence Articles

We have devoted a large proportion of this issue to material on the operation of the
Western intelligence networli;:, with emphasis on British covert operations. TIJis is a subject that
receives very little attention in the media and, indeed, by the elected representatives who most
of us believe provide careful oversight of the activities of such agencies as the New Zealand
S15, the American CIA and the British MI5/6. As the following reports reveal, such oversight
can be seriously deficient, perhaps even non-existent, in some western nations. Thus, the
multitude of intelligence agencies is almost completely free to spy on virtually every aspect of
human social interaction using an ever expanding array of sophisticated electronic
eavesdropping devices. Individuals have no way of knowing what and when information is
being collected.

Businesses, government agencies, and militaries are prime motivators of spying, but, with
a twist of great irony, they are also some of its prime targets and have only limited
abilities to confound tile spymasters they have created.

The main article that follows is a transcript of a British television documentary that was
shown in abbreviated form in New Zealand in August 1991. We believe the content of that
programme should be available, not j ust as a one-off late-night television programme, but in
printed form that can be more readily used to confront our MPs and ministers with the facts ....ft
8
r revealed by courageous individuals like Robin Robison, a former employee of Britain's Joint
Intelligence Commirtee.

The other two shorter articles by Warren Thomson provide additional information that
supports many of the revelations made by Robin Robison, and briefly describe the principle
intelligence agencies in the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand that participate in
the super-secret UKUSA intelligence agreement.

As a footnote to this introduction, we call attention to an article in the Christchurch Press

(16 June 1992) under the headline "'Intelligence files' on Maxwell". We quote from the article:

"The Financial Times said the Government's intelligence communications headquarters

(GCHQ) had gathered information on Mr Maxwell' s business affairs that suggested the
publisher was acting dishonestly. GCHQ passed the information to the Prime Minister's
Office and the Bank of England, the newspaper said. "

This revelation came from the same former GCHQ employee who is quoted extensively
in the transcript from the television programme:

"The paper quoted a former Cabinet public servant as saying he remembered sorting
GCHQ intelligence on Mr Maxwell. 'The signals intelligence I saw in the autumn of 1989
included intelligence data on Robert Maxwell taken from telephone conversations and
faxes intercepted in Israel and the Mediterranean', Mr Robin Robison was quoted as
saying. He said the data centred on business affairs."

- Editors

BRITISH INTELLIGENCE -
COVERT OPERATIONS

Transcribed from the TV Programme made by Grenada TV's World In Action, and
presented In abridged fonn on NZ's Foreign Correspondent, August 29th, 1991. Unless
otherwlse Indicated, the words are those of World In Action reporter Nick Davies.

This programme is about spies, the tool s of their trade, and the innocent people they spy
on. Tonight we name the European state which has spied on this retired RAF wing commander,
which has spied on Scotland's leading trade union official, which has spied on this 93 year old
widow, which has spied on the Pope, and which has used futuristic technology to snoop on its
closest allies and on its own businessmen. All this is the work of British Intelligence.

Tonight on World In Action - a glimpse of the secret state. We show how Britain's secret
servants are beyond control, sidestepping the law and invading our privacy.

Professor John Ericson, Director of Defence studies, Edinburgh University: "Everybody,

or everything, is a target. It has to be. It is simply sucked into the machine."

More than 30 former officers, many of senior rank and long service, have told us of their
concerns. And so has this man. His name is Robin Robison. Until last year he worked in the J
 9
r nerve centre of British Intelligence. He was so shocked by abuse of power that he witnessed
there that he has decided to speak out publicly.

[Robisonl
"1 felt that I was sitting middle of something that really smelt quite
immoral. I felt that quite a of it was to with the way which, once it has the access to the
means of obtaining informetion, it became information hungry, and obtained infonnation about
a great deal of British life, and indeed, broader than which really was not strictly
necessary, and not really to do with defending the realm "

More than any other Western nation, Britain allowll its spies to work behind closed doors,
their power to intmde is sweeping, but not supervised by Parliament. Their budgets are huge,
but undisclosed. They watch, but are 110t seen.

Britain is watched by MI5 , the world by MI6. Most pervasive of all is the eavesdropping
agency, GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters], with listening stations around the
globe.

These secret agencies feed their intelligence up to the second floor of the Cabinet office at
number 70 Whitehall. That's the headquarters of the Joint Intelligence Committee, the brain of
British Intelligence, and the central command in the defence of the British realm.

The Joint Intelligence Committee decides who should be spied on and how; its where
Robin Robison worked until last year as an administrative officer. Every day he sifted top
secret intelligence. He sat in on the weekly meeting of British security chiefs. But for Robison,
its work often seemed to have very little to do with defending democracy.

[Robison] "In practice the security and intelligence services were operating in a way
which was deceitful at times, and at best creating a fog around the whole situation so that
Ministers knew as little as possible and the public knows next to nothing, and MPs knew little
more than people in the street. "

Robison and others like him have told us they are worried by the sheer scale of British
spying and they have alerted us to sophisticated new technology that has effectively made
privacy a thing of the past.

Even a business letter written in the privacy of an office is no longer safe.

[Engineer] "1 can begin to see a signal now, which is jumping around a fair bit... " With
the ald of a receiver and a TV monitor, an engineer whose normal job is to protect computers,
demonstrates the ease with which confidential informetion can be grabbed from a distant
screen. [Engineer reading] "1 can certainly see something now, its confidential written up
there ... It's a London address ... 'I am sending this letter by hand as it is essential that the
opposition should not discover our plans' ."

And if someone comes along and grabs the image off your computer screen, does that
leave any footprints, any sign that it has happened? [Engineer] "You'd have no idea
whatsoever. None at all."

This technology was devised at Government Communications Headquarters in

Cheltenham. Its job is not to carry communications, but to listen to other peoples'. It can hear
the Russian tank driver on.hls radio, or the diplomat on his telex. Anyone, anywhere, who uses
the airwaves. GCHQ was developed to liBten to the Soviet Bloc, but its reach has been growing
wider and wider. The material it gathers is known as signals intelligence, or Siginl for short. �
10
[Robisonl "Every day we had sackfuls of the stuff from GCHQ. The Sigint would land
,l""
on OUT desks, and OUT job there was to sort through the stuff. This Siginl would comprise
telephone conversations that had been picked up, it would comprise telexes, or any kind of
electronic surveillance teclmiques."

GCHQ listening stations and dishes are locked onto civilian satellites and telephone
cables around the planet. At any time these dishes near Bude in Cornwall can intercept 4,000
telephone calls or 96,000 telex lines as they leave Britain.

Right under the nose of Scotland Yard, one of GCHQ's most important stations is
running an operation which like most of GCHQ's work, bends the law to breaking point. This
anonymous red brick building at number 8 Palmer Street secretly intercepts every single telex
that passes into, out of, or through London, thousands of diplomatic, business, and personal
messages every day. In some of Britain's most powerful computers, these are fed into a
programme known as the 'Dictionary'. It picks out key words from the mass of sigint, and
hunts out hundreds of individuals, and corporations.

According to the law, GCHQ can only intercept telephone calls with a specific warrant.
It has no right at all to take every telex in London. But it has constructed a loophole in the law,
literally. Up on the fourth floor there, it has hired a group of carefully vetted British Telecom
people.

"It's nothing to do with national security. It's because it's not legal to take every single
telex. And they take everything: the embassies, all the business deals, even the birthday
greetings. they take everything. They feed it into the Dictionary. They reckon that by putting
the Post Office people up there they haven't got their hands in it." [The voice is an actor's. The
words are real. They were spoken by a former GCHQ official.]

This legally dubious new teclmology has powerful uses. GCHQ can track terrorists, drug
dealers, and serious criminals across the planet. But the nc has also turned it on a range of
targets who present no threat. Their privacy is being invaded without any apparent legal or
moral justification.

