PEACE

P.O. Box 2
'SEARC
Lincoln College
incorporatln�
Canterbury NZ

February 1988 no. 11 Newsletter of Citizens for the Demilitarisation of Harewood

WAIHOPAI
Satell ite Spy Base
Inside this issue:

'OF, BASE' takes a detailed look behind the

secrecy surrounding the proposed new signals
intelligence' ltation near Blenheim.
)

NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION
AT WAIHOPAI: FEB 20-21

For details see back page

Satellite eavesdropping dish at U.S. National

Security Agency's Menwith Hill station in�
Britain. The Waihopai dish will look like this
but will not be as large.

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agreements.
 BACKGROUNDER ON WAIHOPAI SATELLITE SPY BASE

by Owen Wilkes

On 2 December the Prime Minister admitted that what he called a Defence

satellite communication station was to be built in the Waihopai Valley near
Blenheim. The �overnment had not intended making any announcement, but the
issue was forced into the open by Doug Kidd, National MP for Marlborough, who
violated the conf identiality of a briefing he had received from the
}overnment.

The PM's 1.5 page statement was not very informative. It opened by
noting that "for years there has been concern about our dependence on others
for intelligence -- on being hooked up to the network of others and all that
implies". "It was vitally important, " he continued, "that we have our own
means of knowing what is going on in our own region To further our own
• . . .

intelligence capabilities a defence sate.llite communication station will be

constructed in the Waihopai Valley Construction will begin in 1988 and the
• . • •

station is expected to be operational. In 1989. The station will be staffed

and operated by the �overnment Communications Security Bureau (CCSB) . It will
be wholly New Zealand owned and controlled." The PM would not "disclose any
f urther details because to do 80 would compromise the objectives of the
project... ".

This ien t quite the first mention of satellite spying. Back in March
the "Auckland Herald" wrote that

The :lovernment has been considering whether New Zealand should join in
satellite surveillance for intelligence gathering in the Pacific, the Prime
Minister, Mr Lange, said yesterday. However, no decision had yet been
made, he said The Minister of Defence, Mr O'Flynn. said last week that
• .

consideration had been given to joining some sort of satellite

surveillance .. " [Mr Lange J would not comment on which other countries
could be involved in joining any satellite surveillance with New Zealand.
(3 March, "Satellite in the air")

No-one took any notice of the news item at the time; obviously we should
have. The words used by the 'Herald' are very revealing - whether New Zealand
should join in • intelligence gathering in the Pacific ... joining some sort
. .

? f sate � lite surveillance Whatever it was that Lange and O'Flynn said, the
. . . •

Herald reporter seems to have got the impression that New Zealand was
joining someone else'8 operation rather than starting its own operation. More
on this la ter •

Apart from the above there has been one important further release of
information. The retiring director of :leSB, Colin Hanson, spoke to a meeting
of concerned local residents on 26 January. He didn"t realise there was a
reporter present, and the next morning he was quoted at length in two articles
in the 'Marlborough Express".

Delta Station at Waihopai

According to Lange the Waihopai installation will consist of "a satellite

dish• an operations building and workshop and the usual security fences".
. •

Mr Hanson told the locals the dish would be IBm in diameter and would be
mounted on a six metre concrete pedestal. '1 Aesthetically I think it's a
disaster, " he admitted, "but they tell me that it blends with the
surroundings. " Construction will begin this February and it is hoped the
facility will be fully operational by July 1989. Because of the rate at which
the world's communications were being shifted over to satellites "in all
probability there will be another dish". There would be no golfball-like
radome covering the dish so anyone would be able to guess which satellites the
north-facing dish was pointed at.

A building at the site would contain computers but all the intelligence
would be fed straight through to computers in Wellington for analysis. ('Off
Base' understands that a special microwave data link is planned from a
mountain top near Waihopai across Cook Strait to Tinakori Hill behind the
Ministry of defence's Freyberg Building. The Freyberg. also known as
'Spyberg' houses the GCSB on its top three floors.)

About 30 staff will run the Waihopai facility in shifts on a 24 hour

basis. The facility will be called Delta after seven Delta military camps
located in Marlborough in World War 11. Hanson stressed how New Zealand had
been engaged in signals intelligence since 1937, and Delta would be carrying
on a Marlborough tradition - there had been two listening posts there during
World War 11, listening respectively to Japanese naval and �erman radio.

Functions of Waihopai

Mr Lange was rather coy about what exactly Waihopai would be doing but he
did note that the functions of GCSB include the collection of foreign S ignals
intelligence. Signals intelligence, or 'sigint', is of course a euphemism for
electronic eavesdropping. M r Hanson was much more explicit. Not only had New
Zealand been intercepting other nation's communications since 1937, Tangimoana
had been built for just that. However since the bulk of communications were
now being shifted to satellites It was necessary to build a new station to
intercept all communications going by satellite. So Mr Hanson made clear what
Lange did not - Waihopai is not a ground station for receiving data from US or
other spy satellites - it is itself a spy station, eavesdropping on
communication satellites.

