GCSB Waihopai

Story

The Waihopai Station is a secure communication facility, located near Blenheim, run by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau. Several protests and disputes surrounding its use and the wider implications of the information gathered has gained the facility some local and international notoriety.FunctionThe construction of a new station on 30 hectares of stony ground was authorised by the Prime Minister David Lange and Finance Minister Roger Douglas in 1987. Gerald Hensley comments that Lange: "was ready to work with the Australians .... international communications were shifting to satellites.... Lange was regularly briefed by me and despite his later claims knew exactly what was involved and why the station was needed..... The Australians were building a similar one at Geraldton and their Defence Minister explained to the PM why the two installations separated by five time zones would enhance the benefit to both countries."It has been operating since 1989, and was expanded with the construction of a second interception dish in 1998. It is described as a satellite communications monitoring facility in the Waihopai Valley, near Blenheim. The facility has been identified by MP Keith Locke as part of ECHELON, the worldwide network of signals interception facilities run by the UKUSA consortium of intelligence agencies, which shares global electronic and signals intelligence among the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.