RAF Menwith Hill - Its purpose
Menwith Hill is the largest electronic monitoring station in the world. It is run by the US National Security Agency (NSA), which monitors the world's communication for US intelligence. Menwith Hill employs 1,200 US civilians and servicemen to work around the clock inside "hardened" buildings intercepting and analysing communications mainly from Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Until a few years ago, the existence of the NSA was a secret and its charter and any mention of its duties are still classified. But, it does have a Web site, in which it describes itself as being responsible for the signals intelligence and communications security activities of the US government.
All telecommunications traffic to and from Europe and passing through Britain is intercepted at the base, including private telephone calls, faxes, emails and other communications. Much of the information is collected, processed and relayed back to the United States automatically. A great deal of this information comes from spy satellites and the base has a number of large white golfballs or "radomes" containing satellite receiving dishes. |