Several things suggest Waihopai will be listening to the faint signals of

distant satellites not beamed towards Aotearoa, rather than to some satellite
booming in loud and clear all over the Pacific. Both Lange and Hanson
stressed that the Waihopai site was chosen because the surrounding hills and
lack of industry made it electronically quiet - there will be no radio
interference from arc welders or electric fences to drown out weak signals.
Both said the dry climate was a factor -- and heavy rain can interfere with
faint satellite signals, especially if the satellite is low down on the
horizon. And the dish will not be concealed from prying eyes with a radome
because, says Mr Hanson, such domes also impair the effectiveness of the
antenna. Mr Hanson also said the dish would track "faint distant signalS".

Which satellites?

It is clear that Waihopai will be listening to 'geosynchronous'

satellites - - those which aparently hover at about 36, 000 km above the
equator, rather than the low orbit satellites which whizz round the globe
every 90 minutes or so. Most communication satellites are geosynchronous.
Because satellite signals travel in straight lines and because of the
curvature of the earth Waihopai will be limited to monitoring satellites
between about 11g0E (the Celebes) and 131° W (French Polynesia) . There are
several satellites alrady in this sector, and 78 orbital "slots have been
reserved in it, according to a 1985 list published by the International
Telecommunications Union.

The Russians have at least four satellites Waihopai could listen to.
There is a Jorizont satellite at 1400 E for TV relay and for communications
with Mongolia, Vietnam and North Korea. There is a Raduga satellite at 128"E
for domestic communications and a Volna satellite for communicating with
merchant shipping. At lSO·W, over the Cook Islands, there is a Cosmos
satellite used for relaying communications with "manned" space stations while
they are orbiting over the Pacific.

Also within Waihopai"s reach are Chinese, Indonesian, Australian, several

US military, and �rench satellites. At this stage we can only guess which
satellites will be listened to. It seems unlikely that we will be listening
to Soviet satellites. The great bulk of their communications are carried by
Molniya satellites which are not in geosynchronous orbits and which are not
receivable this far South. The satellites we could listen to would not be
carrying anything very relevant to our interests - we don"t want to watch
Russian TV, listen to domestic phone calls, intercept their links with
Mongolia, or listen to orbiting cosmonauts. The US is undoubtedly interested
in all these things, but they have far bigger and better facilities of their
own in Australia, Japan, Hawaii and so on, so they don"t need help from our
�CSB.

It would be nice to think that 3CSB was going to eavesdrop on US military

satellites or the �rench satellite, But it seems unlikely. Neither the US
nor �rance would tolerate it. The US would not sell uS the computer for it if
they thought there was a tiny chance we were going to spy on the US or its
close ally �rance (and Mr Hanson has said that the computers will probably
come from the US) .

Apart from US reactions, there seems little point in us listening to

Indonesian, Chinese, or Japanese satellites - there would be precious little
of interest in a deluge of information that would be impossible for US to
analyse.

Whatever satellites GCSB listens to it is unlikely they will be able to

understand all the really interesting military or diplomatic stuff. It is now
all routinely encrypted, and modern encrypting techniques are almost
completely unbreakable, both in theory and practice. The US electronic
eavesdropping organisation, the National Security Agency (NSA) , has gigantic
computers, employs thousands, and spends billions to try and crack the codes
of other countries. 3CSB would be completely out of its depth, unless it was
collaborating very intimately with the NSA.

In the light of all this it seems most likely that Waihopai will be
eavesdropping on the international Intelsat system used for most of the
world"s telephone, telex and fax communications. There are 5 Intelsat
satellites over the Pacific, capable of carrying up to 12, 000 telephone calls
Simultaneously. Aotearoa has ground stations at Warkworth, Mt Crawford and
Rangiora. All the Pacific Island nations now have terminals for international
links and many are building terminals for inter-island links. Waihopai will
be able to record phone conversations and telexes from all of them.

This does not mean that Waihopai will give us early warning of such
events as Colonel Rabuka's next coup, the US Embassy"s next destabilisation
 5

operation against the NZ 30vernment, or Alain Mafart"s next nominal

tummy-ache. Such important diplomatic and military information will
undoubtedly be sent in unbreakable code, or sent by more secure means such as
diplomatic pouch or seabed cable. What the GCSB is much more likely to be
listening to are ordinary business and private calls. GCSB will be able to
listen to Susanna Ounei in Kanaky calling David Small in Aotearoa, Belau
anti-nuclear activists talking with UN officials in New York, Fiji trade
unionists talking with their counterparts in the CTU, and so on.

There will be all sorts of interesting stuff amongst the business

traffic. In particular there are airline passenger manifests which are
telexed ahead of each aircraft to the aircraft"s destination. This will allow
the spooks to keep track of everyone moving round the Pacific. They will know
when Ken Douglas is due back in Wellington. They may even be able to monitor
airline booking computers, so that GCSB can warn ASIO how many Kiwi activists
are going to the next Pine Gap demo, which Kiwi activists are going on a
fact-finding mission to Kanaky. (A large US spy base in Iraklion in 3reece
monitors all airline manifests in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and North
America according to the "New York Times', 5 Sept 1980).

