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Welcome to Remote U.S.-U.K. Spy Island

Just what kind of intelligence are the British and Americans trying to intercept through their base on Ascension? In light of recent revelations, it seems highly likely that both are interested in oil espionage in the South Atlantic.

Nikolas Kozloff

By

Nikolas Kozloff, Contributor

New York-based political writer and photographer.

Nov 11, 2013, 10:53 AM EST

|

Updated Jan 23, 2014

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Just how does the U.S. conduct its high-tech espionage? As a result of the Edward Snowden whistle-blowing scandal, the public is developing a keener understanding of the super secret National Security Agency or N.S.A., an entity with truly global reach. Indeed, according to recent reporting, the N.S.A. has its hands in the far-flung South Atlantic no less and takes advantage of a covert island base to spy on Brazil, an up and coming player in the wider region.Details about the secret base, which is located on the remote island of Ascension, are contained in a recent report published by Brazilian magazine Istoé.

The magazine, which claims to have seen documents released by Snowden, reports that the Ascension base carries out a spying program called Echelon. Though the Americans employ Echelon, other Anglo powers such as Britain share such intelligence. According to Istoé, the Ascension base is highly sophisticated and can intercept up to 2 million communications per hour, including telephone conversations, e-mail and social media. After the N.S.A. gets its hands on sensitive information, the agency sends the intelligence from Ascension to another central facility located in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Unlikely Early History

A tiny but strategic British possession measuring some 34 square miles, Ascension lies midway between Africa and South America. The island was originally discovered in 1501 by Portuguese explorers, but sailors were put off by the barren outcropping and didn't even bother to land. Almost three hundred years later, Captain Cook passed by though officers dismissed Ascension which "surpassed all the horrors of Easter Island and Tierra del Fuego."

 

Nevertheless, in 1815 the British deployed marines to the tiny volcanic speck in an effort to deter the French. The military garrison on Ascension, the British reasoned, might prompt France to think twice before attempting to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been exiled and imprisoned on St. Helena, another remote British island to the south. After Napoleon died in 1821 and the French threat receded, the British used Ascension as a naval base to fight the Atlantic slave trade.

With the development of trans-oceanic cables, Ascension finally found itself placed "on the map" as it were. In 1899, the Eastern Telegraph Company arrived on Ascension and gradually the British started to build up a cable and wireless station on the island. Though the British Navy had initially administered Ascension, the Eastern Telegraph Company - which was later renamed Cable and Wireless in 1934 - assumed all such duties until 1964.

 

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