Ron Smith 1921 �1995

Working Class Son, Peace Activist

Ron Smith at the first Waihopai demonstration, February 1988

(see page 18)

page
In this issue:

• Australian spooks hit the headlines 2

• Helen Clark - Batting for the spooks 4
• US Air Force flights at Christchurch Airport 5
• Letters from Owen Wilkes 8
• Obituary - Christchurch's US consulate 9
• Hong Kong spybase moves to Australia 10
• Heavyhanded cops grill student activists 11
• Internet brings problems for the spooks? 12
• ASIO - More on a murky past 14
• Spooky bits 16
• Acronyms and other esoteric animals 17
• Obituary - Ron peace ","u VI" 18
• Move to outlaw laser blinding 20
AU�TRAlI��
In the last week of May, the front pages of some major Australian newspapers were fu ll of revelations about the
operations of C anberra's s py agenc ies. In spite ofgovernment efTorts to prevent publication, there were intriguing
revelations about A ustralia's spying on other c ountries' d iplomatic missions. and the effort of some Asian
governments t o eavesdrop on Australian officials. The articles which follow look at these revelations, and some of
the implication s .
CHINESE EMBASSY IN CANBERRA
BUGGED
The Chinese Embassy in C anberra has been the target
of a Jong-tenn espionage operation by A ustralian spies
011 behalf o!'the United States, according to reports in
the Brisbane Courier-Mail, [May 27, 1995] . The
newspaper said data gathered by a sophist icated
espionage operat i on inc luded important material on
trade issues at a time when the USA and China are
locked in conflict overtrade. Information collected is
said to have been tran smitted di rectly to the National
Security Agency in the United States.
The A ustralian Broadcasting C orporat ion, which
ignored a government notice to prevent it releasing
informat ion, s t ated t hat the A ust ralian S ec urity
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) planted a network
of fibre-optic bugs throughout the C hinese Embassy
during its construction in 1990. The record ing devices
-some the size of pinheads - were initially linked to a
receiver located at the British High Commission n ext
door to the embassy.
Some detai ls of responsibi lity for the bugging vary.
The Sydney Morning Herald says the operation was
begun by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service
(ASIS) before it was taken over by ASIO (which is
res pon s i b l e for d omest ic s pying and counter­
intelligence in A ustralia). It c onfirms that there was a
"huge joint operat ion with the Un ited States". The
Courier-Mail says that the sophist icated bugging
devices were ones developed hy the American NSA.
and in format ion was shared under the UKlJSA
Agreement.
When Prime Minister Keating was asked whether he
was involved in the d eci sion to bug the C h inese
Embassy on behalf of Washington he replied that he
had no intention of commenting on intelligence
matters. C om mentators be lieve the large-scale
government effort to prevent pub lication of stories
about the operation confirms their basic acc uracy.
Page 2
l�( HUDlINE�
Compiled by Warren Thomson
NATIONAL INTEREST AND THE
INTELLIGENCE CLUB
The publicity surrounding these s pying inc idents
could have some repercussions f()f Chinese-Australian
relat ions. Bul s ome comment.ators helieve that it is
not the Chinese reaction that Canberra fears, but the
American reaction. Australian Government officials
worry that the US security s ervices wi l l see t heir
A ustralian counterparts as unreliab le i f there is too
much public disclosure of intelligence matters.
Accord ing to an ABC television bul letin [May 26],
Washington controlled the operati on against the
C hinese Embassy, and also limited the amount of
informat ion Australia gained. Some of the local
spooks have a pparently been unhappy with the limits
on data distribut ion imposed by the US and were the
source ofABe's d isclos ures.
Dr Jeffrey Richelson, an authority on American
intelligence issues. has expressed surprise at Australia
not getting equal acc ess to information from joint
operat ions. From New Zealand 's point of view, the
quest ion needs to be raised whether smaller c ountries
are expected to g ive more to the UKUSA c l ub than
they receive, and whether their ownl1ational interests
are sometimes subsumed by those oftheir big brothers.
One ABC bulletin sa id that the joint bugging operation
may have meant that Washington was privy to secret
trade negotiations between Canberra and Beijillg.
The front page a rt ic le in the Sydney Morning Herald
I May 29] c laims t hat surveillance and eavesdropping
had heen c onducted against ot her countries with
d iplomatic m iss ions in Canberra including Indonesia,
Malays ia, Iraq, Russia, and Iran . In the case of the
last three named it seems Was hington would have
much more inte rest in the purloined data t han the
Austra l ians \vho ca rried it out
The Herald a lso asse liS that Austra l ian espionage
against the Japanese E mbassy in Canberra [see over]
Peace Researcher
included the decoding and tr anslating of sensitive
diplomatic and trade information. This may not be
tota l l y accur ate. I f correct i t im p l i e s that a
technologically advanced nation like Japan has trouble
keeping its coded messages secret; small nations (like
New Zealand) are going to have no show of keeping
their confidential m aterial from the hands ofthe bigger
spook agencies.
Using diplom atic operations as a cover for spying on
other countr ies is virtually taken for granted in the
ambassador ial wor ld. What needs to be ensured,
however, is that if such activities are carr ied out, they
are of vital national interest, and there is proper control
of the people who are responsible. Recent A ustr alian
exper ience does not give m uch confidence.
Peace Researcher num ber 3 [December 1994]
reported that ex-ASIS officer s had claimed some joint
operations had resulted in information being collected
that went against A ustralian interests. Some of their
claims have been recently substantiated. [See story
below] The balance of small state interests and the
demands ofthe major allied spy powers need ser ious
scrutiny.
BEIJING SPIES ON AUSTRALIA
Canberr a's spying on China is directly m irrored by
activities of the People's Republic. Representatives
of Chinese pro-democracy gr oups in Australia have
claimed that Beijing has "spies" who are intimidating
members o f the eth nic C h inese comm unity i n
Australia. These informants are said to be threatening
and harassing business people, students, and pro­
democracy activists. Chinese living in A ustralia who
have business dealings with China have been told their
business links would suffer if they supported the pro­
democracy m ovement. [Chr istchurch Press, March
11 , 1995] Moreover, the A u stralian Embassy in
Beijing was infiltrated by an "ingenious" listening
device that had been installed in the new building
before it was opened in 1992. Dur ing construction, a
hollow electr ical conduit had been set into a central
wall. A m icr ophone inside this was able to m ove
backward and forward to listen in to different offices.
[Sydney Morning Herald, May 2 5 , 1995]
JAPAN VERSUS AUSTRALIA
"Australia has mounted widespread and systematic
spying against the Japanese Embassy in Canberra,
including the interception, decoding and translating
of sensitive trade and diplomatic informtion" alleged
the Herald o n M ay 2 9 . The paper r eports
comprehensive transcripts are r egularly delivered to
the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Peace Researcher
The Herald has also r evealed that at least nine
Australian diplomatic m issions abroad have been
penetrated by espionage operations and that the
Australian embassy i n I ndonesia had been under
surveillance by Japanese agents. The newspaper says
that an infra-red beam was used to eavesdrop on
conversations ofAustralian diplomats. [May 25, 1995]
The revelations stem from a br iefing by Canberra's
Department of Foreign A ffairs Secretary, Michael
Costello, to Australian diplomats working in east Asia.
The Herald says it was told by intelligence sources
that Costello gave the senior diplom ats an extensive
special security demonstration which included a
demonstration of eavesdr opping devices found in
Australian diplom atic buildings. The display included
a video recording of a Japanese spying operation
aimed at Canberra's Jakarta embassy.
I n 1993 Canberra's diplomats moved into a new
building in the Indonesian capital, but counter­
espionage experts had discovered the old premises
were being subjected to an infra-red beam from the
Japanese embassy half a kilometre away. The beam,
when directed against a pane of glass, was capable of
detecting vibrations fr om noises inside a room,
including conversation. Reflections ofthe beam were
collected by very sensitive collection devices and the
vibrations electronically processed to differentiate the
sounds and reproduce conver sations. The espionage
was traced by a special infra-red sensitive lens.
In a later edition [May 29, 1995] the Herald states
that the beam was directed from different windows
oftbe Japanese embassy in Jakarta, but always focused
on the r oom in the Australian building which was
occupied by the Australian Secret I ntelligence Serv ice.
The operation was apparently discovered between
1985 and 1988.
Australian Foreign Affairs officials have refused to
confirm the newspaper ' s r eport on the grounds that
the matter was one of secur ity and therefore not subject
to comment. However , Coste l lo ' s speech to
Australia's eastAsia diplomats in ear ly May has been
confirmed. Tokyo' s representatives in Canherra have
said the r e port was "com p letely unfounded".
Costello's demonstration is said by the Heraldlo have
included listening devices, or evidence of spying, from
A ustralian diplomatic buildings in Jakarta, Beijing,
Moscow, Ankara, Brasilia, Belgrade, Hanoi, Rangoon,
and War saw. Ther e was no indication of when these
devices were found.
Page 3
 ASIS ALLEGATIONS UPHELD
L ate in A pr i l public findings were released from an
inquiry into complaints b y five former ASIS officers
against the agency they had worked for. Many of the
complaints were upheld, and it was recommended that
the Government consider compensation. The former
spooks had a l l eged unfair treatm ent from their
em ployer s, a n d two in p articular had str ongly
criticised A SI S for not being under proper control,
and being involved in activities which worked against
Australia's national interest. [See Peace Researcher,
Number 3, December 1994.]
Traditionally the L ab our Party has b een the major
party that has been most suspicious of the SIS and
related organisations. I n Britain (under Wilson) and
in Australia (in the 1950s and again under Whitlam)
the Labour Parties have also come closest to being
undermined by their own intelligence agencies. I n
r ecent years, h owever, L abour Party leader s have
come out strongly in support of the operations of
covert agencies in this country.
Peace Researcher has been given a copy of a letter
written by Helen C lark to the Executive Director of
the Association of University Staff in September last
year. The letter is replying to questions raised by AUS
about allegations from a former Secur ity Intelligence
officer. Amongst the comments by the form er officer
were statem e n t s that part of SI S duties was
surveillance of univer sity staff .
Helen Clark says "I thought the comment ofthe former
agent was somewhat sweeping. I ver y much doubt
that she ever had any broad mandate to watch
univer sity staff'. She believes the SI S " has come a
very long way from the days of Brigadier Gilbert".
Does the leader of the main opposition party in
Par l i am ent k n o w m or e than the r est of us?
Unfort unately not! In her own words she has " l im ited
knowledge ofthe SIS and its brief '. Not good enough
Ms Clark! The lack of proper oversight of the covert
agencies in this country is too clear ly revealed. I n one
sentence C lark refer s positively to the SIS keeping a
Page 4
Full details are not yet availab le, but one fascinating
admission has been that the security services used a
bogus psychiatr ic r eport to attempt to d iscredit one
of the off icers making the allegations [Sydney
Morning Herald, May 29, 1 995.] Foreign A ffairs
Minister Gareth Evans has said that more ofASIS' s
activities will be made public, and foreshadowed more
government involvement in Australian security and
intelligence affairs. The ' D-Notice' system, which was
used to try and prevent the A ustralian media from
publishing details about Embassy espionage, i s to be
r eviewed.
weather eye on whether intelligence agencies from
other countr ies are operating cover t l y i n NZ.
Remember the Rainbow Warrior?
I n October 1994, Peace Researcher ran a paragraph
which similar ly expressed support from the leader of
the opposition for the Government Communications
Security Bureau and its operations. Speaking of
Tangimoana and Waihopai she stated "The two
facilities will remain under the L abour Government
as they have in the past. I do not accept assertions
that the two faci l ities do not serve New Zealand
interests."
If Helen C lark knows litt le about the SIS, how much
does she know about the super-secret GCSB? One of
her predecessors, David L ange, was responsible for
giving the Waihopai base the go-ahead, although it
later became clear he knew l ittle about the operations
ofthe faci l ity he was supposed to control. Both Lange
and Palmer sprang to the defence of the SIS when it
came under pub lic cr iticism fr om the ex-officer
referred to above.
So L abour Party leader sh i p i s consistent, if not
inspiring for those ofus who believe that covert spook
operations can do more harm than good. The b i g
q uestions rem ain: w h o amongst our e l ected
repr esentatives really knows anything about the
operations ofthe SI S and the GCSB, and what power
do they have to control them?
Peace Researcher
US Air Force Flights at Christchurch
Airport
The accompanying bar graphs reveal the pattern and
frequency of United States Air Force flights at
Christchurch Airport (Harewood) between June 1990
and May 1995 - five complete years. Our previous
Peace Researcher article on this subject (No. 3, Dec
1994) presented the data we had in hand at the time.
Those graphs may have been misleading to some who
didn't read the text carefully because they gave the
impression that there were long intervals with no
flights.
the Antarctic season in September 1993. From an
average of about two transit flights per week (7-8 per
month) serving US bases in Australia for many years
prior to that time, the schedule and frequency have
become less predictable since 1993. But the US
military continues to inform the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Trade (MFAT) each month in advance
that a full schedule of Pine Gap and Nurrungar flights
will take place on a regular weekly basis. The actual
flights often don't match the advance schedule.