What is incredible about all this is that the SIS has to apply to a court
for a warrant to tap someone"s phone in Aotearoa, but GCSB can listen to
thousands of phone calls in and out of Aotearoa every day, and they don"t have
to ask anyone"s permission, and they don"t even need cooperation from Telecom.
According to the "Marlborough Express" Mr Hanson "gave an assurance it would
not be used to intercept the communications of New Zealanders. This is hard
to believe. It may not be "used' to intercept New Zealanders, but what say
they tune into an Intelsat beam and it just happens that about 20% of the
conversations have a Kiwi accent at one end?

Is it a purely Kiwi operation?

Mr Lange has said that the station "will not play a communication role
for any other country". This is true since the station has no communication
role at all - its role is Sigint. Mr Hanson has admitted that the computers
may be coming from the US but added that this does not imply involvement with
the US 30vernment. In fact there is much evidence that Waihopai will be
supplying data to the US, and that it will be operated as part of a joint
Australia-NZ operation. Some of the evidence is as follows --

1) We know already that GCSB cooperates closely with the Australian Defence
Signals Directorate (DSD) in the operation of Tangimoana, and that Tangimoana
data is forwarded via DSD to the US -- to the NSA and to the US Navy.

2) Australia announced last March that the DSD was to build a similar but
bigger satellite intercept station at Geraldton in West Australia. The fact
that they are building it so far West to intercept satellites over the Indian
Ocean suggests that they have already come to an arrangement with GCSB to
monitor satellites over the Pacific beyond the range of Geraldton.

3) There were hints of a link between 3eraldton and New Zealand back in
March. Frank Cranston, defence reporter for the Canberra Times, wrote in
"Jane"s Defence Weekly" that "According to reliable sources there might also
be some New Zealand input into the Geraldton base• •New Zealand will become
• •

privy to much of the information processed through the Geraldton

establishment"•
6

4) It is unlikely that the US would allow export of the sophisticated

computers unless it had really tight control, to say the least, over how they
were used. According to �rank Cranston the IBM installation for Jeraldtor "is
believed to be one of only four which the US Government permitted to be
expoted, two others having gone to NATO and one to Japan". Presumably we get
one in the next lower price range.

5) Australian Minister of defence Kim Beazley has hinted that the Geraldton
station will supply data to the US. Quoted in the 'Melbourne Age', 26 March
1937, and referring to Geraldton he said "• we have a very extensive,
• •

intensive, deep and detailed exchange of information with the US that will
continue.. .".

S) There are the remarks attributed to Lange and O'�lynn in the ' Herald'
article quoted earlier. There was also a remarkable report by Agence ,rance
Press' printed in the rightwing 'Australian' on 7 December 1937. According to
the �rench report "Mr Lange's spokesman said intelligence gathered by the New
Zealand satellite station would be routinely provided to Western intel:igence
agencies including those of the US". This report has been strenuously denied
by the PM's press secretary, Ross Vintner. 'Off Base' has however spoken with
A'P's Wellington stringer, and he is equally adamant that this is what he was
told.

7) 'Off Base has also been told by a confidential Wellington source that New
Zealand had been under "strong pressure" from overseas to build Waihopai.

Why does the US need Waihopai?

At first glance it is hard to see why the massive NSA, with a global
network of its own facilities, needs the modest contribution of an IBm dish in
Aotearoa. The NSA is already listening to Intelsat from a number of
installations, including Menwith Hill in Britain (see cover illustration) ,
Iraklion in Greece, and probably Pine Gap in Australia. It has big antennas
at Yakima, in Washington state, and Sugar Grove in Virginia. All this has
been documented by James Bamford in a blockbuster expose of the NSA called
'The Puzzle Palace' •

Probably the big advantage to the NSA of having Waihopai is that it puts
local expertise and knowledge at the disposal of the US, One can imagine that
local 1CSB analysts sitting in Wellington will be far better at remembering
and picking out significant personal names, at correctly hearing place names,
at understanding Pacific accents and languages, at understanding the
significance of an island conversation. Imagine how difficult it would be for
a bored analyst in, say, �ort Meade in Maryland, to remember who Ken Douglas
is, or who Susanna Ounei is, and so on. In Maryland it would be hard to
remember whether Apia is the capital of Tonga or Samoa, whether Vanuatu is on
our side or theirs, etc. It would be far better to let the Kiwis sort out all
that, and just send over the daily summaries.

What will it cost?