Behind the rituals of diplomacy, the British Government has turned the weapons of
espionage on some of its closest friends. We've been told that GCHQ's Dictionary is routinely
programmed to report the communications of King Fahd and the Saudi royal family, and the
Sultan of Brunei, one of Britain's wealthiest allies, and of the Pope. British Intelligence has
mounted a long-terro, secret operation to tap the links between the Pope and his Archbishops
and ambassadors around the world. GCHQ has even cracked the Vatican code in search of
useful titbits.

Even within the special bond of the Common Market [film of Chancellor Kohl] Britain
has chosen to steal secrets from its partners.

[Words of an unnamed intelligence officer] "The idea that GCHQ doesn't listen to its
friends is crap, as is the idea that it doesn't listen to its sigint allies. We do it. They do it."

What about a close ally like Ireland? [Robison] "We had reports on Ireland. We
certainly heard a lot through MI5 and MI6. But then you would expect that with the terrorism.
For example, the CIA has someone in Dublin, and we heard a bit from them" You mean they
had someone in the Dublin Government? "That's right."

Margaret Thatcher: strdtegy is a strategy for an enterprise economy. for �

 11
;r setting mdusily free to prosper, with laws to gwmmtee fair competition here and in Europe."

But Britain has routinely tried to steal an unfair advantage through commercial
espionage. Robin Robison saw secrets from foreign carmakers, electronics companies, and
steel producers. Europe, America and Japan were all targets in a new war of commerce.

Prof. John Ericson: 'The cold war was in a sense porely military competition. But you're
now taIlcing about national survival in rather different terms. You're talking about national
survival vis-a-vis Japan, vis-a-vis the Common Market, vis-a-vis the Russians, and so on."

This new war also has a home front. The nc is as interested in British business as in their
foreign competitors. Inside the nc, Robison handled intercepted communications from British
companies in engineering, in finance, oil, mining and chemicals.

Could it be that the British communications that were intercepted that you saw were
accidental? [RobisonJ "1 saw much more than could be seen to be accidental. I mean, I used to
sort it into piles, so it was a lot."

[Ericson] "Commercial traffic is now in the intelligence domain, and that can be
dispersed and used and interpreted in a great many ways: (a) for just plain information, but (b) it
can obviously be used for a great deal of political manipulation. "

In a secure loading bay at MI5 headquarters, one of Whitehall's fleet of unmarked vans
delivers high grade intelligence. These vans feed a secret network of contacts that British
Intelligence has established in almost every department of goveroment. [RobisonJ "They go
around office places like MI5 and MI6, GCHQ Palmer Street, and also the Minisily of Defence,
the Palace, Houses of Parliament, but less obvious places too, like the Department of Trade and
Industry, Transport, the Bank of England, the Export Credit Guarantee Department."

This mixing of intelligence and commerce has vast potential. Governments could ily to
undermine the economies of vulnerable nations, or tip off favoured companies at home. The
British Goveroment has started to use it. The nc leaks it out under its cover name, Secretariat
F, or b y laundering it through the Department of Trade.

This businessman [disguised] has travened the world, trading in foodstuffs. Secretly he
was also an agent for MI5, who provided him with commercial secrets. [Businessman] "Oh, for
Russian intentions on international trading, what prices could be acceptable, certain people to
be contacted within Russian foreign trade, ministers who would help."

At first he earned his secrets by giving MI5 gossip about Russians he met. Then he was
asked for a different kind of help.

[Businessman] "It became apparent that they would like me to arrange for certain
individuals to be at certain places at certain times, wining and dining them, to allow hostesses to
join us at the tables, with the basic idea of a couple of them ending up back at the girls' flats and
the fun and games being filmed, which would be used for either turning somebody around,
becoming a British operative, or to shut somebody up."

His reward for these nights on the town? Further leaks of sensitive information. "It
meant that whilst one could not guarantee that every single trip one made one would do
business, it certainly put the success rate up considerably." What was the greatest sign of your
success? "One was the profitabllity of the company, and secondly we did win an award for
exportS."
12
;r One particularly controversial use of intelligence involves the arms trade . illside the ne,
Robin Robison found they were listening intently to the world's arms dealers. He assumed that
they wanted to block dangerous or deals. Then he realised that they were doing
something quite different

[RobisonJ "We saw the details, for example, of a deal between Hungary and Yugoslavia,
or Czechoslovakia selling explosives abroad, all these kind of things, and this would then be
passed to a desk at Ministry of Defence, or to Export credit Guarantee Deparunent in the city,
who would help fmance deals between ... "

[Robison 1 This is the complete reversal of arms control, this is promoting arms sales. "It
is helping our companies to get in there, knowing what price they will go to, knowing what
people are wanting, and to me it is an improper use of the intelligence networks."

Britain's defenders are now spying not only on their friends and the arms salesmen, but
also on their own countrymen.

[Uuidentified former intelligence officer] 'We'd produce regular weekly lists. There's a
travellers' list for people who go abroad, a businessmen list, peace activists, eeL [Council of
Civil Liberties] one or twice. And that's compiled partly from visa applications that are all
picked up at Palmer Street. There's a contacts list, for people that are in touch with various
foreign countries like the Soviet Union, that's got subsections on trade unions and peace groups,
sometimes MPs. That tells you the caller, the person that they've called, and what they said."

Sources from GCHQ told us of some of their unlikely targets, including a 93 year old
woman who has run a lifelong campaign for world peace, Mrs Tatty Morris [sp?]: "I think the
main thing is that people get together and try to understand each other because there's so much
understanding that is necessary, so badly."

Her work has won her honours from the United Nations. Here it earned her the tag
• security risk'. For years, GCHQ listened to her international telephone calls. Interviewer: Are
you a threat to national security? [Morris] "No, I don't think so. [Laughter] I think I'm
perfectly all right."

GCHQ has been listening to British targets only when they talk to the rest of the world.
If MI5 or MI6 want to listen to Britons talking to each other, they have to turn to the relatively
limited technology of British Telecom. It has a specialist team of tappers. ill the last two years
alone, this team has increased by 50 per cent.

British Labour MP John McWilliam: "The number of staff has increased from 50 to 75.
Seventy five can do about 35,000 intercepts a year if they keep busy at it. Since the number of
warrants issued is only 500, and although some of those warrants will cover a number of lines,
it still doesn't explain why that number of staff is needed. It is clear that a lot of unwarranted
intercepts are going on. "

But who would be the target of those unwarranted intercepts? [McWilliaml "Trade
unionists, going about their lawful business, and representing their members. People who are

involved in political activities that the government doesn't like."

Lieutenant Robert Lawrence was one of these. He was a hero, and a casualty, of the
Falklands War. His story was told in the TV fIlm 'Tumbledown'. Incredibly, he and his father,
a retired RAF officer, were deemed worthy of tapping by British Telecom. �
 13

I" [Lawrence gM] "He always wcun,:\ed hetoes were a great embarrsssment. Dead
ones were fme, Absolutely me. glorify But one who was wounded, but
still sufficiently articulate to U.Ullj;' t,h.at went wrong, or about his own feelings, was
an embarrassment I tIJ:inlc",

Both father and son had vetted, but they angered Whitehall by publicly
complaining over Robert's treatment. Security sources us that Wing Command«
Lawrenoe, his son, and the rest the family, all had their phones tapped.

[Lawrence gM] years ago I would have just said 'absolute nonsense', Now I feel
very differently about that, and certainly I wonld not be surprised If what you suggest did
happen, Certainly there was a feeling whenever you picked up the phone, that someone was
listening, little clicks and unnatural pauses, Robert was totally convinced that he was tapped,
that someone was listening, but of course, no evidence."

They can tap a phone only If a person is a threat to national security, engaged in serious
crime, or undennining the economy of the country, Are you any one of these? [Lawrence SM]
"Well, I would think that is probably all right, but I would just about burst if anyone thought
any of those of me."

