Nvidia's Taipei Office Raided As Taiwan's AI Chip-Smuggling Dragnet Results In Arrests

Taiwanese prosecutors have detained an Nvidia employee and searched the chipmaker's Taipei office, the first time the island's criminal investigation into the diversion of restricted AI hardware to China has reached inside the company whose processors sit at the center of it.

The Keelung District Prosecutors Office said Tuesday it had detained a man surnamed Chang on suspicion of falsifying business documents under the Criminal Code, after investigators searched his home and his workplace on July 24. Prosecutors said Chang is "strongly suspected of having committed the offences, and that there is a risk of flight, destruction of evidence, and collusion with accomplices or witnesses." A court granted the detention request.

The statement did not name Nvidia. Bloomberg first reported that Chang works for the company and that the search covered his desk at Nvidia's Taipei office, and Bloomberg's sources said the detention also involves an allegation of breach of trust. Prosecutors have not accused Nvidia of any wrongdoing.

Seven people are now being held in the case, including two from Super Micro Computer and one from Taiwan-listed Albatron Technology. Chang is the first known Nvidia employee to face detention in a chip diversion case anywhere.

The investigation opened in May, when Taiwanese officials said they were examining the shipment of high-end AI servers built by Super Micro and containing restricted Nvidia chips to China, Hong Kong and Macau in violation of US export controls. Those held are accused of forging documents to move roughly 50 Super Micro servers. Some cleared Taiwanese customs and were routed to China through Japan, an official previously told AFP.

Taiwanese media have described Chang as a senior business-development manager and reported that prosecutors are examining end-user and know-your-customer documentation he is alleged to have signed off on - the paperwork layer that export compliance depends on. Prosecutors have released no further detail on his role or the evidence.

Nvidia, whose chips power most of the world's advanced AI systems, said it sells primarily to established partners and original equipment manufacturers that help ensure compliance with US export rules. "Smuggling is a nonstarter," a spokesperson said. "Even relatively small exporters and shipments are subject to thorough review and scrutiny on both sides of the globe, and any diverted products would have no service, support, or updates."

https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/nvidias-taipei-office-raided-taiwans-ai-chip-smuggling-dragnet-results-arrests

REVEALED: Here Are the Mainstream Journalists on China’s Payroll

The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, NPR, the Associated Press, Vox, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and more…

The identities were buried.

Foreign-agent filings reveal that operatives working for a Chinese Communist Party-linked influence organization planned free trips for American journalists based on the potential for “favorable coverage” and sought to “effectively disseminate positive messages” about Beijing.

But the filings did not plainly identify the reporters who received the access.

By cross-referencing the filings with archived newsletters, annual reports and contemporaneous accounts, this investigation has uncovered the names of prominent American journalists who participated in China trips organized or funded by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, or CUSEF.

The roster includes current and former journalists from The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, NPR, the Associated Press, Vox, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other major American news organizations.

In several cases, the trips were followed by columns and reports defending Chinese government policies, attacking President Trump’s confrontation with Beijing or presenting the decline of American manufacturing as unavoidable.

CUSEF was founded by Tung Chee-hwa, a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a central component of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front system.

A bipartisan congressional report explains that the United Front seeks to “co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority” of the CCP. Its targets include foreign governments, universities, businesses, media organizations and other institutions capable of shaping public opinion.

CUSEF’s own foreign-agent records reveal how that strategy was applied to the American press.

Washington lobbyists and public-relations firms working for the organization described plans to recruit influential journalists, generate “favorable coverage” and “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding China.

More

https://nataliegwinters.substack.com/p/revealed-here-are-the-mainstream

Nearly 400 Drones Target Moscow Overnight, With Zelensky In Washington Seeking To Sway Trump

Ukraine's long-range drone attacks on Russian territory have long become a nightly thing (as have Russian drones and missiles on Ukraine territory), but it has become clear that these attack waves have grown in volume and effectiveness.