There has been much speculation about cost. There was a figure of $100
million being tossed around, but that is much too high. It originated with
�rank Cranston, when he was being interviewed by 'Morning Report', and he
produced the figure off the top of his head. Some clever scrutiny of budget
documents plus some loose tongues in Canberra suggest that the 1eraldton
 7

station will cost about A$238 million. But Geraldton will have four dishes
and Waihopai will initially have only one. So Waihopai's cost may be one
quarter that of Geraldton, i.e.o about NZ$60 million. But that is probably
the maximum. Telecom have built 18m dishes at Mt Crawford (Wellington) and
Rangiora (Christchurch) for $7 million each, and DSIR is going to build a
Landsat/sPOT terminal at Otaki for $10 million. Assuming that military gear
always costs much more than commercial gear bought in a competitive market,
and given that military gear is usually much more sophisticated and more
idiot-proofed, and given that there will be much more sophisticated computers
at Waihopai, it would be safe to double the price of the Otaki installation
for sophistication etc., and add on $5 million for computers, and suggest that
Waihopai will cost $25 million. At this stage it is impossible even to guess
what the extra analysis facilities at 'Spyberg' in Wellington will cost.

Whether all this will be paid for by us is still an open question. It

may be that the US taxpayer will pay. The Norwegian Government, for example,
is believed to run a similar facility at Fauske with all expenses paid by the
US.

Eventually Waihopai will probably acquire a second antenna. Mr Hanson

said: "If we are going to stay in the game then in all probability there will
be another dish." And so it goes on.

Will it make us more self-reliant?

Mr Lange has stressed self-reliance and the need for a "means of knowing
what is going on in our own region". This initially sounds quite appealing to
those of us who want to see the end of the ANZUS cringe, the end of the
junior-ally mentality. National party spokespeople have tried to interpret it
as a fearful indication of the tragic consequences of sabotaging the cosy
ANZUS intelligence relationship. In fact, as already shown above, Waihopai is
more probably an indication that intelligence cooperation with the US is
thriving better than ever before. ANZUS may be dead (although that is
arguable) but UKUSA, the intelligence collaboration agreement, is still very
much alive.

Mr Lange's rhetoric about self-reliance starts to seem even more hollow

when we look at the timing. Waihopai isn-t something dreamed up since the
last election. Way back in late 1984 GCSB was experimenting in satellite
reception with a couple of old microwave dishes at Tangimoana. This was
probably to test reception in order to determine design parameters for what is
now to become the Waihopai facility (Mr Hanson said they couldn't build the
dish at Tangimoana because the sandy subsoil there would not support the
antenna pedestal). That was well before the ANZUS crisis broke out in
January-February 1985, and well before US petulance over the USS Buchanan
refusal forced the Lange government to start bravely proclaiming
self-reliance. It is also worth noting that exactly the same blather about
self reliance has been used in Australia to justify Geraldton, and there is
certainly no argument about whether Australia has a cosy on-going ANUS (Austr,
aNd US) relationship.

We must sadly abandon the attractive idea that Waihopai is an expression

of post-ANZUS independence.

Why the secrecy? Is it legal?

The :iovernment has kept this secret for over three years, and is still
saying very little. Mr Hanson has refused to say which satellites will be
targeted because if the -opposition- got to know their satellites were being
listened to they will make those satellites more secure, we would lose targets
and lose intelligence. This is an interesting admission that GCSB will be
listening to uncoded communications, but is otherwise rubbish. Once the
station starts operating, anyone with a theodolite will be free to measure the
dish orientation and state precisely which satellite it is pointed at.
Because their beams tend to interfere with each other, satellites have to oe
located at least 2 degrees apart. Mr Hanson says people are welcome tc lOOk
at Waihopai and guess which satellite it was pointed at, but they would
probably be wrong. This is just wishful thinking. The guts of the matter is
that it will be possible to determine which satellite in being monitored, and
the ostensible justification for secrecy is invalid. The real reason for the
secrecy is that the �overnment can't admit that it is doing what everyone wil:
soon know it is doing. Imagine the uproar from Pacific Island countries if
Oavid Lange admitted that his government was eavesdropping on all their phone
calls!

What will be done at Waihopai is also illegal. The fact that everyone
doe� it is no excuse. You do it, everyone knows YOU are doing it, but you
don t admit you are doing it. According to the International
Telecommunications Convention, administered by the International
Telecommunications Union, which New Zealand signed in Nairobi in 1982,
"Members agree to take all possible measures, compatible with the system of
telecommunication used, with a view to assuring the secrecy" of inter'la tional
telecommunications (Article 22).

Do we want Waihopai?

The peace movement is mostly agreed about the undesirability of

Tangimoana. Tangimoana amongst other things is contributing to targeting of
US naval weapons. There is no question of Waihopai doing this. It is not
part of any nuclear war system.

Yet in some ways Waihopai is worse. Tangimoana is a least eavesdropping

on military operations - ships and aircraft, and maybe submarines. If there
were a Soviet submarine snooping round Aotearoa, Tangimoana might detect it.
But Waihopai doesn't even have the justification of spying on other nations'
aggressive military activities. It will be spying on ordinary people, people
who are trying to bring independence to their own countries, people who are
campaigning for a nuclear-free Pacific. It will listen to microstates trying
to negotiate with superpowers, grassroots businesses that are trying to fend
off multinational takeovers. Tangimoana implicates us in nuclear war
preparations. Waihopai implicates us in undermining the privacy, security,
independence and sovereignty of our neighbours in the South Pacific.