So who controls the intelligence services, and how do these things happen? Officially,
cabinet ministers are supposed to keep an eye on the intelligence services, but Robin Robison
found that the reality was very different

[Robison] "In my experience ministers would never ever set foot in the ne and we never
ever received requests from ministers for information." Suppose, hypothetically. a minister got
himself busy and came to ne and said he wanted to see the following IDes to make sure things
are being run properly. "It wouldn't happen."

How do you know that wouldn't happen? [Robison] "Because we had files which Were
specifically not for ministers' eyes." You mean they were specifically marked 'not for
ministers' eyes'? "Yes." How did that strike you at the time? "It cut across any pretence of
democratic accountability."

The final framework of supervision is the law. The intelligence services, like all
government servants, are expected to obey it.

[Former intelligence officer] "The ouly law at GCHQ is to do what you are told. If MI5
or MI6 want something, GCHQ provides it. The law just isn '( discussed. The only time the
law is mentioned is the Official Secrets Act � what YOll can't say and what you can't do."

Officially the flrSt commandment of GCHQ is that even though it may pick up
information on British citizens talking to rest of the world it must never turn its
extraordinary power on Britons speaking to each other. But Robison came across evidence that
they were willing to abandon even this most basic rule,

[Robbon] "I did once see a memo from Peter Merrychurch, who was then head of
GCHQ, that suggested that GCHQ should take over some of the interception of
communications that had been province of MI5 and Special Branch."

y00 're talking !IOOu! phone taPIJing [Robisonj "Phone tapping and listening ID to
"
other forms want to phone tap? ''He wanted in particular to yI
14
I' home in on and tighten their grip on the domestic thirlku!g particularlyof bow they
define subversives, in other words, people who were concerned nuclear power, nuclear
energy, and also the commerclal, the economic world."

There's an elaborate system for ensuring that intercepts are carried out only with the
officially approved warrants. If GCHQ moved in and started tapping British telephones, what
would be the consequences? [Robison] "It would mean the warrant system is worth nothing.
Because if GCHQ just needs to press a few buttons, nobody would be any the wiser."

How did you feel when you read this proposal? [Robison] "Well, I was concerned." Do
you know how the other intelligence chiefs reacted to that idea? Did they say, well, this is
appalling? "The impression I had was the intelligence community wanted to use GCHQ to its
full potential." So this was not a rogue, a renegade idea? "No, that wasn't my impression."

What became of the Merrychurch memo is not dear. If GCHQ did turn on the British it
could technically tap so many calls that its staff would be overwhelmed. But its scientists are
working on a new computer system to pick out key words from phone calls, just as the
Dictionary already does with telexes. Then there would be no limit to its intrusion.

The heart of the problem is this. The effective end of the Soviet threat has left the
bristling weaponry of British Intelligence with a shortage of real enemies. Yet new technology
continues to provide them with still more weapons to turn on those who are not really their
enemies at all.

[Erlcson] ''They are benevolent in many respects. But they have a great potentiality for
malevolence and for mischief, and for ultimately a kind of electronic big brother, not a big
brother, a Ym big brother indeed, if I may say so. Big, and getting bigger."

What are you hoping to achieve by speaking out like this? [RobisonJ "Well, I feel and I
hope that speaking out is what is needed because were everybody to remain silent we would
have no impetus for change. And I feel it is not wrong to speak out about structures and
systems in a way which is not damaging to government security, but purely pointing out to the
British public the way in which our goverurnent system is operating in quiet and secretive ways
unbeknown to them."

ELECTRONIC SPYING �

IMPLICATIONS FOR NEW ZEALAND

1. Economic Espionage

Robison's statements are backed by other snippets of information from a variety of

sources.

It is clear that eavesdropping on computer input is readily open to technicians with the
equipment to do so. A committee of the House of Commons has revealed that the Canadian
Communications Security Establishment uses"...electromagnetic radiation eavesdropping ... to
intercept electromagnetic emissions from a computer terminal and reproduce the image or text
of that information on a monitor".1

While finns wishing to maintain secrecy well able to install coding or scrambler
devices that defeat rival companies, it is unlikely they wv,u"" have facilities impervious to .-A
 penetration by the intelligence organi:>ati')!ls.
15
T
A s World In. Action. points out, t.ltis has vas! consequences for small, vulnerable
economies. Firstly, the country's leading can be consistently lacking financial
information available !ll other!;, and secondly, economy can be directly manipulated by a
more information-rich, hostile government.

The French intelligence services have been caught rotting the rubbish put OUl by business
executives in the United States, but this theatre of the absurd covers much more serious
activities. Pierre Marion, head of the Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure (the
same DOSE who bombed the Rainbow Warrior Auckland Harbour), has admitted on
television that he set up an industrial espionage system to pass information about American
companies !ll their French rivals.2

In the United States, the former CIA Director Stansfield Turner is just as explicit: "We
steal secrets for our military preparedness. I don't see why we shouldn't steal them to stay
economically competitive. As we increase empha�is on securing economic intelligence, we will
have to spy on the more developed countries - our allies and friends with whom we compete
eoonomically."J

The National Security Agency's director, Vice-Admiral William Studeman, recently

confessed that after years of monitoring economic intelligence from foreign governments the
NSA is now being asked !ll collect 'competitive information' . He says his British and NATO
colleagues have asked lots of questions about the agency spying on its friends.4 Robison states
there is no argument about the organisations spying on their allies: "they do it, we do it" .

2, Ties tbat Bind · or Strangle

In the mid-eighties it is likely that the New Zealand Government was vulnerable to
extreme pressure being placed against its nuclear free stand by a hostile Washington
Administration because of the latter's access to economic information. The Lange
Government's promlse not to expon it� policy, and the building of the Waihopai facility, may
have been moves to placate the US.

If this were so, ironically, New Zealand has removed the threat to itself by passing the
potential for being undermined on to others: at Waihopai, near Blenheirn, the satellite dish
probably intercepts vital communications to and from vulnerable Pacific Island states, and
passes them on via Australia to the US information vacuum machine.

FIlr'Jiennore, acceding !ll United States imperatives may do little !ll ensure that a country
can maintain its own independence. In places where the NSA has had large scale operations
Washington has tended to support dictatorships which turned a blind eye to the spying and other
military activities. Iran (before 1979), and Liberia and Panama through the eighties, would be
examples of these.

When the Norriega regime's intelligence support activities in Panama no longer

outweighed other negative fantnrs, the marines were sent in. Much nearer to home, in 1975
when Gough Whitlam was due to open t.he Pine Gap facility to the scrutiny of the Australian
Parliament, Whitlam was removed from office.

The present Australian Government, while undoubtedly more benign than the Bush
Administration, must have considerable clout with Wellington because of its power !ll pass on
or withhold intelligence It is to speculate that decisions such as the
16
I' frigates commitment are hugely influenced by such unseen links.

One other aspect of this international spy agency trend to economic espionage needs to be
addressed. We are constantly informed in the media of the desirability of pursuing 'level
playing fields' (whatever that means) and the achieving of GAIT (General Agteement on
Tariffs and Trade) objectives. Seen from the perspectives of the World In Action< programme,
and the evidence from other quarters, the hidden economic operations of the western
intelligence agencies make such free market shibboleths a myth, and a dangerous myth. For a
small country like AoteroaINZ, dependellt on overseas trade, the implications are frightening.

3. Domestic Spying

Robison's comment on the large-scale expansion of domestic spying in Britain raises

other questions about what is happening in this country. As NZ intelligence budgets grew
enormously in the eighties and have been maintained in recent years of government c08t­
cutting, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and the Security
Intelligence Service (S1S) must have considerable capacity to turn their technology on NZ
citizens following the demise of the 'Soviet threat'.