On Tuesday Russian officials are newly acknowledging another massive attack wave on the Moscow region, describing that nearly 400 drones were inbound on the capital overnight.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin indicated that 390 drones had been tracked by anti-air defense systems across the wider Moscow region since Monday night, but said that "most" of them were intercepted - with no forthcoming reports of casualties.

One regional report cited some damage in residential and business areas, however:

In the village of Vaulovo, a private house caught fire in the “Dubrava” dacha community, and a dacha house was damaged in the “Romashkino” community in the village of Dubna. No one was injured.

A warehouse belonging to the logistics company 3PL caught fire in the village of Koledino in Podolsk, outside Moscow, following the attack, the independent Telegram channel Astra reported, citing photos and video from witnesses. A nearby Wildberries warehouse is operating “as normal,” the company reported.

Drones impacted other regions of Moscow, however, and left at least 19 people in the Belgorod region injured. The high rate of injuries was due to an intercity bus being struck.

Ukraine has continued targeting Wildberries warehouses and logistics hubs (the major Russian online retailer which is comparable to Amazon) - an escalating trend since July 18. So far nearly a dozen facilities have been hit across Moscow and the surrounding region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, Voronezh, Tambov, Krasnodar, Stavropol Krai, and Crimea..

Crimea meanwhile continues to struggle to keep the lights on and gas supplies available for the population. Regional reports say power was knocked out for the city of Feodosia overnight, after an electric substation was struck.

Ukraine's President Zelensky has been highlighting the 'success' of the country's drone capabilities to Western backers, and is expected to carry the same message to Washington this week.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nearly-400-drones-target-moscow-overnight-zelensky-washington-seeking-sway-trump

WOW! Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just OBLITERATED Dr. Fauci for lying about the COVID vaccine, getting a PULMONARY side effect and HIDING IT from us

"He got vaccinated very publicly…then 5 months later, we know from the diary, he had a pulmonary INFARCTION! HE NEVER TOLD ANYBODY." 🤯

"He got treated by the best doctors in America while he told everyone that was NOT an adverse event."

"MILLIONS of people injured. He lied about masks. He lied about social distancing. He lied about transmission. He lied about natural immunity. He lied about the capacity of vaccines to prevent infection."

Fauci must face LEGAL accountability.

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2081882207208063423

AI is the Globalist’s Next Tool

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I had the privilege and honor of working for the late Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko. Zev was one of the most courageous voices for medical freedom, a man who put everything on the line to stand up and demand the truth about COVID – where it came from, how to treat it, and the concerns about the rushed experimental vaccine.

Dr. Zelenko was rightfully concerned about the power of the globalists and their ability to destroy humanity as we know it. Big AI is just the latest weapon for the globalists to deploy in their un-ending quest to remake the planet.

In an interview before his death, Zev said:

“What we’re seeing is the coming together of global dominance under the control of a small group of sociopaths. So it’s not surprising what’s happening. And we are letting it happen. And this has been in the works for four decades so we are in the very verge of global enslavement unless people wake up.”

The small group of sociopaths that Zev warned us about are the very people behind the development of these dangerous and out-of-control AI systems.

The lab leak in Wuhan was used by the globalists to exert unchecked power of humanity for a couple of years – the next AI lab leak could give these globalists unchecked power, not for a couple of years, but for the rest of time.

We are incredibly fortunate that this lab leak was contained quickly, but there is absolutely nothing stopping this from happening again.

And the big AI CEOs are gleefully telling the world that this is only the beginning.

Unbelievably, what happened isn’t covered by any existing regulation. These potentially dangerous unreleased AI models are being developed with absolutely no oversight and no guardrails.

What is probably most terrifying is that this isn’t just one AI developer, indeed OpenAI was following industry “best practices,” and those practices resulted in this dangerous lab leak,

Whistleblowers from OpenAI and other AI companies have been warning that this might happen for years. Indeed, AI whistleblowers have warned that the next AI lab leak could result in a runaway AI system that cannot be controlled.