The short answer is NO, we don't want the Waihopai spy base.

NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS:
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 DEW LINE HERCULES VISIT DEEP FREEZE AND THE ICE

Ski-equipped Hercules aircraft are used in only two places, Antarctica

and 1reenland. The New York Air National }uard (ANG), a 'state military'
outfit, owns four of the special craft and since 1975 has supplied the
'Distant Early Warning' (DEW) radar line in Jreenland. (The DEW line is
linked to the NORAD Command in Colorado and would provide early warning of a
ballistic missile attack over the polar region.) Two of the ANG Hercules
appeared in Christchurch on 16 January, coincidentally on the same day as the
newly recovered Hercules JD 321 (see companion article in this issue).

NEW YORK AIR NATIONAL GUARD SKI-HERCULES

Locals received only two days notice of the impending arrival of the
military Hercules ('The Press' . 14/1/88). US Air Force spokesman, Major
Robert Sevin, was careful to state in the finest of doublespeak that "the
flight(s) did not mean a stepped up military presence in the Antarctic". Only
one Hercules was to visit Christchurch and Antarctica to "test the snow at the
other end of the globe". Crew familiarization was the reason for the visit.
There was no mention of helping the Navy at Operation Deep Freeze.

The planes parked some distance from Deep Freeze but were serviced by Air
Force personnel and equipment. At the time we visited on the Saturday evening
they were not in a position to be loaded with Deep Freeze gear. We assume
their departure for the Ice was on Sunday,

CDH complained in a news release the same day the planes - not one but
two - arrived: We said we "strongly protest this blatant U. S. military use of
Operation Deep Freeze facilities and Antarctica. Bob Leonard, spokesman for
CDH, said the training flight is purely for military purposes and violates the
spirit" if not the letter of the Antarctic Treaty. The Treaty prohibits all
military use of Antarctica except in support of civilian activities such as
research and exploration, Major Sevin, U.S. Air Force spokesman, has had to
resort to doublespeak in a transparent attempt to deflect attention from this
violation"•

"Technically, the Hercules are not owned by the Air Force, but in time of
national emergency they become part of the USAF Military Airlift Command (who
own and operate the Starlifters at Deep f'reeze) tactical airlift force. "

Our release was carried in The Press along with a photo of the two
aircraft. That was on Monday the 19th. About a week later a front-page story
in the same newspaper, with the headline "Plane returning?", repeated our
concerns and quoted the new man at the local usrs office, Mr Karl stoltz.
Stoltz said the 109th Tactical Airlift :}roup' s "presence in the South Island
10
was purely peaceful". And they· liked it here so much they may return next
year. Since our complaint had stripped the 'non-military' veil from round the
camouflaged bodies, Mr Stoltz revealed some new reasons why the planes were
here: "They went to Antarctica to train with and support the United States
Navy Antarctic Development Squadron eVXE-6) of the United States Antarctic
Program, which is administerd by the National Science Foundation. The 109th
assisted by transportin g people and cargo to the South Pole, Byrd surface camp
and 059 . . .. The Air National �uard Hercules were assisting at a time when
e"
there is a great demand on VXE-6 and a reduced number of aircraft availabl

The article said "the unit used the Antarctic task to exchange
information about flying under polar conditions with the navy squadron."
Stoltz continued, "The 109th hopes to return next year so that they may
benefit from further training in Antarctica".

CDH has written to the Prime Minister querying the process by which the
AN� Hercules obtained diplomatic clearance for military missions to the Ice.
We have also written to the local representative of the NSF asking whether or
not the civilian Foundation played a significant role in getting the AN}
planes to help Deep Freeze. CDH believe this is just one more prime example
of Deep Freeze providing a convenient and convincing cover for an otherwise
overtly military operation. We will have more to report if and when our
queries are addressed by Mr Lange and the Foundation.

THE TRAGIC COST OF HERCULES JD 321

by Bob Leonard

The U.S. National Science Foundation hoped to save money by salvaging a

ski-Hercules (Number Juliet Delta 321) which crashed and was abandoned on the
Ice in December 1971. Initial estimates of recovery costs in 1985 were about
US$18 million. This seemed to compare very favourably with the price of a new
Hercules, in excess of US$75 million. But as the disinterred plane finally
made its way back to Christchurch on 16 January 1988 the cost was no longer
countable in dollars, but in the loss of lives and another Hercules.

On December 9· a Hercules carrying equipment for the salvage operation

crashed on landing at the remote 059 site killing two U.S. Navy crew and
injuring 9 others. The plane was destroyed. But the salvage work on JD 321
continued until the plane was able to fly the 1200 km to McMurdo. After more
work there the plane was flown to Christchurch accompanied by a fully
instrumented Hercules. Newspaper coverage of the arrival was extensive with
prominent photos. But neither local paper reported any estimate of the money
spent to date in the rescue operation. And one paper with a front page photo
and caption, duly noting the cost of a new ski-Hercules, failed even to
mention the tragic December crash.