The N S A has been involved in widespread domestic surveillance for many years. To
quote only one researcher, former consultant to the National Security council, Loch K. Johnson,
"This awesome technology has also been turned against the American people, as when for over
three decades the N8A used its powers to read cable communications sent abroad or received by
American citizens . ..5

In 1988 the Deputy General Manager of Telecom was " ... unable to recall any instance
where telegrams have been sighted by the Agencies ... " (The agencies were NZ Defence
Department, 818, and GCSB). But the dosing paragraph of his letter states, "However,
Telecom accepts no liability for interception of communications. ,,6 The existence of a
mechanism whereby overseas communications are retrieved by the intelligence organisations
remains an open question.

With the establishment of the facility at Waihopai it is likely that the GCSB is in the
same position as its parent organisation the GCHQ, and can pick up the communications of
New Zealanders overseas, via satellite, as it wishes, with no visible trace. Whether there are
facilities to intercept domestic traffic carried on micro-wave systems, without warrant, needs to
be investigated.

4. Oversight · The Tail that Wags Tile Dog

Robison' s revelations about the lack of control over the various western intelligence
agencies are not new, but a story that continues to remain largely untold, and unheard.

Doring the last Labour administration we were assured by both David Lange and
Geoffrey Palmer that we " ... shonld have no fear ... that such operations are in any way
uncontrolled." Lange stated in May 1988 "I can however assure you that any fears about
monitoring the phone calls or other communications of New Zealanders are entirely
unfounded. ,,7

They seemed to assume that times had changed from the early seventies when Australia' s
Attorney General had to raid the offices of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to
get the files he wanted; they ignored the cases where Ministers charged with oversight of spy
agencies declared they were uncertain about their control over those agencies (amongst others, J
 17
l' British Labour Prime Ministers Wilson and O'Callaghan);' they assumed that even though the
armed forces might refuse their orders to go to the hidden forces whose loyalties lie with
groups outside New Zealand would do their bidding.

When Al1an McKinnon was appointed Defence Minister in Canada in 1979 he had never
heam of the Communications Security Establishll'lent (Canada's version of the GCSB) he was
responsible for. His colleague Al1an Lawrence, Conservative Party Solicitor General, said in
1984: "There is terrible potential for abuse in the CSE. They can, and I am convinced they do,
listen in, break into, decodify and store conversations of people in this country with no
independent control, supervision or monitoring:"

Robison's COIDll'lents about files that were "not for minister's eyes", on top of evidence
from a wealth of other sources, should severely shake Lange's confidence.

It should be noted that Lange, the sole elected representative with responsibility for the
GCSE, clearly did not understand the most basic functions of the facilities on which he
delivered his assurances. His book Nuclear Free speaks of " ...Tangirnoana, and the post that
replaced it ... ". However, Tangirnoana has not been replaced; it is fully operational. He speaks
only of radio listening posts, and evades mention of Waihopai, either conveniently covering up
its existence, or not knowing, as seems likely from his comments, that Waihopal does not listen
to radio signals. 1o

Right-wing journalist Richard Long claims: "Parliamentary and political sources refer in
some awe to the reputation [8IS Director Brigadier Smith] gained of being able to capture the
support of fO!"rl'leI Prime Minister David Lange with a steady flow of fascinating reports which
broke the routine of the policy and administrative problems Mr Lange faced. Sessions with the
SIS Director became one of Mr Lange 's relaxations in office. Under Prime Minister Geoffrey
Palll'Ier the influence of the SIS ... is, if anything, thought to have increased. Prime Minister Jim
Solger is said to be equally impressed. n 11

If we can have no faith that ministers attempt hands-on control neither should we have
trust that civil servants know more about the intelligence services, or are more prepared to
control them, than our Prime ministers.

In Britain during the eighties there were several cases of agencies lying 10 enquiries (e.g.,
the Bettaney case) or operating far beyond their legal bounds, with no official public response,
(e.g., the cases reported by former MI5 officer Cathy Massiter).

The Englishman wbo was the British Goverurnent's principal advisor on security and
intelligence matters for most of the 19808, Sir Robert Armstrong, WlIS categorised by an
Australian Judge in the infamous Spycatcher trial as " ... having no personal knowledge or
expertise in matters of security or intelligence..... and, having had to retract some of his
evidence, " .. much of his evidence on matters of importance must be treated with considerable
reserve. ,,12

Last year in the United States several top intelligence officials were indicted for lying to
congressional committees or grand juries.

"Policy gnidance and oversight of the GCSB is the responsibility of the Officials
Committee , chsired by the Co-ordinator", Palll'Ier wrote in September 1989. 13

But can we trast NZ officials to demonstrate both the lmowledge and the commitlnl'le t to
democratic procedmes that proper oversight reqnires, not only for the GCSB, but for the 81S, �
18
and the External Assessments Bureau?

Questions must be asked about accountability of the system in New Zealand, the people
who control the system, and the directions in which that system is now heading. The World In
Action programme should give us much more incentive to ask those questions.

- Warren Thomson

References

1. Briarpatch, November 1 99 1 , p . 19.

2. The Press, 30 Jan 1992, p. 20. Reprint from the Daily Telegraph.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid. Also see Time Magazine, 23 Sept 199 1 , p. 36.
5. Johnson, Loch K. 1989. America's Secret Power: the CIA in a Democratic Society.
Oxford Univ Press, 1989. p. 53. 10hnson has served on both U.S. House and Senate
Intelligence Committees.
6. Letter to the author, 7 Sept 1988.
7. Letter to Canterbury Council of Civil Liberties,
19 May 1988.
8. See for example, NZ Sunday Times, 30 Nov 1986; The Press, 16 Sept 1987, and material
from the book Spycatcller by Peter Wright, Heinemann, 1988.
9. Briarpatch, November 199 1 , p. 19.
10. Lange David. 1 990. Nuclear Free · The New Zealand Way. Penguin Books. pp. 150-
151.
11. The Dominion, 1 7 June 1991, p, 2.
12. Richard V. Hall. 1987. A Spy's Revenge. Penguin Books. p. 1 88.
l 3. Letter to the author, 28 Sept 1989.

THE SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

At the centre Qf the western intelligence electronic espionage system is the UKUSA
Agreement. This agreement has five partners, all mentioned in previous pages of this issue.
The USA and UK are first parties, and major players. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, are
second parties, and other associated American allies are regarded as third parties.

The UKUSA Agreement was signed in 1947, and initiated co-operation in the collection
and exchange of information, particularly signals intelligence. Responsibilities for collection
are divided amongst the signatories, with standardisation of code-words, and regulated
procedures for handling data and access to information.

New Zealand's position since 1985, when Washington announced it was cutting off its
flow of intelligence material to this country, is unknown, but since the intelligence system
operates with virtually no reference to politicians or their activities, it is likely that signals
intelligence operations carry ou uninterrupted. The links to and from Australia and Britain
remain unaffected, and probably expanded.

Signals intelligence (Sigint) falls broadly into two areas:

1. Electronic intelligence - electro-magnetic ttansmissions from weapons, radar systems,

��� J
 19
2. Communications intelligence messages IrdIlmntle:<i via satellite, radio, cable, telephone,
I""
�

micro-wave systeme, etc.

Collection of such data has prohably played a crucial part in military operations since
World War II when the allies intercepted and decoded some German and Japanese radio signals.
In me Fa1kJ.ands War Britain had access to Argentinian diplomatic messages, and it is likely that
Saddam Hussein'g Irnqi !lit force was totally impotent during me Gulf War because of
American interception of electronic emissions.

The main UKUSA agencies are me following:

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Far larger man me better known CIA, and
larger man me CIA and FBI combined, mis organisation dominates me steadily expanding
western signals intelligence system, using me most advanced computer technology in the world.

The Government Commumcations Headquarters (GCHQ). Britain' s major sigint role

is carried Ollt by fuis organisation whose key centte is at Cheltenham. The World InAction
transcript gives a clear insight into me activities of GCHQ, and indicates me hidden expansion
of its operations.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE). Canada's contribution to me

network.