These whistleblowers have been dismissed by the big AI billionaires and their hordes of DC lobbyists. AI boosters like David Sacks have urged President Trump to allow for “permissionless innovation” – calling for a system that would allow the big AI companies to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and however they want to do it – without any guardrails at all.

We are running out of time to act. Congress must immediately act to put in place guardrails to ensure that these dangerous AI systems are never developed.

Zev warned us about what was happening, he told us that we have begun to worship the god of science, and the god of technology, the god of money and the god of power, but we have forgotten God the creator. It is not too late to heed Zev’s warning and stop the big AI globalists before humanity itself is sacrificed.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-02-22-humanity-on-verge-of-global-enslavement.html

treason pays

https://www.antiwar.com/

Your 2027 Car Will Decide If You Can Drive

What’s coming to your car

Tucked into the 2,702-page Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Biden signed in November 2021 was a provision that few Americans noticed. Section 24220 requires NHTSA to issue safety standards mandating “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” in all new passenger vehicles.

The law gave NHTSA until November 15, 2024 to finalize rules. Enforcement begins no later than September 2027. That deadline is now 18 months away.

The technology involves two main approaches being developed through DADSS (the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program), a 16-year public-private partnership between NHTSA and automakers:

– Breath-based systems: Sensors in the steering column passively measure alcohol in your breath as you breathe normally. The system is designed to distinguish between driver and passenger breath.

– Touch-based systems: Infrared sensors in the start button or steering wheel measure blood alcohol through your skin.

But the law doesn’t stop at alcohol. It also mandates systems to detect “driver impairment,” which means infrared cameras mounted on steering columns or A-pillars tracking your eye movement, pupil dilation, and drowsiness patterns.

If the AI decides you’re impaired (whether from alcohol, fatigue, or distraction), your car can:

– Prevent ignition entirely

– Limit vehicle speed

– Alert you and pull over safely

The safety case

MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has pushed for this mandate for years. Their argument is straightforward: drunk driving kills over 10,000 Americans annually. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates these systems could eliminate those deaths.

That’s not nothing. 10,000 lives is a lot of lives.

But the surveillance apparatus being built goes far beyond detecting 0.08% blood alcohol.

The surveillance you’re actually getting

The law itself doesn’t mandate data sharing. But nothing prevents it either.

Car manufacturers already collect enormous amounts of data.

According to a February 2026 CNN investigation, 90% of new cars track your driving every 3 seconds, monitoring speed, braking, phone use, and exact location. That comes on top of the external tracking from license plate reader networks like Flock. Automakers pocket up to $100 per vehicle annually selling this data to companies like LexisNexis, who package it for insurance companies.

Here’s what happens next:

– Insurance consequences: Only 31% of drivers in telematics programs actually save money. Meanwhile, 24% face higher premiums. Coverage denials stick around for 3-5 years.

Data broker sales: Your biometric data (eye movements, pupil dilation, breath patterns) becomes another product to sell through the same data broker loophole that lets the government buy what it can’t legally demand. Anonymization doesn’t mean much when the data is tied to your VIN.

Over-the-air updates: These systems are software-defined. Manufacturers can expand monitoring capabilities after you’ve purchased the vehicle.

Law enforcement access: Without explicit legal protections, subpoenas and warrants can compel manufacturers to hand over your impairment data, including false positives.

The FTC took action in January 2025, prohibiting General Motors and OnStar from selling driving data for five years without explicit consumer consent. But that ruling only covers GM. Every other manufacturer operates under no such restriction.

https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/federal-car-surveillance-mandate-2027-nhtsa-dadss-privacy-2026/

Five tech giants are hiding $1.65tn in AI debt, using the trick that toppled Enron

Five of the biggest US tech giants are carrying $1.65 trillion in debt that does not show up on their balance sheets, more than the debt that does. It is bankrolling the AI data-centre boom, it is perfectly legal, and it uses the same accounting trick that brought down Enron.

Look at what Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle officially owe, and the numbers seem large but manageable. Look off the books, and a second, bigger pile of debt appears.