JD 321 will now undergo extensive overhaul at the Air New Zealand
facilities at Christchurch Airport. It will be the first U.S. Hercules
serviced under the new agreement between the National Science Foundation and
Air New Zealand. Since the Foundation is paying the monetary costs of the
salvage and refit, the restored plane will presumably have NSF title. In
1971, it was owned by the Navy and the fuselage still bears the prominent
'UNITED STATES NAVY' label.

Judging this sad episode with the benefit of hindsight may seem unfair.
But there is insight to be gained from it. Why did such a difficult salvage
operation take place at all? It seems that a seriously underfunded National
Science Foundation made a hard decision that it could save millions by having
a go at recovering the Hercules under difficult and risky conditions. But if
 n
the Navy could make the decision to abandon the plane in 1971, that decision
should have remained valid today. despite the inflated dollars involved. We
believe if the NSF and the Navy truly needed another Antarctic Hercules they
should have bought a new one and shared the cost with no physical risk to
anyone. (Or perhaps the Pentagon could have given a Hercules to the
Foundation. In 1979 the Navy gave two to the NSF at no cost whatsoever.)

As we have reported in past articles, the Navy benefits from having the
ski-Hercules effectively under their ccntrol much of the time. But all risk
and loss are being carried by the civilian agency in this sad venture. The
blame for the debacle can be laid squarely at the door of the decidedly
one-sided relationship between the NSF and the Navy: The Navy calls the
shots; the NSF pays the bills.

USIS SENDS NEW ZEALANDERS TO THE USA - THE 1987 IV} LIST

by Nuclear Free Kiwis

NFKs researchers have just received a list of 1987 International

Visitor Grant (IVG, US Fiscal Year Oct 1985-0ct 1987) recipients after a
wait of nearly a year on a Freedom of Information Act request (we had
originally asked for a list of prospective IVG candidates). We publish the
list below as an update on our article in the 'NZ Monthly Review' entitled
"The USIS and the International Visl tor 3rant Programme" (NZMR No. 295, Feb
1987, p. 12).

Why are we concerned about this US programme? The reasons bear

repeating from our NZMR article:

"In May 1986 came the neW's that the USIS had been instructed by the
President's National Security COlli,cil to lead a public relations campaign
against our nuclear-free policy. This campaign is focusing on three
aspects: the Worldnet USIS global television propaganda broadcasts and
cultivating receptivity about US policy in key people in the news media,
programming the visits to NeW' Zealand by American speakers and performers,
and facilitating the visits of New Zealanders to the United States."

Note in the new 1987 list the number of people (7 out of 25) from
media, including Mr Bruce Rennie of "The Press". Rennie had very recently
returned from his 3D-day junket when a provocative editorial appeared in
his paper. It was highly critical of two peace groups for suggesting CIA
involvement in the Honolulu loan scam and other funny business in the
neighborhood. Nuclear Free Kiwis, one of the groups involved, learned from
a reliable source that the editorial was written by Rennie. When
questioned, the editor did not deny it; he talked around it. The whole
episode was apparently a source of considerable consternation within the
hallowed halls of the 'Press' bldg.

Other interesting bits in the 1937 list include the small number of
·
women - three. Perhaps women just don t fit the USIS profile of the
promising IV�er as well as men. Judging by surnames there appear to be no
Maoris or Islanders (There were eight women, one Maori and one Indian in
1985-86 out of SI total viSitors). It appears that women, Maoris,
Islanders and peace workers do not count as desirable targets of influence
within the NZ labour, economic, and political scene. Members of the White
12
Male System get the bulk of the free trips. We were told outright by a
USIS representative that peace people are ineligible for IVQ trips.

Also notable in the list is Mr Trevor Qrice, recently retired

long-time NZ apologist for the US military at Operation Deep �reeze. His
programme agency was DRA, whatever that is. The USIA failed to decode it
for us.

The list: (name, role in society, length of stay in US, program agency',
starting date of visit)

SECKETT, Roger, Head of Personal and Indirect Tax Policy Section, Tax
Policy Division, New Zealand Treasury, 28 days, lIE, 20 Jan 1937