The Defence Signals Directorate (DSD). Australia plays a major part in sigint
operations in me Pacific region. Besides hosting major American facilities, me DSD operates
major bases of its own, including a large new facility at Gera1dton, West Australia, which is
closely related to New Zealand's Waihopai operation.

The N.Z. Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). This government

agency runs me two major listening bases, one at Tangimoana (near Palmerston Norm) and one
at Waihopai (near Blenheim). Material passed to the New Zealand peace movement recently
showed close links between Tangimoana and British operations. Tangimoana listens to radio
signals. The Waihopai installation, which intercepts communications via international
satellites, began operations in 1989. It is fuis country's contribution to a major expansion in
inlemational eavesdropping aimed at control of military, political and economic infonnation.
Its operations are largely unknown to mose in Parliament, including me Prime Minister who
theoretically is responsible for the activities of the system.

U.S.I.S. - The Press bemoans

loss of a propaganda centre

by Nuclear Free Kiwis

In a revealing editorial, The Press (15 August 1992) bemoaned me closing of the United
States Information Service (US IS) office in Citristchurch.

According to the editorilll me US is not only "the world's most powerful nation" but also
"me centte of me world' s civilization". Indeed, the USIS's role is seen in terms of a "crusade
for freedom. .. the crusade',8 utterly virtuous objective, and me tenacity of mose who conducted
it, was and is too often stupidly ignored". Says The Press, the USIS promotes ideas,
information and dialogue in defence of democracy.
..-J
20
and influence of
recent years has shown no!
challenges its cover as a benIgn
New Zealand at all testifies to the power
largely in the work of the USIS. The Press in
"1!';m"" lI!cllnalion 10 consider any view of the US IS that
information via libraries and speakers.

Peace Researcher, Nucle'ill" Free Kiwis (NFK) and other researchers and commentators
"
have charted New Zealand over the past decade or so'

Among the we d(){;Unlen1ted The Press's cosy links with the USIS.
Editorial staff have gone Ol! -funde,d jlmk:ets to the United States. And as The Press
acknowledges, it has ap]Jreciated as a regular source of information. At times it has
seemed almost to be "HC';�� of the USIS" its willingness to carry the pro-US foreign
policy and pro-l!uclear

The editorial inveighs who have been sufficiently independent and critical
to call attention to the many crimes committed arowd globe in the name of freedom and
democracy . We are to that all victims of U S wars of intervention and of the CIA, all
the victims of US economic have been mere "excesses", "errors", and "wrong
t!rrni ngs", in the words of editorial. We suggest that no-one in her or his right mind would
swallow these excuses if they came from the CIA. But the USIS and its domestic parent body
in the US, the US Information Agency (USlA), do not bear the stigma of the CIA and so have
taken over much of that agency ' s propaganda role in this part of the world. Such excuses
become a part of the myth peddled quietly and pervasively as "information" by the propaganda
agency in the middle of Christchurch.

That agency is now defwct - good riddance. (But we too will miss the library.)

Why did Christchurch have a USIS office in the fIrst place? It is worth quoting here from
a 1986 issue of Off Base: "Some insight into the reasons behind the reopening of the USIS
office can be gleaned from a recent in the glossy US Pacific Command organ ' Asia­
Pacific Defense Forum' . The article by Dom Alves of Georgetown University contains the
following curious paragraph which we must quote in its entirety. 'Not a part of ANZUS, but
nonetheless of defense interest, is Operation Deep Freeze Antarctic [sic]. Though the New
Zealand government has ·taken no steps there are those within the NZLP [Labour Party] who
would like to exclude the U.S. Air Force from the COOstchurch base. The U.S. Information
Agency [sic] opened an office in Christchurch in late 1985, the earlier one having been closed
because of budget restraints. If it should become impossible for the United States to operate
from Christchurch, Hobart, Tasmania has been suggested as an alternative base. ,,,

So there you have it " the USIS offIce opened up in COOstchurch to help Operation Deep
Freeze cope with its critics, and budget restraints yet again have closed the US IS in
COOstchurch.

Orwell 's been an inspiration for NFK and certainly for many
other watchdog Western media is penneated with the hypocrisy and
disinformation VIWC" '''''aTI100 and which only a few pUblications like Lies of Our
Times (L.O.O.T,) "A Ma.gll2:me to Correl�t the Record" work to expose.

Perhaps it is Press to hew an independent line. The fact of

the matter is it is not indlepl�ndlent of Ll:le Murdoch Empire - another heavy price New
Zealanders pay for fOfe,ign oWlaers:hiv priceless assets.
"'* See on in 1{e,l,eaY·cP£rs Nos. 26, 24, 23, 19, 1 8, 17, 16, 14, 1 3 , and
1L See NZ Month.ly f(.f'Vlf'W 293-294.
 21
STUDYING FOR SUPPRESSION? •

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF AN ANZUS PROJECT

In January 1985, the N.Z. Nuclear Free Zone Committee put out a special issue of
"Nuclear Free" warning of a possible Central Intelligence Agency(C.I.A) threat to
AotearoalN.Z. It expressed concern about the likely implications for our country of an
ANZUS project to be directed by Dr. Ray Cline, a former Deputy Director for
Intelligence at the e.LA

At that time, some of the mainstream media were considerably more independent. Cline's
project got some revealing coverage. Cline seemed to back off. Covert action monitors in
the peace movement, however, realized the importance of staying alert. They picked up
on a reported visit of Cline to AotearoalN.Z. and presented another special issue of
"Nuclear Free" in October 1985 - an action alert on the possible destabilization of N.Z.,
starring Dr. Cline.

Cline Got his Wicked Way, - In a fashion)

Unfortunately in the end, though not quite as originally intended, Cline got his ANZUS
project. Of course, he did not front it. The more respectable political science professor,
Henry Albinski of Pennsylvania State University, became the openly visible instigator,
From 1988 through 1990, the East-West Centre of Hawaii carried out a study of relations
among the three ANZUS states. It collaborated with the Australian Institute of
International Affairs and the N.Z, Institute of Policy Studies. Articles in previous issues of
"Peace Researcher"(nos. 18, 19 & 27) have documented in some detail the history of the
project.

The East-West Centre study managed to co-opt a number of people who are influential in
various capacities on the N.Z. scene. The listing below gives the names of the project's
key N,Z, players according to their special sectoral roles and interests:

Phase I: Sociopolitical Change and National Images

Ms, Sharon Crosbie
Prot: Harvey Franklin
Mr. Noel V. Lough
Dr. Jock Phillips
Dr. Roberto Rabel
Mr. W,L Renwick

Phase 1I: Economic Structures and Relations

Ms. Marion B. Bywater
Mr. Bernard Galvin
Prof. Gary Hawke
Sir Frank Holmes
Mr. Peter W. Nicholl

Phase Ill: Regional Roles and Relationships

Mr. Alastair Bisley
Dr. John Henderson
Dr. Stephen Hoadley
Sir Wallace Rowling
Ms. Sue Wood

Senior Advisers
Mr. Noel V. Lough
Sir Wallace Rowling
Sir Brian Talboys
Ms. Sue Wood

A report of the Study Project, entitled "Australia, New Zealand, and the United States:
Fifty Years of Alliance Relations"(East-West Centre, September 1991) gives this list ofthe Y
22

leading N . Z : participants. along with the Australian and U S "participants"( see pAS). The
author and Project Director. Richard Baker, was from 1967 to 1 987 a career officer in the
t.S Foreign Service. including a stint as head of the political section at the U.S. Embassy
in Canberra.

Improved international understanding can indeed be an admirable aim, although the

ANZUS grouping is a white Anglo-Saxon and rather militaristic club. At any rate. one can
assume that those New Zealanders who took part in the Project acted in good faith as
participants in an academic/diplomatic study.

Implications of the Study

The central question which must remain. however, is just how might the "Clines" in the
murky background to the Project be inclined to use the findings and any oppmtunities for
manipulation of N.Z.'s political direction arising out of the Project.

