The Five Eye spy bases around the world.
A new batch of Snowden documents offer an unprecedented look into the close relationship of the surveillance agencies of the so-called “Five Eyes” nations and how a close look at a secretive base in New Zealand reveals new details about a global network of listening stations are operating to fulfill the NSA mantra on communications data which says, “Sniff it all, collect it all, know it all, process it all and exploit it all.”
Reported on Saturday by The Intercept in the U.S. and the Sunday Star-Times in New Zealand, the documents offer a detailed look at the “alien-like” station located in Waihopai Valley and reveals who and what kind of information the station targets, its inner workings, and how its operations link to an international network of spy facilities run by the other so-called “Five Eyes”—comprised of the intelligence agencies of the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
With names like “Jackknife,” “MoonPenny,” “Scapel,” and “LadyLove” – the Five Eyes maintain enough listening bases around the world to capture the bulk of the entire planet’s digital and telephonic communications.
Regarding this global network of surveillance stations, the Sunday Star-Times reports:
Altogether, these bases can snoop on the entire world, friend as well as foe.
The leaked documents do not talk about “Waihopai”. They use the station’s secret Five Eyes code name Ironsand (“IS”). It’s not clear why Waihopai is Ironsand.
An NSA map shows it is one of a global network of oddly-named satellite interception stations. These stations are the eyes of the Five Eyes alliance.
Australia has a base near Geraldton, a small port city on the west coast of Australia. Its codename is Stellar.