COLEY, John William, Director, McDougall Art Qallery, 30 days, VPS, 29

Dec 1986

DANIELL, John Kelway (Castle), Working artist, 30 days, VPS, 10 June

1987

DIXON, Bruce Richard, Prof of Management Development and Director,

Management Development Centre, Univ Waikato, Hamilton, 23 days, ORA, 31
Aug 1937

JRICE, Trevor Joseph, Executive Director, New Zealand Foundation for

Alcohol and Drug Education (FADE), 27 days, DRA, 24 May 1987

HARRISON, Robin E., Talk show host, Radio 3ZB, 30 days, VPS, 29 June
1987

HOLBOROW, Les1ie C" Vice Chancellor, Victoria Univ of Wellington, 30

days, IIE• 4 May 1987

JENNINJS, Owen R., Vice-President, Federated Farmers of NZ; Deputy

Chairman, Buller Co-op Fertilizer Co., 30 days, USDA, 3 Aug 1987

KIDD, Douglas L., M.P., 30 days, VPS, 23 Feb 1987

MCKENZIE, John M., Canterbury Regional Secretary. NZPSA, 29 days, VPS,

24 Aug 1987

MACKEY, Roger Michael (did not go because of illness), Defence reporter,

"Evening Post", ' 27 days, ORA, 14 Oct 1986

MOLLOY, Leslie F., Director, Advocacy and Extension, Dept Conservation, 23

days, VPS, 31 Aug 1987

NASH, Peter, Secretary, United Food and Chemical Workers Union, 30 days,
AAFLI, 17 Feb 1987

OLDS, Stephen J. , Managing Director, TECPAK Plastics Ltd, 28 days, HE,

10 Nov 1986

PARSONS, Cheryl Andrea, Investment Manager, Nathan Finance Ltd, 30 days,

VPS, 14 Jan 1987

RENNIE, Bruce A., Chief Reporter, "The Press", 30 days, lIE, 10 Nov
1986

ROBINSON, Jeoffrey C" Senior Presenter, Radio NZ, 28 days, VPS, 31 Aug
1987

ROSSITER, Karl K., Business Development Manager. Radio NZ, 15 days, ORA.
23 Feb 1987

SMITH, Vivienne Lindsay, TVNZ Journalist, 14 days, VPS, 24 Nov 1985

 13

STANILAND, Brian C" Industrial Relations Advisor , 30 days, VPS, 27 Apr

1967

TAIT, Helen Mary, Librarian, Auckland City. 30 days, lIE, 6 July 1987

TERRIS, John J" M.P., 30 days, lIE, 5 January 1987

UPTON, Simon D., M.P., lIE, 15 Oct 1986

WALKER, Simon E.J., Managing Director, Communico }ovt and Public Relations,
30 days, VPS, 25 Jan 1987

WESTON, �rances Zeala, TVNZ Producer, 31 days, AED, 20 Oct 1936

• Agency abbreviations:

AAFLI ;
Asian-American Free Labour Institute
AED ?
DRA ?
lIE Institute for International Education
FTUI ;
�ree Trade Union Institute
USDA US Dept of Agriculture
VPS ;
Visitor Program Service

"DEATH SQUADS IN THE PHILIPPINES"·

This publication is produced by the Alliance for Philippine Concerns

(APC) which is an alliance of organizations in North America working for
social justice, genuine democracy and national sovereignty in the Philippines.
It has some 40 member organizations in the US and Canada.

The booklet documents the US-orchestrated "low intensity conflict"

programme now being inflicted on the Philippines. In particular, it records
stories of the people of Davao on the island of Mindinao in the southern part
of the country as they try to cope with the vigilante Alsa Masa movement in
their midst. The main articles of the book were primarily written by social
workers in Davao.

There are also good general articles on US counter-insurgency strategy

and more information on various aspects of the Philippines situation.
Chilling reading on yet another US dirty war against the world's starving
millions. It reveals the reality of what a US colonel once called "total war
at the grassroots level".

*Edited by Enrique Delacruz and others, Alliance for Philippine Concerns,

September 1987, 5 0 pp. Copies available at $6.00 each (incl. :,ST and postage)
from the :�NZ Nuclear Free Peacemaking Association, P.O. Box 18541,
Christchurch. Also available from the Association is a Palau information and
action kit� for $6.00. Palau is another example of US covert actior, at work.
14

U S. SENATOR TRIES EXTORTION ON NEW ZEALAND

•

A visiting U.S. Senator, John Melcher, a Democrat from Montana, recently

tried to pressure New Zealand over the Philippines issue.

Senator Melcher was here in January as one of a group of five Senators.

Melcher said he wanted New Zealand to participate with the US in some foreign
aid ventures in the Philippines known as "food for peace" (1). He said these
ventures were needed to justify the retention of the American bases which were
of regional importance for mutual defence purposes. He talked about improving
the stability of the Cory Aquino government and uplifting the economy of the
Philippines. If NZ was not willing to help out, Melcher warned that this
would have repercussions on our trade with the US.

Nuclear Free Kiwis responded to the Senator s crude threat with a media
release, which is the basis for this report.

Senator Melcher's call for NZ to support food programmes in the

Philippines really amounted to a call to support the US's "low intensity
conflict" programme there. As described in our article in the previOUS issue
(No. 16, Dec. 1987), this programme includes the setting up of death squad
operations under CIA control and funding. The report "Right-Wing Vigilantes
and US Involvement" by a US fact-finding mission led by former US
Attorney-�eneral Ramsey Clark, documented a CIA programme which incorporates
not only so-called "food for peace" but also psychological warfare, propaganda
techniques, economic measures, vigilante groups and assassinations.