The weekly "Pine Gap" circuit, (through

Summary ot Flight Data (transit flights) - Christchurch to Pine Gap near Alice Springs)
US Air Force Starlifters and Galaxys continues (0 be fairly regular, arriving usually
on a Tuesday and leaving the following
Year Antarctic Channel Total % Channel morning. This timing started in April 1994;
prior to then, the arrival was almost always on
1990-91 32 86 118 72.9 a Sunday afternoon with a Monday morning
1991-92 71 97 168 57.7 departure for Australia.
1992-93 38 85 123 69.1
1993-94 47 63 110 57.3 A plausible hypothesis to explain this change is
1994-95 33 58 91 63.7 that the Anti-Bases Campaign made good use
Totals 221 389 610 63.8 of the convenient Sunday afternoon arrival of a
Starlifter to conduct educational tours for
visitors and the media, and perhaps more
Data in the graphs are summarized above (category importantly. to hold demonstrations protesting the
"other" omitted). Note the predominance of Channel American military presence in our city. So, Sunday
(military/intelligence) flights every year. Year to year afternoons at the airport are nO longer enlivened by
variations are considerable but overall the number of the arrival of the Pine Gap Starlifter. It's especially
Channel flights has decreased since mid-1993 as lonely in winter when there are no Antarctic flights
discussed below either.

We are still unable to get information on the other
major category of US aircraft use of Christchurch
Airport: the ski-Hercules flown by US Navy crews.
The Hercules (LC-130) are four-engine propjets
equipped with retractable skis for ice/snow landings.
They are owned at least in part by a civilian
government agency, the US National Science
Foundation (NSF). A naval officer recently told
ABCers that the NSF owned the airframes and the
Navy owned the engines. ABC considers the flights
of the NSFlNavy Hercules to be lee-dedicated and
separate from the USAF Starlifter flights which are
on military/intelligence business.
Flight Frequency
The frequency of militarylintelligence flights (the so­
called Channel flights) of Starlifters, and sometimes
Galaxys, has decreased since about the beginning of
The Nurrungar circuit has become much less frequent.
The transit flights from N urrungar, another US base
in Australia, are sometimes reduced to one per month.
These flights return to the US through Christchurch.
Perhaps the US use of the Nurrungar facility has
decreased in importance. An interesting development
is that Russia is holding talks with Australia on
possible use of the nearby Woomera base for missile
launching of satellites on a contract basis (New
Scientist 15 April 1995). (They need to get rid of
their old ICBMs in a constructive and profitable
manner.) The availability of Russian rockets is
appealing to the Australian government which would
like to develop a world-class facility for routine
launching of its own and other nations' satellites. We
wonder if the US would be tolerant of the Russians
establishing such a presence next door to Nurrungar.
[Please note: There are a few discrepancies in the

Peace Researcher PageS

 US Air Force Flights at Christchurch Airport

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About the graphs: The bar charts present complete flight data on United States Air Force cargo aircraft
(primarily C-141B Starlifters and C-SA Galaxys) using Christchurch International Aitport, New Zealand,
between June 1990 and June 1995. A transitflight consists of an arrival and a departure for a given plane.
Military denotes military/intelligence Channel flights serving US bases in Australia; Antarctic denotes
flights to and from the Antarctic in support of the US Antarctic Program; Other denotes occasional visits
by other types o f aircraft including C-130 Hercules and KC-! 0 tankers. Data provided by the USAF
under the US F r eedom of Information Act (B Patchett and R White), and by the NZ Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Trade under the Official Information Act (R Leonard).