If one assumes a manipulative background to the study, then obviously from the U S
standpoint the major underlying objective i s t o try and use it a s a n aid towards the
integration of N .Z. back into the ANZUS relationship, or an equivalent arrangement
suited to the era of the 19905 and beyond. Studying the processes of sociopolitical change
and nationa I images; economic structures and relations; and regional roles and
re lationsh i p s can serve to identify avenues of influence for U.S. leverage.

In the Re p ort'S "Summary of Conclusions", it is stated that: "The overall conclusion of the
project is that the 'alliance era" in which security considerations dominated relations
among the ANZUS states, is over." This sounds reassuring for the N.Z. peace movement.
But the study poses its own big question:"A principal question for the next period is the
degree to which the mechanisms first established to manage alliance relations will be
adapted to sustain effective co-operation on the new. broader agenda."

The study identifies a number of factors, e.g. the end of the Cold War, which have led to et
state of more complex and fluid relations among the ANZUS states. At the same time,
the allies are seen as being increasingly entangled by economic ties. This does not reHect
any simple pattern. "Although they agree on broad economic objectives, this is an area i n
which the three countries have independent and sometimes conHicting interests."

Ties that Bind

But "the n etwork of ties between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States is broad
and deep. and has expanded significantly over the period of alliance. The
interconnections among the three societies have probably long since progressed beyond
the point where they are readily affected by s hort-term fluctuations in government-to­
government relations." Ties that bind could all too easily come to constrain nuclear
freedom a n d what small foreign policy independence we have gained.

It is significant that the Report notes "a major and possihly dominant role" of economics in
the new era. This observation should be seen in context of the search for a new
framework for N.Z.-U.S. relations with which the East-West Centre studv has been
�

preoccupied.

Closer Economic Reiations(CER) between Australia and NZ. has the pOlential not only
to lead to economic integration but also political integration. If ever such a political union
were to occur, then N.Z. would definitely be moving into a US-dominated sphere of
influence, given the increasingly strong security and economic hold of the US over
Australia. A� the East-West Centre Report points out "The CER process is well on the
way to making Australia and N .Z, effectively a single economic unit,"

N uclear Free Kiwis(NFK) has contin ually drawn atte ntion.to the fact that a loss of
economic sovereignty will mean a loss of political sovereignty. Ironies abound here.
Domestic opponents of our nuclear free independence have tried to cultivate concern
ahout the alleged damage 1O our interests vis-a-via the C.S. We know that former
US Defe n ce Secretary Weinherger(now under indictment in relation to the Iran-Contra
 23

affair) and co. seriously considered at one point using trade pressure against us. There
may in fact have been covert economic manipulations. But as the Study Project indicates,
"economic relations with the US have not been harmed, and co-operation on other issues
proceeds apace".

Perhaps any covert economic manipulations have been intended not to de stabilize but
rather have instead been directed at drawing Aotearoa/NZ back into the nuclear fold. We
have previously explored this possibility as welL A leading theme of "Peace
Researcher"("PR") in recent years has been the growing loss of our economic self-reliance
(from an already highly constricted base!).

The ironies m ultiply. The Labour Party, when government, cynically implemented
"Rogernomics", a radical New Right socio-economic programme, while keeping many
supporters loyal with its nuclear free stance. It was propelled into its anti-nuclear position
by pressure applied by the peace movement and some Labour M.P.s. At the time,
Labour gained a measure of foreign policy independence but proceeded to start selling
out our sovereignty i n the long term. I t opened up the economy to overseas interests. A
further irony lies in the fact that economic accommodation with the US probably
lessened the threat of economic and covert action tactics to destabilize our country. In the
end, U.S. planners well know that a loss of economic sovereignty will also mean the loss of
overall freedom. From a strategic perspective, the U.S. could be quietly confident - at
least to some extent.

As shown in the Report, between 1980 and 1988, US. investment in N.Z. grew from $579
million to $826 million. American investment in Australia during the same period doubled
from $7.6 billion to $1 3 billion. Likewise, Australian and N.Z. investment increased
substantially in the U.S. Trade links continue to expand among the "allies".

Another big irony in N.Z.-U.S. relations is that peace movement people have often drawn
attention to closer economic relations between N.Z. and the U.S. in order to bolster their
case with the public. They have maintained that our nuclear free stand has not harmed
trade and economic relations.

While this has been understandable enough there has been little appreciation of a less
welcome dimension implicated i n these growing economic ties. Our incipient defence
industry is a critical means whereby we are being pulled into the U.S. military-industrial
complex. "PR" has consistently stressed this danger. How can we safeguard our economic
well-being and stay nuclear free? Hard questions arise here as U.S. planners watch.
Ultimately, the maintenance of independence must go hand in hand with increased
economic self-reliance. From the US. standpoint we are not going to be able to have our
cake and eat it too. To use another cliche - the chickens are coming home to roost . . .
(and/or the eagle will land to pluck the chiCkens!).

Social and Political Change

The Study Project identified a disjunction between closer contact among ANZUS allies
and yet more individualistic national self-images. "The countries are coming into much
closer and broader contact, and are being affected by many of the same social, cultural,
economic, and political forces." For U.S. planners the challenge would be how to develop
these commonalities and suppress awkward N.Z. divergencies. For the US, the key
question is how can it manage the alliance better in the future.

The ANZUS alliance era fostered a much greater intensity of contact. Yet according to
the Study Report, mutual perceptions among the alliance partners are permeated "by
much ignorance, superficiality, and misperception, . . . " Significantly, there "are also clear
distinctions between public attitudes and the opinions of the elite and decision makers".

Concern is expressed that "Australians and New Zealanders find a good deal to criticize in
what they know about the United States". Poll data "demonstrate that public confidence
[in the US.] is relatively susceptible to being undermined". The N.Z. and Australian elite,
"tend to be more concerned and sceptical ahout US decision making and reliability . . . "
24

In a final chapter called "Toward Better Understanding", conclusions from the earlier
chapters are pulled together. So far as the issues of public and elite perceptions go, the
study says, "A deeper understanding not only of the sources of information but of the
dynamics of these processes would be useful . . . " The study also notes that: "In the case of
New Zealand, one specific question is whether perceptions of American 'bullying' over the
nuclear ships issue are persisting over time and have affected general attitudes toward the
United States and U.s.-New Zealand relations."

Attitudes in both Australia and N.Z. are a topic of interest too. As economic integration
under CER proceeds, along with greater interdependence in defence, what is the impact
of these trends on attitudes toward closer political relations'!

Similarly, since an inverse pattern of knowledge and affinity exists in N.Z.-u.s. and N.Z.­
Australian relations(the more New Zealanders know. the more critical they are ! ). the
study continues its emphasis on "sources of information" and of "the factors influencing
reactions to these images".

A better understanding would be valuable to "policymakers" and "on a practical level

might also help identify means of increasing both the level and the accuracy of knowledge
in these societies of the others". I n the Summary of Conclusions mention was also made of
"distortions in the information flows and resulting mutual perceptions on all sides". Earlier
in the Report, there was a reference to, "Educational interchange including government­
sponsored programmes such as the U.S. Fulbright exchanges . . . " Perhaps more U.s.
Information Service(Agency) junkets and "exchanges" could help counter distorting
perceptions!

So the U.s. agenda is pretty well openly declared here: what are the strings which they can
pull to enable them to get N.Z. back in tow. For a considerable time now, NFK and "PR"
have repeatedly pointed out the means of covert manipulation. In what might perhaps be
termed a new genre of writing - the "pre-emptive scenario"! - NFK has identified current
or likely ways that U.S. policymakers are( or could be) working to undermine our nuclear
freedom. On the basis of documented experience elsewhere, as well as events or
processes relevant to the NZ scene, we have warned in our pre-emptive scenarios of the
likely trends, and the apparent strategies and tactics of manipulation. The purpose has
been to pre-empt possible subversion by exposing the elements of such actions.

