Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.200
Object Name
Leaflet
Title
SHUT DOWN MENWITH HILL U.S.-N.S.A. SPY BASE
Date
1980
Description
Yellow leaflet titled "Shut Down Menwith Hill U.S-N.S.A Spy Base. It is a gatefold leaflet, with a yellow background and black text. There is an image of a large circle, which is supposed to be a golfball. The front of the gatefold leaflet reads "located world wide the giant 'golfballs' of the U.S National Security Agency (NSA) hide technology capable of listening to war plans, listening to your phone calls, tracking nuclear missiles,and destroying civil liberties. A technology which steals British and European jobs. A technology which means none of us are safe.They knew the Japanese generals planned to surrender three months before Hiroshima. They knew about the gassing of the Kurds. They know about attempted coups world-wide. They know who sells weapons to the Hutus and Tutsis. They specialise in hidden secrets. They use secrets to ensure U.S. world domination. Women have been arrested hundreds of times trying to stop them. We're trying to blow their cover. Help us." When you open the leaflet there is more information in detailed text. The first section is titled "Why a women's peace camp?." This describes different women'speace camps, and other related gatherings across the 1980s. They describe why the campaign is a women's campaign, stating the importance of women in protest for peace, and to create a space where women can be empowered against the "patriarchal war machine." The next piece of text is titled "The web: making connections." This part states that the campaign rejects all forms of violence against women and children, and how there are connectioms between "war, nuclear testing, rape, the release of man-made ionising radiation, degradation of the environment, injustices to indigenous peoples, poverty and satellite spying." The middle of the leaflet describes the Menwith Hill Spy base, which is the main topic of the leaflet. This reads "The U.S Spy Base at Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, England. It is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world. Some 23 radomes constantly relay information to banks of extremely powerful computers, each of which can sort through more than four million words per minute. Controlled by the U.S National Security Agency (NSA), Menwith Hill can eavesdrop on all the telecommunications in the Northern Hemisphere. This includes overseas and domestic telephone calls, emails, faxes etc." The rest of this section details the extent of the surveillance, and its relationt to nuclear missles. They tie this to large arms dealers ad arms sales. The leaflet descriebes the spread of these kinds of bases and the danger they pose - saying "support the women's peace camp and our campaign to shut down Menwith Hill. Satellite Spying - A Modern Form of Terrorism." The third section of the leaflet poses reasons why people should oppose U.S military spying policy. The reasons they cite are - it is immoral, it is a criminal waste of resources, it violates the freedom of conscience and the right to privacy and it is illegal. There are descriptions with examples with each of these reasons. The back of the leaflet says "shut down Menwith Hill U.S - N.S.A Spy Base" with images of an outline of a woman running on either side. There is also an adress for the peace camp, and descriptions of how to get there, who can stay, a map of the peace camp, and other ways people can get involved in the campaign. The site was considered by the US as suitable for gathering signals intelligence from the northern parts of Western Europe and Eastern Europe, specifically the Soviet Union and its associated Warsaw Pact countries. The Yorkshire Dales' low level of background radio noise made it an especially good location for the task. Menwith Hill came to public attention in 1980 when British magazine the New Statesman published an article which suggested that the station was the world's largest phone tapping facility and highlighted the secrecy afforded to it by the British and US governments. Investigations found that during the early 1960s, Menwith Hill was integrated into the General Post Office's microwave relay network known as 'Backbone', via a high-capacity underground cable link to the Hunters Stones communications tower, located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south of the station. It was alleged the link allowed mass interception of civilian telephone and telex communications between the United States, UK and Europe. Between 1984 and 1995 a number of peace camps were established in close proximity to the station. A number of other individual protests have also taken place, predominantly related to nuclear proliferation and strategic missile defense.Protests also occurred at other US military locations in the UK such as Greenham Common.