Page 6 Peace Researcher

numbers offlights ifyou compare the data in PR No.
3 with this set of bar graphs. This is because
interpretation ofthe individualflights can be difficult.
1 have reanalyzed all ofthe data and revised some of
the flight totals. As noted below, there are also
mistakes in the air force data logs.}
Use of Galaxys
Starlifters (CI41B) have been the standard cargo
aircraft on the Channel flights and seasonally on
Antarctic supply flights for many years. The larger
Galaxys (C-SA) began to be used in Antarctic supply
at the beginning of the 1990-91 season, and they have
been used sporadically every year since. December
1992 saw the first Galaxy used for the Channel flights.
They continue to appear periodically in place of
Starlifters on both the Pine Gap and Nurrungar
circuits,
Dual Missions can be confusing
Upon receipt of the bulk of the flight data from the
MFAT in December 1994, we noticed that some
aircraft appeared on both "scheduled" (Channel) flight
lists and "non-scheduled" (Antarctic) flight lists
during overlapping time periods. After careful
checking of flight dates and times it became apparent
that some flights appeared to be dual missions. With
one exception, these mixed operations were during
exceptionally busy Antarctic flight periods in October!
November in 1990 and 1991. Several aircraft arrived
in Christchurch on scheduled Channel missions but
were diverted for periods of days or weeks to Antarctic
flights - to and from McMlIrdo. The Channel missions
were apparently never completed.
A couple of missions seemed to follow a reverse
pattern, starting as Antarctic missions but with
departures, apparently back to the US, listed as
Channel flights.
Only one example of a dual mission could be found
in a later year. A Pine Gap flight in October 1994
was apparently divelted from its normal return to the
US to take on Antarctic missions and finally a NASA
"flying telescope" support mission on its flight home.
The Channel flight aircraft are flown by regular duty
air force pilots. Antarctic flights normally use air force
reserve pilots. Presumably when a Channel mission
is changed to an Antarctic one, the crews change.
Landing on the ice near McMurdo or conducting mid­
winter supply drops in the dark require specially
trained and experienced reserve pilots. The
need to. change flight crews
supports the position that
dual missions are not
Peace Researcher
the norm. Juggling flight crews whose home bases
are thousands of kilometres away would not be a
simple matter.
A letter to ABC from MFAT (23 February 1995)
attached some significance to these dual missions. But
they are not the usual patterns of Starlifter use; the
data show that missions are routinely either solely
Channel or solely Antarctic. In 1990 and 1991 (and
once in 1994) aircraft appear to have been diverted to
Antarctic flights due to high demand. This is not
surprising, because the scheduled Channel flights are
frequent and often loaded well below capacity.
Channel flights were listed as "contingency assets"
in an air force journal in the 1980s. We are aware
that many summer Channel flights do carry Antarctic
cargoes to Christchllrch, or back to the USA.
Some of the entries in the data sheets are confusing.
Our interpretation has not been helped by the removal
of mission numbers from the data sheets by MFAT.
We have asked MFAT to explain this censoring. It's
a puzzle because the sheets we have received directly
from the US Air Force have not been censored. The
mission numbers are clearly readable for every flight.
Errors in the data
Another possible explanation of some dual mission
entries is outright error. In most cases the data are
entered by hand by air force personnel who apparently
lack computer facilities. Some entries are almost
illegible. Some are downright wrong - Starlifters can't
be on two separate missions simultaneously. Nor can
they depart Christchurch twice in succession within
minutes without an intervening landing. Some
apparently dual missions might have been simple
recording errors.
MAC no more
One of the little tidbits unearthed Jrom the "advanced
schedule" sheets was the timing of the end of the
familiar acronym "MAC", for Military Airlift
Command. It occurred some time around September
1992. MAC became the almost unpronounceable
acronym AMC, for Air Mobility Command. We had
noticed the name change on the planes themselves
but hadn't noted when it occurred. Also changing is
the colour scheme on the aircraft. The change from
camouflage livery to a uniform grey may be another
small move to tone down the military image of USAF
cargo operations. What next? Civilian pilots?
We thank the MFAT for supplying
the flight data in this report
Bob leol1crd
Pagel
 Lettersfrom Owen
Owen W i l k e s reads h i s Peace Researcher
carefully and critically. And when he runs across
statements he disagrees with, he writes us detailed
letters. Herein, we belatedly report some of his
criticisms and comments and offer a response or
two.
Owen h a s provided several corrections and
additions to our article in PR number 3 on US
military flights at Christchurch and in the
Antarctic.
"The Starlifter may have been the first
military pure jet to land in Antarctica, but the
first pure jet was a PanAm Boeing 707 under
contract to Deep Freeze which landed at
McMurdo in 1963-64 or 1964-65. It is better
remembered for the fact that it carried hosties,
the first women to go to Antarctica as part of
Deep Freeze."
'The channel flights started in 1962 to serve
the US AFTAC station at Avalon, south of
Melbourne. This was well before Pine Gap,
Nurrungar or North West Cape became
operational. "
Owen does not agree that the Channel flights are
a "glaring loophole" in our nuclear free policy.
"I think it is regrettable, but it isn't a loophole." I
accept that the term "loophole" may not be strictly
correct with respect to the Act itself because the
Nuclear Free bill was amended just prior to
passage in Parliament to make Antarctic support
aircraft a special category for blanket clearance
to enter NZ. But the result is effectively a
loophole in our nuclear-free status as defined by
the law. The law is so weak that there is no way
for our government or any New Zealander to
know just what is carried on Channel flights.
There is a loophole because the US Air Force
could carry nuclear weapons on a Starlifter
transiting Christchurch Airport with zero
probability of suffering consequences under the
NZ law.
Owen continues: "What makes it particularly
regrettable, and I wonder why you never publicise
PageS
Wi£f(es
it, is the fact that the NCND [neither confirm or
deny] policy did NOT apply to the channel
flights prior to the passage of our NF Act. Prior
to the Act the US government routinely certified
to MERT [former Ministry of External Relations
and Trade] that its aircraft transiting Harewood
carried 'no warlike stores', which presumably
was acknowledgement that the planes carried
neither nuclear nor any other weapons. These
certificates are on file in the National Archives."
This is interesting stuff. We have never
publicised the "no warlike stores" certifications
because we didn't know about them. What we
did have in hand as the basis for our statements
about NCND and Starlifters was a letter from
Charles L. Bell, Public Affairs Officer in the US
Embassy dated 27 June 1983: "I am sure you
are aware of the long-standing policy of the U.S.
Government to neither confirm nor deny the
presence or absence of nuclear weapons aboard
any U.S. military ship, aircraft or vehicle." So
whom can you trust? N o t the American
government.
Moving on to our article on "The military roots
of Operation Deep Freeze", Owen states: "Our
first involvement in nuclear testing, and certainly
not minor or unwitting, was in May 1957, when
we had a ship, aircraft, troops and meteorologists
participating in Operation Grapple, the first
British H-bomb test at Christmas Island." New
Zealanders were also involved in US tests at
Bikini Atoll in 1947. Peace Researcher stands
corrected.
On the subject of Black Birch Naval Observatory
(our article on p. 11 of PR number 3), Owen
raised some technical points and also suggested
we "fuzzed over the fact that the station is still
closing down a year ahead of when it was
supposed to". According to some of Owen's
own writing, Black Birch's program was to last
10 years. It began operation in 1985. The closing
date of March 1996 would seem to be about on
schedule.
Bob leonard
Peace Researcher
 OBITUARY
CHRISTCHURCH'S US CONSULATE
In 1995, ;l�; p<lrt of;:,loh:d ('0:,,1 cut! and :lrcln.'at the late Bill Quirk (also a local accountant Wc madc
the E!llpiH' inh\ ll;!\'t ' �'" l/!lE' 11)(_" { 11!U':"\.I"i ��urc that accountancy was never boring for old Bill).
Adllllni:-trali'lj} ch,,>(:d:i 11IJ11lj-k" :,1"i):-) ofJlu:d
abroad. Onr: of lhc�c \\;jC; 1!\( Ion,\..; l;·,1ab!i:,,1!!.. "d I 12.ot involved in the Vietnam War protest movement
(�onsu!Jh: in Chri>:h:iwn:l) {If dk) l!lcJud,,:d �- j! th(' ill 1969. the same year I joined the I-'rogressive Youth
Consul', "j l\Jul ">;"),,,,,,, '" \'" hnd), 11< I,S Movcll1l..'nt. Wc made the Consulate the target forollr
! l! fnnllH\!pn Se!'v i\.'\�- \ t i >.; j \...,) rd h !; j ;;1.1 () lJtTn regular 3nti-v.;ar marches (they were weekly at one
closvd tll (-'ll1i',,[dldj\,�ll (1..'11\'\ uti;!'" timc, vvc were very young and keen). Rallies were
rc\)p(�nt ,(j � '�', 1<, ) :-;\:�! !d\'if !:1lHlll,tnill\':It';Jtcthc held outside it, petitions and resolutions delivered 10
L'ipadis;l]j n:t!urv \'i CI,\\[ 111;>; me;1!]'-; thdl, there it.. If thc office was shut, we had no qualm:;; in
1> lhnv no 1. jS (jo',,'C! tUll ,'i!! }HC\1.,:J1U..' in l�hl j,;I,.. hun.:h pcr,,,nalisin!! the political - rallies were held outside
{�\;.,cpt of",:',()1!n;c, for (1111'nld fri, nd'o;11 tlh H' F nrt.:e Bill"s (extremely ugly) home opposite Mona Vale,
,,,.,, hl\C at i ];.)1\'\" l\t:! ( i) -, (' jl ! ' rcc l,c llle mandatory US flag was burned. Once wc: even
i" cvh'l/ral held a picnic on his riverside lawn - when the cops
qq ,�igJl:'; nj 1, arrived to throw us out they were reduced to ask ing
LIS whose house it was, so they could get the owner: s
StH.:i1 an C)u,;J.:·;iPI1 iilUS! n()1 pa�.;s \'v!thnul comment or permissioJl to do so (Bill was over the road at a garden
prnpcr lTill('l'ilhr:!1'1cc rlh: Consul at the time of the pm1y),
closure \Vd:; 1)!)\' .I. Iv1.a!c(l!m 011, a Incal accountant. 1
never had the pk�d\\lrC of m ee t in g the f�e!ltlcman, Ilor Nor did protc:--;t stop at the limits of t.he !a\v. The
did I ever ha; C o(cdsioll to go to his Consulate office. COIlSlI hit., was occupied more than once. The cops
physically remo ved us onc (�hristmas Eve and refusc�d
Hu1 ill the ddys oflllY fccklc,;,;s youth the US Consulate. to arrC'lt us. 1 jurnped on the back of a Ill(l.lc·s
ill its previous location ()Il the corner of Kilmure and motorhi!-.c. wc roared orf giving the cops the fing<.;rs
Manchester Streets. was a frequent destination, As and pwmptly crashed the bike rounding the COrtIC!,
indeed was the Fcndaltoil Road home ()f the Consul, The same cops anxiously picked us up off the wad