Once again, we sound the alarm. In the situation in which NZ is today, however,
conditions are more diffuse, complex and fluid. Research, under an academic guise, can
serve the function of prpviding U.S. policymakers with useful information for targeting
vulnerable and pliable points. For instance, we have noted a lot of interest shown by U.S.
researchers in the operations and impact of the NZ media. With our country's U.S.­
inspired "free" market, the growing penetration by American media gives an indication of
just how much our national identity is going to be under assault in the years to come.

Economic Structures and Relations

I n its conclusion, the Project Study goes on to call for "more focused research" on the
"extent, dynamics, and effects of economic integration through trade and investment flows.
including the balance of gains and losses between the smaller and larger partners in such
exchanges". It all sounds eminently reasonable and benign but a hidden C.s. agenda is
also eminently reasonable. Various media, along with NFK and other
observers/researchers, have monitored U.S. machinations on nuclear politics for roughly a
decade.

Emerging e c onomic problems will be far more difficult to cope with for all involved. Sir
Frank Holmes is producing a report, in conjunction with a NZ Ministry of External
Relations and Trade official, which looks at the implications of a failed Uruguay Round of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) for N.Z. The government is
worried, rightly enough, that if the GATT negotiations collapse, N.Z. could he caught in
the cross-fire of a trade war among the three big blocs of world trade - Europe, North
America, and the Japanese sphere.
In particular, the Holmes study looks at the poss ibility of N.Z. joining the North America
Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA). Currently, the US. and Canada are joined together in
a treaty partnership and seeking to include Mexico. Yet again, we draw attention to the
proposal of the far-right Heritage Foundation that the US. administration offer N.Z.
membership of a free trade agreement as a way of getting us back fully in the ANZUS
alliance. As already indicated, CER is a back door to this anyway.

The Report observes:"There has been some discussion, particularly in New Zealand, of
the possibility of linking CER with the U.S.-Canada arrangement or a North American or
North Pacific free trade area, but so far there is no consensus on either the desirability or
the feasibility of such moves."

Even if an open move towards NAFTA may be some way off yet, "With the expansion of
the bilateral economic relationships, the major questions for the future involve the
consequences of growing economic interdependence for other policy areas and for the
broader relations between the three countries." Indeed!

What then will be the "mechanisms" for managing economic relations among the three? It
is worth noting in these days of rising multinational power and big business influences that,
"Stronger interconnections between[sic] private economic interests in the three countries
also open up new possibilities for direct access to the domestic decision-making processes
of each country, possibilities that did not exist previously to a similar degree or at least
would not have been as politically acceptable.' A most revealing observation to be sure !

Most importantly, the Report cites "fears of foreign takeovers of domestic industries" as
an example of "the areas where the more fluid international economic system has
increased domestic political sensitivities. These will be continuously difficult problems for
the political and governmental institutions of all three countries to deal with.' So the
Report identifies concern about the loss of national economic sovereignty as a problem
requiring sensitive management.

Global trade wars would greatly accentuate competition among the ANZUS member
countries. At the same time, ironically again, the Report sees a successful GATT Round
as increasing international competitive pressures. The potential volatility ahead for
economic relations ensures greater joint efforts to try and regulate them.

More than ever then, the peace movement must endeavour to help sustain our sovereign
independence. At the same time, it should help achieve increased economic self­
sufficiency.

Regional Policies

The Report is blatantly misleading when it states that:"Although the New Zealand
government continues to support the A1\fZUS alliance, since the break with the United
States its alliance relations neccessarily involve only co-0r,eration with Australia." And,
further:"Since the break, almost all defence co-operation ' has been suspended by the U.S.
It is true that the co-operation is very one-sided - we continue to act as lacky! "PR" and
others have documented the extensive defence and intelligence ties still operative.

There is certainly American resistance to giving any credit to the N.Z. peace movement
for getting us out of a fully operative ANZUS. According to the Report:"lt has not been
the critique but rather the broader evolution in the context that has been the primary
force in bringing about the change in the importance and role of the alliance."

All three countries are expected to continue to be supporters of the Asia-Pacific

Economic Co-operation Initiative(APEC). One would have to agree with the Report's
stated assessment here that APEC seems unlikely to be able to establish enough common
ground for a regional free trade zone. Certainly, this must be the case in comparison with
NAFTA and other less comprehensive groupings. APEC will probably serve rather as a
forum for consultation l.lnd the exchange of views. Nevertheless, it may function, too, as a
framework of sorts for US.-Japanese imperial designs.
26

Whereas the Report is coy about American covert enthusiasm for APEC, there is
evidence pointing to the role of the U.S. as the real instigator of APEC, rather than
Australia. I n this connection, it is telling that it was Australia which organized the Cairns
free trade group in the GATT. The hidden U.S. diplomatic hand has been similarly
discerned behind the formation of this group. Aotearoa/N.Z. must be wary of the Trojan
Horse inherent in too much CER!

Management of Evolving Relationships

A very self-defensive tone arises in the Report regarding its use of the term
"management". It observes that: "ln some circles, the concept of 'management' of
international relationships seems to have acquired sinister overtones - almost synonymous
with 'malevolent manipulation'." Avowedly, the Report eschews the use of the term in this
sense. Instead, it claims to apply "management", with reference to "those who work with
intergovernmental relations", in a much more benign sense.

The Report is eager to dispel any notion that there is "an American desire to manipulate
the domestic political affairs of the ally( an image that many on the left of the labour
parties were only too ready to believe)". I nstead, with the "reduced importance of security
issues in the new circumstances", we can have a "more careful and sophisticated" set of
relations. "Competing domestic pressures" are seen as a challenge to such a regime.

Australia's pliability to U.S. pressure to accommodate U.S. defence facilities is compared

with the situation in Aotearoa/NZ. Note is taken that, "In a harbinger of future
developments, nationalistic resistance in New Zealand blocked the establishment of
comparable new installations on its soil, and thus the U.S.-New Zealand relationship was
not required to make similar adjustments." So nationalistic resistance is seen darkly as "a
harbinger of future developments"! But the Report points out, on the other hand, "that
New Zealand's defence forces are now more integrated with - and dependent on - those of
Australia than would otherwise have been the case".(i.e. without the ANZUS split!).

A Final C o mment

Of course, a Report like that of the East-West Centre can be significant for what it does
not say. It can also be highly misleading in places. What this summary Report does have
to say, however, is worth noting carefully. It should be observed that the results of each
phase of the Project are being incorporated in separately published volumes: ( 1 ) social and
political changes; (2) economic structures and relationships; and (3) evolving regional
policies. These reports could prove useful to nuclear free activists!

Nuclear Free Kiwis

 27

Peace Researcher Contents

Numbers 21 to 32 inclusive

No. 21. December 1988

•• National Security Agency Head visited New Zealand - Why?

. .. The watch over Lyttelton: U.S. Naval Control of Shipping. by Bob Leonard
.... Chilling quotes from the past
.... Hawke signs up USA for ten more years at Pine Gap and Nurrungar
... Project Magnet at Harewood again. by Bob Leonard
.. Starlifter avoids New Zealand - Let's make it a habit

No. 22. March 1989

.... Government and multinationals promote the militarization of New Zealand.

by Nuclear Free Kiwis
New frigates - sailing to oblivion. by PR staff
U .S. media pulls strings in frigates debate. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
PACDAC gives grant to Peace Researcher
Comment on: The Armed Forces of New Zealand and the ANZUS Split.
by Dennis Small and Bob Leonard
ABC delegation visits Black Birch Observatory. by Bob Leonard
America invaded: four convicted in Christchurch court. reported by ABC Chch
British worried about nuclear weapons in Starlifters
Big Brother is watching you
Costs of the campaign - Harewood Trial Appeal

No. 23. June 1989

Does New Zealand want an anus industry?