Senator Melcher himself is no stranger to this programme. Or John

Whitehall of the US- and Australian-based Christian Anti-Communist Crusade, a
key promoter of the vigilante movement, and Filipino vigilante organizer, Jun
Alcover, met with Senator Melcher in Washington in March 1986. Alcover also
met with representatives of the CIA, the Pentagon, the Heritage Foundation,
and visited the Denver headquarters of retired US �eneral. John Singlaub (2).
Singlaub was involved in the Irangate affair and has had a long career in CIA
dirty work (3). He has been organizing death squads in the Philippines (3,
4).

US policy in the Philippines has, of course, done nothing to insure the

stability of this particular country. Rather, it has served to bolster the
status quo of a tiny elite at the expense of the people. The US has exploited
the Philippines ruthlessly. From 1946 to 1976 every dollar invested by US
corporations brought in a profit of $3.58. Of this amount $2.00 was
repatriated to the US (5). As an ironic comment on Melcher's statement, in
spite of over $300 million in US food aid since 1960, the per capita calorie
intake actually decreased between 1960 and 1976. No doubt much of this fod
aid ended up where it was not needed. Today, while 70% of the people live
below the poverty line, the US corporations and military bases are still
thriving (5). The narrow pursuit of US self-interest, both economic and
military, will inevitably undermine its new low intenSity conflict programme.
What NZ must do is to continue its work for nuclear freedom in the Pacific and
peace with justice in countries such as the Philippines.

However, there could yet be an accommodating gesture by the NZ government

towards the US programme. Back in July 1984 our Secretary of Defence, Mr
Denis McLean. suggested that the Philippines government might not be
countering a persistent communist insurgency with "sufficient toughness and
flexibility" (6). Our special forces regiment has been involved in training
 15

in the Philippines in the past. Perhaps certain people in the NZ government

now see the US-s latest programme as tough and flexible enough. Certainly,
the US will have some internal allies in encouraging NZ participation in US
"aid" for the Philippines.

The Aquino government is still being widely promoted as a government

dedicated to democracy and justice. Will our own government resist the
pressures to back death-squad repression? - only if the peace movement is
active enough on this issue!

References

(1) -The Press-, 16 January 1983

(2) 'Wellington Confidential' , No. 41, January 1988, and "CRC Summary on
Church Cooptation", Christian Resource Centre, Philippines

(3) See 'Peace Researcher' No. 16, December 1987

(4) National Reporter Spring 1987

(5) "Right-Wing Vigilantes and US Involvement" - See ref. (3) for summary of
this report

(6) The Sunday Star-Bulletin and Advertiser', Honolulu, 1 July 1934

CORRECTION

A correction should be noted to our last issue, No. 16, December 1987.
On page 5, paragraph 4, a bit of the text got mangled in our wordprocessor.
The full paragraph should read:

"The CIA concentrates on subverting the media in countries of primary

operational interest. It is its major contribution to subversion. One of the
media operations cited in the report concerns 'stories of Russian ships
depositing weapons at isolated beaches' ("Right-Wing Vigilantes and US
InVOlvement", report by Ramsey Clark, et al. , p. 44). Exactly such a story
very suggestive of possible CIA input appeared in NZ in the form of a NZ
Truth' story, 9 June 1987, titled 'Russians arm Kiwi �angs'. A later simi.lar
'Truth' story, 23 June 1987, alleged Maori army rebels we:e smuggling guns to
revolutionary gan�s. " Not� the consistent -Maori bashing line in articles
and headlines in NZ Truth This sort of media hype keeps the pot boiling on
NZ race relations and helps pave the way for a reactionary regime. We hope to
have more on this subject in a later issue.

Also in No. 16 we stated that USIS offices exist in New Zealand only ill
the Wellington embassy and in Christchurch. We have been informed that there
is a large USIS office and library in Auckland. Is anybody up there in the
local peace movement keeping an eye on the USIS? 'Peace Researcher' would be
interested to hear about it.
 TIONAL PROTEST FEBRUARY 20TH-21ST, 1986, WA\HOPA

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';rd, L�� this J)C:i ,un tant teB -j; bt::t the l;{s'i21zffnz.1 '''''''"'ni,
,i�
the
ili Y8X" A-ll1 &.180 b�:t tuo tiJ jf! cnd tho to nYld (liscu8D
15USEhB Ao'tSi-1raat'

from the known r,nA.m€s�

peace activists, from OVBTBB3B

The campinp; spot is by the i/aihopai river end has plenty of trees
around it f or shade from the famous l1arlborough sun. Vep;0 tarian mesls
will be provided.

Nost people wi l l be arriving on Friday night. Dah/een then snd Sunnsy

lunchtime there will be protest actions, s public meeting, time for
disoussion and planning of future anti-baeee aotions and ewin�ing
sunbsthing and socialising.

To find out transport arrangements and

further details contact.*_ Citizens for the Demilitarization of HareVlood, Chch 325-097 or 63 -988
or Peace Movement Aotearoa, Wellington 737-247