Peace Researcher Page 9

The Consulate and house walls
were painted up so many times
I've lost count. (A tin" today's
.
taggers - c·
ed ed by
brL ce1\Sot ..J well. The
anI) ,la get rid of it is to
replace the wall). The most
spectacular direct action came in
1973, coincidentally on the very
day that Congress forced the US
Air Force t o s t o p bombing
Cambodia (and thus ended
America's direct combat role in
lndochina). NeB Riethmuller
and Marg Mathieson torched the
place and set off an tragicomic
crosstown car chase in a stolen
Baby Austin that ended back at
their flat a few hundred metres
from the Consulate. Damage
was put at $10,000 (you could
buy a house for a lot less than that in 1973). Ned got target for both legal and cx tra- I egal protests, ranging
four year's prison and deportation back to his native from jumping the fellee to dropping the
Australia ( h e l i v e s n o w in his hometown of communications towers at Vv"ccdons.
Toowoomba, Queensland, which is home to Cabarlah,
one of the A u s tralian sister stations of ·'our" We should celebrate the closure onilc Consulate, for
Tangimoana). Marg got three year's prison and is now whatever reason. Tt means the (JS Government has
a model citizen of Christchurch. retreated into the citadel of Fort Thorndon. otherwise
known as its Embassy in Wellington. And it means
The victory of the Vietnamese people basically ended we should redouble our efTorts (respectable ones of
the intense period of targeting the Consulate. It course, we're middle aged now ) to ensure that the US
remained a focal point for protests involving US military beats a retreat from our airport I hope to be
nuclear warship visits and the ever present US base around to write the obituary for the US military
at Harewood. ·But the USIS office took on the presence at Harcwood.
propaganda function and the base itself became the Murray Horlon

HONG KONG SPYBASE

MOVES TO AUSTRALIA
Britain's secret communications spy base at Chung ago. It says that Chung Hom Kok t<mncd all integral
Ham Kok is being shut down, dismantled, and moved part of the West's intelligence ga thering operations

to northern Australia, from where it will continue to in the region, an d s pe c ulat e s that it \vas used

monitor activities in China. extensively during the protests ofthe Chinese students
in Tiananmen Square ill 1 9k9. and to monitor ('hina's

Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post (March 26, 1995) reaction to the break-up of the Soviet Union in 199 I.
reports that three of the four massive metal dishes 011
the southern part of Hong Kong Island, have been According to the newspaper, inf(Jrmation gathered was

shipped out, along with other high-lech intelligence wntinely funnelled to Australia itlf transl at i on and

gathering e q u i pment. British and Australian analysis, after which it was passed to Britain, New

technicians who operated the station have left. Zealand and the United States. It noles "the installation
IVas operated - and is still controlled - by the British

The newspaper says London began scaling down G overn ment ' s Composite Signals O rg an i s ation, a
activities at the eleven hectare site about two years subsidiary of G eneral Central Headquarters (GCHQ)
--------�

Page 10 Peace Researcher

at Cheltenham in western England".
GCHQ actually stands for Government
Communication Headquarters, and the situation with
regard to control of the station is not clear. The
Australian Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) has
played a major part in the Hong Kong operations since
1949 and Desmond Ball describes the facilities as
jointly operated with the GCHQ. In 1983 the
Australian National 7lmes reported there was a state
of the art communications intercept project directed
against China from the earlier site of the facility. Data
from the project was sent via a special satellite link
back to the Sparrow terminal at Watsonia, near
Melbourne.
The Chung Ham Kok faciIity opened in the m id I 980s,
replacing a smalier listening base at Lei Mun Barracks.
This timing shows the expansion was par1 of the
massive enlargement and upgrading ot'covert western
D C O PS G R I L L
liEA W H A ND E
AC T IV I S TS
S T UD E N T
There were a number of very disturbing things about
the largescale state violence used to protect the May
1995 annual conference of the Asian Development
Bank (A DB), in Auckland. One that should be of direct
concern to us is the fact that New Zealand police and
border control authorities, obviously acting on orders
from Asian intelligence agencies, detained and grilled
at least two people involved in the Asia Pacific
Students' Conference that was held in conjunction
with the ADB.
Before it even started, they gave the treatment to Bruce
Cronin of t h e Auckland Univer sity Students'
Association. Bruce was on his way home from an
organising meeting in Manila. He was questioned
about what was being organised and whether he had
had any contacts with the Commnnist Party of the
Philippines (a legal party, by the way). There was
considerable national publicity about this and a
widespread sense of disbelief and outrage - Brucc was
a pakcha New Zealander, after all.
But the same thing happened with no publicity, to
, up hy good old fashioned Kiwi cop knuckle artistry.
Randy Vegas, a couferenc .c delegate from the League
of Filipino Students (LrS). Despite holding an NZ
visa (which Filipinos need to enter the country ttlr
Peace Researcher
Signals I ntelligence actlVl!tes which included
Waihopai, and Geraldton in Australia.
The Sunday Morning Post reports that Chung Ham
Kok operations are still subject to stringent security
checks, but the site is no longer properly guarded and
only two smaller communications dishes remain.
According to its sources, monitoring of Chinese
communications will now take place at Shoal Bay,
near Darwin. This station was set up in the early 1970s
to listen to Indonesia
The PSD and GCHQ also built a huge radio listening
facility at Tai Mo Shan in 1976. The aerial [arm
originally targetted Chinese signals, but in the 1980s
became very much involved in monitoring Soviet
naval bases in the region. Presumably, with the
approach of Britain's handover of Hong Kong to
Beijillg, this station is also due to close down.
Murray Horton
even one day), he was held and grilled at Auckland
Airport, before being eventually allowed in. LFS is a
legal organisation but one regularly denounced by
those in power in the Philippines as a "Communist
front" and "subversive". Terms like that can be
laughed off in New Zealand - in a Third World country
where the military is the most powerful institution
and death squads operate, such labels can be a death
sentence.
The whole security operation around the ADB was
heavyhanded and clumsy.. It obviously bore all the
hallmarks of having been demanded from abroad, as
onc o!'the requiremcnts of being allowed to host such
a singular collection of parasites and ratbags
(including the likes of the aptly named Cecil Cocker,
the Tongan Minister of Groping). The much bigger
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
(CHOGM) is being held in Auckland (and
Queenstown) in November, with a much larger
security operation. It seems that wc can expect to see
more of this spook-driven cackhandedness, backed
I f unopposed, this sort of thing leads very rapidly to a
police state. It's yet another unwanted result of being
part ofthe "global economy".
Page 11
 I N GS P RO B L E MS
INTERNET BR OK S?
E SP O
FOR TH
The Internet system - a burgeoning computer network
which allows individuals with personal computers to
log into other computers and systems all around the
world - presents two contradictory nightmares to
intelligence agencies. On the one hand all sorts of
industrial, economic and even military secrets become
accessible to hackers. On the other, encryption
systems threaten to reach such a state of sophistication
that even the U S National Security Agency which can
eventually crunch most codes, might not be able to
eavesdrop on its targets.
Clifford Stoll, a "hippyish computer nerd" became a
national figure in the US when he stumbled on
something suspicious via his personal computer, and
went on to track and uncover a German spy ring who
were using the Internet to steal industrial secrets.
[Christchurch Press, April 4, 1995]
And the case is pending of Philip Zimmermann who
put out an encryption programme on the Internet in
1991. The US Govtmay prosecute Zimmerman under
US arms export laws - distribution of encryption
materials overseas is illegal. His code has a key that
is public, and scrambles messages, and a key held
only by the receiver, which makes the receiver the
only person able to decipher the code.
The US International Traffic in Arms Regulations
defines encryption techniques as "munitions" and
prohibits their export. Daniel Bernstein from Berkeley
has filed a complaint against the US Government
because it h a s stopped the publication of his
encryption research since 1992. Bernstein has
developed a system to make live communications
secure, but the State Department has told him he needs
a licence to operate as an arms dealer and permission
for each separate sale of his programme. [See New
Scientist, April 1 5 , 1995]
There have been cases in the US where police were
unable to obtain evidence to prosecute criminals
because they were unable to decode critical messages.
The FBI and intelligence organisations are desperately
seeking means of ensuring they can eavesdrop on
spies, subversives and criminals as they have in the
past.
The issue reflects a critical conflict over the balance
Page 12
Warren Thomson
of privacy versus law enforcement and the powers of
the spook agencies. Many people will soon be using
powerful encryption codes and it remains to be seen
whether US Government can force computer users to
provide code keys to a government oversight body
(escrowing).
Washington officials tried to impose a "clipper chip"
system whereby data would i n c l u d e a "Law
Enforcement Access Field" (LEAF). But last year New
Scientist [October 8, 1994] reported that one
cryptographic expert had found a simple way to jam
the LEAF system and render the government's
"trardoor" into the messages unusable. The journal
also said thatthe National Security Agency knew there
were problems with the technology and was seeking
alternatives. But, says the journal, "they show no signs
of abandoning their commitment to developing
'wiretap ready' technology."
In Europe the Netherlands Government attempted to
ban coded messages outright, but failed. France and
other countries have pursued the line of requiring all
cryptography to be licensed, with the government
holding a copy of the private key.
Telephone tapping was done traditionally by isolating
copper phone Iines at a junction box or other point
and attaching crocodile clips which connected an
eavesdropping receiver. Now phones are moving to
fibre optics which carry many more signals and need
much more sophisticated equipment to listen in. Fibre
lines are also fitted with monitors that detect tiny drops
in the light energy caused by snooping and divert the
traffic to other lines. Tapping a fibre line requires a
high level of technical and administrative access.
Cellular phones are another communications system
open to eavesdropping. Relatively cheap scanners can
pick up the target signals. However, these systems
are now going digital enabling far more phone calls
to be crammed into the available band widths, and
making eavesdropping almost impossible. The most
sophisticated systems, based on military research,
spread signals over a band of frequencies. To intercept
the data requires "sophisticated detection equipment
plus several hours on a Cray supercomputer to crack
the 40 billion possible code combinations." [New
Scientist, October 8, 1994]
Peace Researcher
Encryption systems are now availab le il)l' both phone
conversations and computer communications - usually
with a pub l i c key you supply to people who send you
messages, and a private key you retain yourself. Even
more sop h i sticated are systems which take the
encoded m essage and d i sguise it as a d igitised
photograph, a piece of music, or a financial report.
No wonder the eavesdropping agencies are perturbed .
Decades ago the U S National Security Agency
routinely mon itored tran s-Atlantic phone and telex
traffic. What was then a daunting task has become
more d ifficu lt: there is too much of it. Private
crytography makes th is worse.
Besides the prob lem of ensuring they can eavesdrop
on their targets, the intell igence agencies are gravely
concerned over the opposite prob lems that arise from
systems like Internet being too permeab le to hackers.
Peace Researcher [ March 1995J reported that
sensitive information about counter-inte l l i gence
personn e l and secret defen ce installations was
obtained by a hacker from a British Telecom database.
The information was then sent to ajournalist over the
Internet system.
"Internet not only gives hacke rs unprecedented access
to Government records, electron ic mail addresses, and
business computers, but it provides a worldwide stage
for their efforts and an efficient n etwork through
which they can share hacking programmes, tips, and
tools," according to C hristchurch Press com puter
reports. [May 2, 1995]
A series of l etters threaten ing P residcnt C l inton was
eventually traced by the US Secret Service to a
University of Cal ifornia computer, and a student who
claimed his account had been hacked. They couldn't
finally pin the offence on any suspect.
Some sources say the number of Internet security
breaches m ay have doubled from 1993 to 1994. The
size of the problem is really unknown; often hacking
is done for the hell of it, and most IInns don't report
hacking incidents for fear of losing cl ients who do
not want to h e tied into permeab le systems.
The Press says a lead ing security software expert
has released a programme cal led Satan that goes
though a computer n etwork and compiles a l ist of
flaws that could be exploited. Snifter programmes
have been developed which can suss out passwords,
or track people who read particular newsgroups or
conferences - both techn iques of interest to spies,
govern ment agent.s, and so on .
Peace Researcher
Internet, and other systems used by companies dealing
with all sorts of sen sitive information, are not safe
places to operate ifyou do not wan t to be hacked. For
intelligence agencies the concerns are made much
greater by the potential reach via networks of
employees who may have been persuaded by other
countries to pass on m i litary or economic information.
Internet is presently creating n ightmares for the
spooks. And on top of all the other prob lems, law
enforcement agencies are faced with the system being
used to broadcast information on the manufacture of
weapons and other potential terrorist activities. In the
US, recipes for making napalm have appeared on the
Internet. The FBI says this is protected under the
constitutional right to free speech. In New Zealand
school students have picked up methods for making
bombs in their own back-yards.
At the moment it seems as though Internet and related
activities are prov id in g a real chal l enge to the
capab i lity of state authorities to both protect secrets,
and spy on the secrets of others. But evidence is that
the spook agencies usually get the resources necessary
to keep ahead of their civil ian targets. Undoubted ly
there w i l l b e a fu l l-scale effort to overcome the
prob l e m s with wh i ch n e w communications
technology has presented them.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
CLEAN-UP COSTS
It w i l l take seventy five years to repair the
environmental damage caused domestically by the
nuclear weapons programme of the United States.
It could cost $US375 b i l l ion to do it. Some sites
are too contaminated to be cleaned up and will
just have to be fenced off.
These figures are reported in New Scientist [April
15, 1995], quoting the US Department of Energy.
The journal says that more than one third of the
money would n eed to be spent on two of the worst
affected areas - the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
in Washington State, and the Savannah R iver site
in South Carolina.
Facilities at both these sites were responsible for
the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Savannah River also produced tritium. At the
moment Washington spends about $6 b i l l ion each
year on the clean-up of such sites.
Page 13
 ASI O .. MORE ON A M U RKY PAST
Warren Thomson reviews ASIO - An Unofficial History, by Frank Cain.
[Spectrum Publications, Victoria, Australia, 1 994]
I n the last few years there has been a steady stream of