A proposal for the entrenchment of portions of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone,
Disarmament and Anus Control Act (1987). by Barbara Leonard
.... New Zealand economy target of US subversion. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
.... Creation of chaos: scenario for the Lange Government? by Nuclear Free Kiwis
... Swinging currencies, moods and governments. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
.. "Robie target of vendetta"
.. .. Monitoting subversion: Notes. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
1. The academic connection
U. National's ClA-backed election campaign
m. Wellington Pacific Report - a prime source of infonuation
IV. Redneele racist scare
W wopai occupied, declared open to the people. by Bob Leonard
Waihopai Flash Yanks rig spy dish on tower
-

Obituary - Murray HoTton' s back fence

Book Review: On the run by Philip Agee. reviewed by Murray HoTton

No. 24. September 1989

Starlifter complaint fails with Ombudsman. by Bob Leonard

Harewood Trial Appeal - a complete success
Explosives loaded on ski-Hercules at airport. by Bob Leonard
The NYANG-Hercs are back
28

•• Bungling incompetence - not a good time for the ministry

"* Independence from America Day - 4 July 1989. by Bob Leonard
** Waihopai - who flung dung?
•• Peace Researcher comment: Frigate fratricide - Buying into the
Military/Industrial Complex
Book Review: Toward a world ofpeace - people create alternatives
edited by leannette P. Maas and Robert A.c. Stewart. reviewed by
Richard W. Keller
Soviet signais intelligence by Desmond Ball - a note
Lawsuit rued on Launch-on-Warning
The lran/Contra Affair - The continuing trial - by Bob Leonard

No. 25. November 1989

Special Issue: Deep Freeze documents reveal American/New Zealand sovereignty

struggle at Harewood. by Murray Horton

No. 26. March 1990

** Military research in Antarctica: Shaking out the truth. by Bob Leonard

.. Spot-on with Doris. by Owen Wllkes
$. Radford-Collins Agreement still in effect. by Peter Wills and Bob Leonard
.. The Mont Pelerin Society in Christchurch. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
•• The 'Moody' New Zealand economy. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
•• NED: Quasi-Covert Action. from Covert Action Information Bulletin
.. Comment by Nuclear Free Kiwis (on NED)
•• Book Review: Oyster - The story ofthe Australian Secret Intelligence Service
by Brian Toohey and Williarn Pinwill. reviewed by Murray Horton
** Deep Freeze documents revealed at Christchurch press conference. by Bob Leonard
.. .. ' Project Magnet' - The neverending military story. by Bob Leonard

No. 27. June 1990

.. .. Special Article: -The failed struggle by NZ civilian workers for union rights
at Operation Deep Freeze. by Murray Horton
Peace Researcher comment: Nuclear ships under a National government.
by Bob Leonard
.. The nuclear ships issue in Tasmania
.. .. The Black Birch astrometric programme. by Peter Wills
.... Layoffs hit Draper Laboratory
.. Cooptation of NZ academia continues. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
... East-West Center probes A-NZ-US relations. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
.... NZ war industry booming? by Nuclear Free Kiwis
** Book Review: Blood on their banner - nationalist struggles in the South Pacific
by David Robie. reviewed by Murray Horton
.. .. L.O.O.T. available - a new journal of media criticism
.. .. TOUching the Bases Tour - November 17-25. 1990

No. 29. February 1991

•• National. nuclear ships and ANWS. by PR staff

.. The Gulf crisis and Aotearca. by Bob Leonard
... Book Review: Resisting the Serpent: Palau's struggle for self-determination
 29
by Robert Aldridge alld Ched Myers. reviewed by Bob Leonard
•• of Indonesian bloodbath some US-NZ collllections .
Western media -

by Dennis Small and Bob Leonard

... Big Brother blacklists Kiwis. by Nuclear Free Kiwis
.. Linking, learning and levitation - a report on the Anti-Bases Campaign
Touching the Bases Tour. by a witness
Is Antarctica by Alan Hemmings - a note

No. 30. December 1991

.. .. Exercise Lawman VI - whose terrorism? by PR staff

•• Exercise Lawman VI - Scenario outline. by police officers
•• Peace Researcher comment on Exercise Lawman VI
... Notes for the paranoid; Sydenham bombing; Gangs and 'urban terrorism ' ;
Keeping track of the dissidents; 'Gulf War' over the Lees Valley oil fields; The alien watch
over Lynelton. by PR staff
Israel's bomb: Did New Zealand join ill a cover-up? by Bob Leonard
The ANZAC Frigates; Just Defence fires a salvo
Nuclear-powered warships - The keys to the ANZUS lockout
U.S. flight data: Ghost 'Litters. by Bob Leonard
Starlifter visits observed at Christchurch Airport. by Bob Leonard

No. :n. March 1992

Aitemative Committee on Nuclear Ship Visits: Press release and membership

Terms of reference - Aitcmative Committee
Terms of reference - Government Committee
Why have an Alternative Committee?
The lOOth Monkey Project to Stop Nuclear Testing
Book review: Desert mirage: The true story of the Gulf War by Martin Yant.
reviewed by Dick Keller
The media and Gulf War: Some alternative views, from L.O.O.T.
"Free trade" and nuclear freedom
Operation Deep Freeze - An open and shut case, mostly shut. by Bob Leonard
Appeal for flight data up in the air

No. 32. August 1992

$$ Report: l OOth Monkey Project to Stop Nuclear Testing in Nevada. by Bob Leonard
•• Introduction to the Intelligence articles. Editors
•• British Intelligence: covert operations. Granada TV transcript, UK
*. Electronic spying - implications for New Zealand. by Warren Thomson
$$ The signals intelligence agencies
....
U .S.1.S. - The Press bemoans loss of a propaganda centre.
by Nuclear Free Kiwis
...
Studying for suppression? - A critical review of an ANZUS project. by Nuclear Free Kiwis

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30 ----"
--- - - -"�-"

" Underground" Nuclear Tests

Anything but safe!

A large display board, entitled "Health and Environment", at the Las Vegas prorest
action contained two striking colour photographs with thefollowing captions:

Beneath a photo of an immense plume of dust and water vapour rising thousands of metres into
the air -

" A 1979 underground nuclear weapons test, code named Banebury, vented huge
It
amounts of radioactive material which was detected as far away as Canada.

Beneath an aerial oblique photo of a portion of the Nevada underground test site -

"Underground nuclear tests have left the fragile Great Basin desert scarred with
massive craters. Photo: Department of Energy, declassified."

Text accompanying the photos:

One ot'the most pervasive beliefs about the U.S. nuclear weapons testing program is that
the hazards ended when the Limited Test Ban Treaty took effect in 1%3 and testing went
underground.

The most complete independent study to date by the Nobel prize Winning International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War concluded:

" ...environmental problems were not solved by moving testing underground. Rather, the
problems were only shifted out of site and the main risk was transferred to future generations.
Underground testing is leaving behind large quantities of long-lived radioactive materials at
test sites around the world. In essence, this testing has created and is continuing to create
unstudied, uncharacterized, and unlicensed nuclear dumps for high level nuclear wastes."

"At the Nevada test site alone there are large residues of plutonium 239, a radioactive toxin
with a half-life of 24,000 years. The total amount of this deadly material at the Nevada test site
approximates 1 10,000 curies, about four times the total quantity of plutonium in all 51 high
level waste tanks from three decades of plutOnium production at the U.S. government's
Savannah River Plant in South Carolina. In addition, almost 3 million curies of strontium-90
and over 4 million curies of cesium-137, as well as other long-lived radionuclides, remain as
the radioactive legacy of underground testing."

A decade ago, Colonel Raymond E. Brim, former Chief of Operations for the Air Force
Technical Applications Center, which is responsible for monitoring off site fallout from
underground detonations, stated " Americans were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation from
'safe' underground tests all through the 1960's and 70's and remain in danger today" .

The Nevada Test Site is at the heart of the Department of Energy's vast complex of nuclear
weapons facilities. The toxic and radioactive by-products of the complex are contaminating
America's air, groundwater and soil with the most deadly long-lived toxins on Earth.