Pine Gap: Close to God's Ear: NSA Eavesdropping Memoirs

by David Rosenberg

Overview

In 1966, The United States and Australia signed a treaty that allowed the establishment of a jointly-run satellite tracking station just south of Alice Springs. The station became known as Pine Gap. For more than 50 years it has operated in a shroud of secrecy and has been the target of much public and political controversy. In this fascinating glimpse into the top-secret world of military surveillance, discover how the fallout of controversies such as the Edward Snowden leaks have made the ethics of eavesdropping more important than ever. Pine Gap is the first book of its kind – an accurate report of what happens within the secure walls of an NSA satellite ground site, from an insider's perspective. A firsthand account from someone who held a Top Secret security clearance allowing him into the "nerve center" of Pine Gap - Operations, it is a rare publication—written by an NSA officer about his experience in the field. The book exposes the NSA's overseas operation in Australia and required both United States and a foreign government's approval to publish. Pine Gap details the NSA's signals intelligence operations at a satellite ground site, and David Rosenberg is the first to speak out about this type of intelligence collection, providing an insider's account of the eavesdropping mission at Pine Gap and the partnership between the United States and Australia that has made Pine Gap the most important satellite ground site in the Intelligence Community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781098305918
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	08/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	294
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

David Rosenberg worked for the NSA for 23 years, including 18 years as an American representative in Operations at the Joint Defense Facility Pine Gap in Alice Springs. As an Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) signals analyst and manager for his team, he was responsible for his team's efforts in evaluating the function, capabilities, performance, and vulnerability assessment of all types of radar, associated weapon systems such as Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs), ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and countermeasure techniques / tactics from countries that posed a military threat to the United States. When he left the agency, he was the United States government's longest serving technical liaison officer in Australia.

He has spoken at intelligence conferences and corporate events, as well as contributing to discussions about Pine Gap on various radio and television programs. He is the technical and creative consultant to the major Screentime television production 'Pine Gap' for Netflix, providing believability in an Operations environment and signals intelligence collection scenarios, character development, Operations dialog, set design, and computer simulation display of signals.

He enjoys community service work, having held vice-chairman and fundraising chairman roles on two charities. He currently resides in Sydney with his wife and family.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Professor Desmond Ball xi

Preface: Narrowing the Gap xvii

Part I Getting In

1 Who Am I? 3

2 The New Recruit 19

3 The Mission 35

4 On The Other Side of the World 55

Part II Getting Down to Business

5 George HW Bush (1989-92) Operation Desert Storm; the end of the Cold War 73

6 Bill Clinton (1993-2000) Somalia; Russia; Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo; Al-Qaeda 87

7 George W Bush (2001-08) China; Afghanistan and the War on Terror; Iraq; North Korea 107

8 Career's End / Going Native 129

Part III Getting Around

9 No Town Like Alice 139

10 Protests and Aliens 153

Part IV Getting Out

11 The Singer and the Spy 163

12 Time to Leave 169

Epilogue: Beyond the Agency 177

Afterword: The Ethics of Eavesdropping 187

Appendix A The Pre-Publication Review Board (PRB) 211

Appendix B The Intelligence Community 215

Appendix C Offer of Employment from the CIA 217

Appendix D Offer of Employment from the NSA 219

Appendix E Some US Government Employee Overseas Benefits (1990-2008) 221

Glossary 225

Notes 229

Select Bibliography 239

Picture Credits 242

Acknowledgements 243

Index 247