books and media items about various aspects of the
Australian intelligence organisations. Perhaps this is
why in Cain's words there is "a range ofaccountability
measures that probably puts Australia ahead of other
Western nations i n their attempts to control their
intelligence organisations".
Cain is an Australian historian and no apologist for
the Australian Security Intell igence Organisation
(ASIO). He documents its resistance to governmental
control, its years of all-distorting anti-communist
crusades, the hostility to the Labor Party, and the
insidious pressures from close relationships with
Australia's aIlies. He postulates that the infamous
Petrav affa i r of the 1 9 5 0 s , which entrenched
conservative paranoia and gave ASIO its platform for
vast expansion, was in fact largely engineered by
ASIO itself.
The reasons for the establ ishment of ASIO were the
need to defend Australia from threat posed by Soviet
spies, and to persuade Washington that Canberra could
be trusted with top secret information. Neither reason,
says Cain, was justified by the end results.
Australian postwar governments wanted to be part of
key weapon s development programmes with the
British, using Woomera as a testing facility. The US
refused to share information with the British on the
(spurious) grounds that there had been a leak of a
secret paper from Australian sources. The evidence
ofa leak was feeble and the story never substantiated.
Nevertheless, the U S continued to deny Austral ian
participation in top secret programmes. Evidence of
Soviet spies appeared occas iona l l y as various
diplomats were despatched home with maximum
fanfare from the conservative press. But little evidence
of a real threat 10 Australia transpired.
The Soviet spy threat (such as it was) is now a less
than compelling justification for organisations like
ASIa. So the enduring raison d'etre of counter­
espionage agencies mostly h inges on the insistence
that a government cannot be in the el ite western
intelligence club unless it demonstrates that it can
enforce top security. Cain quotes an early ASIO
director:
"I am quite certain that any suggestion of a doubt of
Page 14
the continued existence of the Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation would seriously affect the
supply of secret information not only to the Australian
Security Intelligence Organisation, but also to other
Government Departments and instrumentalities."
And this rationale continues today, in New Zealand!
Aotearoa, to bind us tightly to the predispositions of
the handful of people who have input into intelligence
decisions. Unless we have total secrecy, we don't have
bases like Waihopai. Unless we 'contribute' through
such bases, wc don't belong to the club. If wc don't
get to play the big boy's game we don't get supplied
with the ' i nside stories' and our Prime Minister
doesn't feel important. (No matter that he couldn 't
tell a real story from a setup anyway.) It is of interest
that Signals Intelligence secrets (i.e., those which
would pertain to our own GCSB) were a prime reason
given for the setting up of ASIO.
Cain's book deals mostly with earlier ASIO history ­
where parts have emerged from the archives.
Nevertheless it confinns that such organisations must
be under tight scrutiny (if they are al lowed to exist)
so that they are not able to manipulate the political
system.
This "Unofficial History" casts serious doubts on the
Petrov affair, with some quite hilarious disclosures.
For instance, Petrov claimed to have delivered sums
of money to the Communist Party of Australia in $25
notes - which did not exist! He claimed to have given
them to the General Secretary of the party at a time
the General Secretary was actually under the direct
surveil lance of ASIO officers in a different location.
Cain suggests that ASIO manufactured evidence for
the public enquiry, and that Prime Minister Menzies
planned the date of the 195.1 election around the
' revelations' about Petrav.
Of interest to New Zealanders are ASIO's efforts to
implicate lan Milner in Soviet spy allegations. Milner
was a diplomat from this country who played a leading
role in international organisations. According to Cain,
ASIO wanted Milner linked with an earlier unsolved
leak of secret information, and "it was necessary to
maintain the fiction that Mi lncr was the real spy
behind 'the Case'''.
In the 1970s ASIO was alarmed by actions of the
Peace Researcher
Whitlam Government and by the determination of
Attorney-General Murphy to gain access to ASIO
files. And the 1 971 national L abor Conference had
come very close to voting to dissolve ASIO. I n the
end, says Cain:
" It m ust have been disappointing to Prime
Minister Whitlam that however much he tr ied to
br ing ASIO under firmer government control and
accountability the closeness and secrecy of the
brotherhood of intelligence organisations made
such a goal unachievable."
Cain m akes the point that Prime Minister Whitlam
saw the notorious telegram from the CIA, threatening
to break inte l l igence links with Austr alia over
gover nment actions, only because there was a
temporary Director-General at the time who brought
it to his attention. Some commentators believe that
this telegram was crucial to the decision of Governor­
General Kerr to terminate the Whitlam Government.
[n 1 983 Bob Hawke was confronted with ASIO
evidence that David Corn be, a former national
secretary for the ALP was anti-CIA, had trips overseas
paid for by M oscow, and had been ensnared by a
Soviet agent named Ivanov. Cain wr ites that ASIO's
Combe dossier contained "many errors" and that
J ustice Hope's enquiry into the affair was coloured
by his belief in a monolithic and threatening Soviet
imper ialism and a ubiquitous KGB. He concludes that
" in fact the Combe-Ivanov affair reflected badly on
ASIO. It convinced many in the ALP and in the
government that the long-established policy ofmaking
A S I O m or e accountable s h o u l d be q u i ckly
implemented".
In an interesting sideline to his account of the Combe
affair, the wr iter reveals that ASIO concluded the 1 983
film Allies (widely shown in NZ peace movement
circles) was " part of a KGB backed disinformation
campaign" that was trying to undermine Australia's
security. The erroneous ASIO allegations are shown
clearly by Cain to be the result of insidious bias,
incompetence, or both.
The book also highlights ASIO efforts to prevent
ministerial direction of its activities. In the furore over
the Corn b e affair, Cabinet M i n i sters wer e not
Peace Researcher
perm itted to read ASIO files and had to sit listening
to the excerpts that the Director-General deemed fit
for them to hear.
The last chapter in Cain's 'Unofficial History' gives
com pr ehens ive coverage of changes i n A S I O
legi slation in t h e 1 970s a n d 1 980s. T h e 1986
amendments, under a Labor Government make for
an interesting compar ison with New Zealand. Some
of ASIO's powers were widened, but generally some
of the more insidious activities of the organisation
were reined in (at least in legal terms). Emphasis
m oved fr om the pr o blematic ' subver s io n ' to
politically motivated violence. "An overriding clause
was also added making it clear that ASIO had no
power to limit the r ight of a person to engage in lawful
advocacy, protest or dissent."
Most importantly, m i n i ster i a l contr o l was
strengthened with the author isation of the Attorney­
General to issue guidelines to be laid befor e
Par liament, with deletions as required for secrecy.
Written notice has to be issued where the Director­
General makes a decision contrary to the guidelines.
A copy of this written statement m ust go to the
Inspector-General ofIntelligence and Security.
The office oflnspector-General, set up by a separate
par liamentary act, is to ensure the intelligence
organisations do not interfere unnecessar ily with the
privacy of citizens or permanent residents. The 1986
Act set up a joint Par liamentary Committee, made up
ofseven MPs. This is " hedged about with restrictions",
but, Cain says, "represented an important if limited
break-through in pr oviding for par l iam entary
supervision and inspection of ASIO's activities". New
Zealand has neither of these bodies.
ASIO - An Unofficial History presents a good coverage
of the m urky past ofthis intelligence organisation and
the secret part it has played in Australian politics. Cain
concludes that given the supervisory legislation of
recent years, ASIO might rise to the challenge ofreal
criminal/econom ic threats to Australia. For readers
in this country, we can only cogitate on the appalling
absence of par l i am entary over s ight, and the
impossibility of knowing what heights or depths our
intelligence agencies might reach.
Page 15
 SElJING SPIES iN AUSTRALIA?
Representatives of Chinese pro-democracy groups in
Australia have claimed that Beijing has "spies" who
are intimidating members of the ethnic Chinese
community in Australia. These informants are said to
be threatening and harassing business people, students,
and pro-democracy activists. Chinese living in
Australia who have business dealings with China have
been told their business links would suffer if they
supported the pro-dem ocracy movement.
[Christchureh Press, March 1 1 , 1 995]
IRAQI INTElLIGENCE HEAD FlEES
Wafiq Samaraii, head of Iraqi military intelligence
during the Gulf War, fled to Saudi Arabia after an
abortive coup, the New York Times reported in mid­
March. The general tried to co-ordi nate opposition
forces in the north and south of Iraq to overthrow
Saddam Hussein but I raq i troops. and the key
Republican Guards, did not support him. Samaraii (or
al-Samarrai ' i ) claimed Iraq had 80 hidden Scud
missiles and several mob i l e launchers which spy
satel lites had not detected. He also said Hussein sti l l
had 200 anthrax bombs.
PUSH TO CUT US INTElLIGENCE FOR UN
When UN peacekeepers were pulled out of Somal ia
earl ier t h i s year, s i g n ificant U S i nte l l igence
information was left beh ind. Among boxes of
'
abandoned m aterial were reports of confidential
interviews with Somali informers, daily intell igence
on the political situation. and documents detail ing
sources and methods of US Intel ligence-gathering.
Leading Republicans have used this as another reason
to cut off W ash ington contributions to U N
peacekeeping operations, and insist that there be no
sharing of inte l l igence information with the United
Nations. It is not clear whether US officials failed to
handle the material properly; some of the documents
were stamped "Noforn" which means they should not
be given to foreigners. [Press, March 1 8, 1 995]
CRAYS NO LONGER IN SEASON
Cray Computer, which supplies (or supplied) the
supercomputers the National Security Agency uses
for code-busting, has gone bust itself. The company
has filed for bankruptcy. Only a handful of Cray's
gigantic capacity machines were ever sold. A spin­
off from the company, called C ray Research, is now
the only remaining US supercomputer business. NSA
may havdo go to the Japanese if it wants to upgrade
Page 16
the most advanced computer systems in the world.
[Press, May 2, 1 995]
US SPIES ON RUSSIAN BORDER
Russia has released three Americans who were
videotaping sensitive areas of Russia's border with
China, according to the Itar-Tass News Agency. US
officials confirmed that the men have been released.
The videotapes, shot in an area about 1 50 kilometres
south-west ofVladivostok, were confiscated.
PALESTINIAN PRISONER DIES UNDER
ISRAELI TORTURE
An officer of the I sraeli intelligence services has been
suspended from duty after a suspected Islamic m i litant
died i n the hands of the Shin Bet inte l l i gence
organisation. The victim, Abdel-Samad Harizat, aged
29, was from the West Bank town of Hebron.
Pathologists found he had died as a result of torture
when being questioned about possible plans by Hamas
to attack targets in Israel. [Press, May 2 , 1 995]
WOMAN SPIED FOR NAZI GERMANY
A recent NZPA story reveals that Dorothy O'Grady,
a land lady at a seaside resort, produced detailed plans
ofBritish defence systems for the Nazis. She recorded
positions of troops and fortifications, and details of
an early radar system on the Isle of Wight. O'Grady
was apparently caught several times i n prohibited
areas. She was tried and sentenced to hang in 1 940. A
miscarriage ofj ustice was held to have occurred, and
her sentence was reduced to ten years. She c laimed to
be innocently walking her dog when the incursions
happened. Some aspects of the whole affair are still
unclear. She is said to have been found, more than
once, cutting com m un ications wires - not the
behaviour of a person wanting to secretly report on
defences. No account is given ofhow information was
to get to Germany. Given the name O'Grady, one
m i ght specu l ate that the woman was trying to
undermine the English for reasons ofIrish patriotism.
She died in 1 985.
A LImE TRAMP - OR A SUBVERSIVE?
Charlie Chaplin was under surveil l ance by Switz
police during his life in Switzerland. [Christchurch
Press, May 1 9, 1 9 9 5 ] A lthough he was not
systematically watched or phone-tapped, Chaplin was
seen as a communist sympathiser and had security
files kept on him. He l ived near Lake Geneva from
1 953 until 1 977.
Peace Researcher
 ACRONYMS AN D OTH E R
ESOTE RIC AN I MALS
(We suggest you cut this out and learn afew terms to sprinkle about at meetings
where everybody else sounds as though they know something you don 't.)

ABC Anti-Bases Campaign group focussing on Organisation running U S sate l lite/photo

N Z ' s m i litary and intelligence links with operations
other countries.
NSA National Secnrity Agency. US Siginl
ASIO A u s t ralian Secu rity Intelligence organ isation which leads U K U SA
Organisation. Domestic anti-spy and anti­ operations. B i gger than F B I and CIA
terrorist agency combined. Headquarters at Fort George C
Meade in Maryland.
ASIS Australian Secret Intelligence Service
C a n be rra ' s overseas spy and covert N U RRUNGAR Ground Station for defence/
operations agency. intelligence satellite early warning signals,
South Australia.
BLACK B I RC H U S Naval Observatory near
B le nheim NZ. Collects star data for missile PINE GAP Key CIAINSA satel lite receiver base
guidance. Due to close 1 996. near Alice Springs, Australia. Key part of
Sigint spying.
C IA C e ntral Intelligence Agency.
Washington' s spy, counterspy, and covert SIGINT Signals Intelligence. Data acquired by
operations agency. spying on communications (eg p h 0 n e ,
fax, radio) and e lectronic noise given off
DSD Defence Signals Directorate. Australia's by radar, m issiles and other equipment.
Sigint agency.
SIS Security Intelligence Service. N Z
GCHQ Government C o m m unications organisation to counter domestic spies and
Headqnarters. Britai n ' s super-secret 'subversives'. (Note: NZ has no equivalent
Sigint organisation.Central headquarters at of overseas spy agencies like ASIS or MI6)
Chelte nham.
TA N G IM O A N A G C S B C om m u n i cation
GCSB Government Communications Security interception base near Marton, New
Bureau. New Zealand's Sigint agency. Zealand. Listens to radio signals across a
wide section of the Pacific region.
LANGLEY Virginia HQ of the CIA.
U K U S A United Kingdom/United States
MI5 Military Intelligence Five (obsolete
term) Agreement. B a s i s of g lobal S i gint
Sometimes known as the Security Service network of UK, US, Aus, Can, NZ. Now
Britain ' s domestic counte r-espionage encompasses as third parties Japan and the
organisation. US's NATO allies. Signed in 1 947, and
so secret it was not o ffi c i a l l y
MI6 Military Intelligence Six (obsolete term) acknowledged in NZ for 40 years.
Often referred to as the Secret Service
Britain's overseas spy and covert action WAI HOPAI Site of GCSB eavesdropping base
agency. near Blenheim, NZ. One large satellite dish
inte rcepts com m u n ications via
NRO National Reconnaissance Office international sate l lites.

Peace Researcher Page 11

 Or.BIPl19l!l\!Y
RO N S M ITH
Ron Smith died of cancer in June 1995, aged 74. l'eace
Researcher 3 ( December 1994) ran an extract from
his self-published autobiography "Working C lass Son:
My Fight Against Capitalism And War. Memoirs of
Ron Smith, A New Zealand Communist". Getting the
book finished and pub l ished was a race against
mortality once he was told he had terminal cancer,
with only a few months to go.
Ron Smith was a communist. Not an ex-communist,
not a socialist or any other form of "ist". Nope, Ron
was a commo and bloody proud of it. "Well, I had
chosen my target - communism, the elimination of
exploitation of man by man, the socialisation of the
means of production, the ending of imperialist wars,
the equality of men and women and of nations and
peoples - and I was sticking to it". He was an active
member of the Communist Party of New Zealand
(now the Socialist Workers Party) from 194 1 until
the expulsion of the entire Wellington District in 1970.
He promptly got involved in firstly, the Marxist­
L e n i n i st Organisation and then the Workers
Communist League until the latter's demise in 1990.
He ended up a communist without a party but a
communist nonetheless. He was perfectly happy to
admit the mistakes that obviously happened.
Ran grew from the appalling poverty of Depression
Wellington to become a h ighranking public servant.
But he never abandoned his class or his political faith.
That is striking in itself. He spent 43 years in the public
service, starting as the lowly clerk responsible for
working out the nation's annual income tax bill on a
manual adding machine (one year he was out by one
penny! ) and ending as a senior officer of the Statistics
Department. He was the "bread king" ofNew Zealand,
the man who regulated bread prices in the 1940s era
of total price control. He retired before the public
service was gutted. Throughout this whole time he
was a high profile communist, peace activist and PSA
activist. Working life was never dull.
Ron was a lifelong peace activist. He ended up in the
Waiouru cells when conscripted for the "imperialist"
WWIl. His attitude changed when Hitler invaded the
Soviet Union and he finished the war as an Air Force
volunteer, see i n g firsthand the devastation of
carpetbombing Germany. After his retirement from
Page 18
Murrey Horton
the workforce he became a ful ltime peace movement
worker and a familiar public figure in Wellington.
He never lacked personal courage. He was a
Communist Party parliamentary candidate throughout
the coldest days of the Cold War; he was physically
battered by outraged Tories when he asked Bolger a
question at National's 1987 election Leader's Rally
(providing the classic photo on the book' s cover); he
chained himself to machinery building the Waihopai
spybase and was arrested; he was arrested twice at a
protest at the US facility at Nurrungar, Australia. He
and I were among those who spent a physically
exhausting month in the Philippines, confronting the
US bases and their triggerhappy local defenders. He
lasted better than me. He was relentless in quest of
material for h i s weekly peace programme on
W e l l ington ' s Access Rad i o . He astounded an
American sailor by recording the 01 haggling over
the price with an Olongapo hooker. Ron was never
afraid to front up and he always did so with the utmost
good humour and the good manners drummed into
his generation.
It's as a veteran peaee activist that Ron was best known
to the Anti Bases Campaign. He was involved in it as
long as I can remember - he was at the first wave of
base protests back in the early 1970s, including the
unforgettable Mount John one. He was in every ABC
action I can remember and he played a leading role in
the 1990 Touching the Bases Tour. While the rest of
us silly buggers were climbing Black Birch in a
blizzard, Ron whipped up a petition against the
impending Gulf War, organised a march through staid
Blenheim and colleeted several hundred signatures.
He was unstoppable. He was a centrepiece in the
nuclear free campaign, the frigates campaign, annual
Hirosh ima Day observances and in organising
Veterans for Peace. He was a central figure in
Wellington CND and was always 1 0 be found in the
national office of Peace Movement Aotearoa. After
retiring he made six lengthy overseas trips on peace
movement business, getting in the front line from the
Phil ippines to Tahiti and Australia.
Ron was an ABC member and generous to a fault - in
the space of a mere two years, he donated $675 to the
CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account which keeps me
alive. He donated $ 1 00 when we appealed for funds
Peace Researcher
to pay Moana Cole's Harewood fine. Dying did not
dim Ran's spirit. Right up unti l his death he was active
in peace campaigns i n Welli ngton, the last one being
against the visiting British warship.
G etti n g hi s book out was a tri um ph i n any
circum stances, let alone whi lst racing against terminal
cancer. Four publi shers rejected it as "commercially
not viable". More fool them . It is that rarity, real
people's history, not the academic rendering of the
official version. It comes complete with a fulsomely
glowi n g foreword by Vincent O ' S u l li van who
descri bed Ran as a man who was "so right, so early,
about so much that i s now central to what most of us
believe". " Worki n g C l ass Son" stands as the
permanent record of a man who was sti l l able to face
himself sq uarely i n the mirror and say "I did my bit".
That bit m akes quite a story.
Despite being i n the same movement for quarter o f a
century, I only came to know Ron from the late 19805
onwards. We became friends. I hadn't seen him since
1 993 but we kept i n touch by Ictter and I always rang
him when i n Welli ngton. I'll miss him - he was a
livewire, a very likeable man, with great sense of
humour and humanity. He is an enormous loss to
Carmen, his children and grandchi ldren, to his
m anifold friends in Wellington and throughout New
Zealand. Most of all, he i s a great loss to the m ovement
i n this country. People like Ron are all loo rarc.

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"Tell the President hit ball is behind the oak. 50 yard, past the green,"

About Peace Researcher

Peace Researcher is published q uarterly by the A nti-Bases cam paign, Chrislchurch. The editors are Warren
Thom son and Bob Leonard. Our journal covers a range of peace i ssues wilh emphasis on foreign military
bases and intelli gence topics. Contributed articles wi ll be considered for publication based on subjecl matter
and space requirements. We are particularly interested i n reports of original research on peace topics i n
Aotcaroa and the wider region ofA ustralasia and the Pacific.

Our address is:

Peace Researcher
P.O. Box 2258
Christchurch
Aotcaroa! New Zealand

Peace Researcher
 MOVE TO O UTLAW LAS E R BLI N D I NG
Lasers, currently used for purposes such as range­
finding and target designation, are being developed
as. anti-personnel weapons. Hand-held weapons that
�ould blind humans could be deployed in a few years.
C�lIs are being made to prevent this happening.
There is virtually no way to protect soldiers against
multi-wavelength lasers that make no sound and can
hit a target over a kilometre away. The weapons are
light-weight, likely to be relative,W inexpensive, and
leave no ballistic evidence behind:
Multinational Monitor, [January/February 199 5]
reports that the US Army Cobra research programme
has been developing this technology for some years,
and has field tested more than 1 1 00 Cobra laser rifles.
Corporations d e v e l o p i n g t h e system i n c l u d e
McDonne l l Douglas Electronics, A l l ied·Signal
Aersospace Company, and a Lockheed subsidiary.
The journal says that the US Government opposes
controls on the basis that the weapon is "nonlethal"
and therefore superior to many alternatives.

Blindness, the inevitable result of being hit, is regarded

KIDS WANT A-BOMB
as one of the worst forms of disability, with victims
MEMORIAL
losing 80-90% of sensory stimulation. There is no
The Bulletin of the Atomic S cientists [Marchi
recovery from destruction of the retina. lonathan
Apri l , 1 9 9 5 ] reports s c h o o l c h i l dren i n
Power [Toronto Star, March I, 1994] claims the laser
Albuquerque (New Mexico) wanted to build a
rifle would inevitably become the a la mode weapon
monument for peace, and started a project to get
for guerilla forces, mafiosi, drug gangs, and terrorist
a peace garden at Los Alamos. The Manhattan
groups.
Project, which produced the world's first atomic
bombs, took place at Los Alamos.
Sweden and the International Committee of the Red
Cross are calling for anti-personnel lasers to be placed
Some local residents and Los Alamos officials
in the same banned category as chemical weapons.
object to the garden, which will contain a peace
(They are also calling for landmines to be outlawed).
statue similar to the one at Hiroshima. They
Peter Herby writes that 26 major nations have already
believe it implies criticism of the role that Los
supported a new protocol on blinding lasers, with only
Alamos played in the creation of the bomb.
the United States opposed. [Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, March/April 1995]
Meanwhile the statue project has spread across
the USA and around the world. The Bulletin
Thes proposal . for a ban will be put forward at the
reports that since 1990 when the idea arose, there
Review Conference of States Parties to the 1980 UN
have been pledges of support from more than
Convention on "Certain Conventional Weapons". The
convention will take p lace next October.
4 1 ,000 children in all 50 states and 5 3 countries.
Representatives of the New Zealand and Australian
Anyone in t h i s country l ooki n g for an
Governments have indicated support for a protocol
banning the weapons.
international peace project to get invol ved i.n? )
�------

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