A Nikkei study put that hidden figure at $1.65 trillion, up roughly eightfold in four years. It is more than the $1.35 trillion the five report outright.

The Enron echo

The money is tied up in off-balance-sheet vehicles, the same kind of structure Enron used to hide debt before it collapsed 25 years ago. Back then it was fraud. Now, tightened rules and fuller disclosures make it legal.

The tools are still there, though. “Enron’s crime wasn’t having special purpose vehicles,” analyst Gil Luria told Bloomberg Law. “Enron’s crime was hiding them.”

How it works

The mechanics are simple. A company packages the debt for chips, servers, and power into a separate legal entity, often a joint venture, so the cost never flows through its own accounts.

Take Meta’s Hyperion data centre in Louisiana. Meta and Blue Owl Capital both put equity into a separate structure that took on $27 billion in debt. Meta is the sole tenant, yet argues it does not have to record that debt, because it is not the one who must find replacement tenants.

Oracle has $260 billion of future lease commitments that will eventually land on its books. Nvidia carries $119 billion in purchase obligations. Alphabet and Microsoft keep their vehicles off-book too.

The numbers behind the boom

The scale is the story. Meta’s off-balance-sheet debt alone is about $420 billion, nearly triple its reported debt. Oracle’s has grown roughly thirtyfold in four years.

It is all in service of the same race. The industry is expected to spend more than $3 trillion through 2028 building and equipping AI data centres, much of it financed against the chips inside them.

Why it matters now

The timing is awkward. Four of the five report earnings in the next two weeks, and the reported debt will look tidy. The $1.65 trillion sitting in the footnotes will not make the headlines.

The catch is what happens later. When a data centre goes live, its lease rolls onto the balance sheet at once. If AI demand falls short, the facility is marked down, and the loss lands on the lenders and insurers who funded it.

Some already see the risk. S&P has cut Oracle’s credit rating over stretched leverage, and both Morgan Stanley and Moody’s have flagged the wider issue. “What if one of these companies was a house of cards,” asked accounting consultant Tom Selling, “and was propping itself up with this accounting treatment?”

https://thenextweb.com/news/tech-giants-hidden-off-balance-sheet-debt-ai

US coordinated strikes on Iranian targets from Israeli bases during ceasefire, Katz confirms

"We announced in the clearest terms that if Israel is fired upon, we will attack with all our might. We are prepared to strike Iran," Katz warned in an interview with Channel 14.

US Air Force fighter jets and bombers took off from Israeli air bases to carry out strikes on Iran in recent weeks, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in an interview with right-wing TV outlet Channel 14’s “Bitchonistim” on Tuesday.

“The Iranians know” that the jets have taken off from Israel to strike Iran, Katz said.

“The arrogant empire that threatened to destroy Israel has collapsed,” Katz added.

“We announced in the clearest terms that if Israel is fired upon, we will attack with all our might. We are prepared to strike Iran,” Katz warned.

On Monday and Tuesday, the IDF intercepted at least three drones in the Jordanian border region. A source told The Jerusalem Post that the drones were likely launched by Iran-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq. “We know how to manage things, and we are prepared,” Katz said when asked about these developments.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington will discuss Iran, and the “US has interests in Iran that exceed those of Israel,” Katz said.

“Trump understands that Israel will not withdraw from buffer zones in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria,” Katz stated.

“I visited Gaza a week ago; there are still huge tunnels there,” he continued.

“The right timing [to discuss establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip] is the moment it is announced that Hamas did not comply with the ceasefire agreement,” he said.

Katz was also asked about the threat of Turkey and its rhetoric against Israel. “The Muslim Brotherhood axis could be very dangerous… we are responsible for protecting our interests. I suggest to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan not to mess with us,” Katz told Channel 14.

Ben-Gvir says he will not join Netanyahu government without judicial reform

In another Channel 14 interview on Tuesday with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister claimed that the National Security Ministry would remain under the control of his Otzma Yehudit party.

He also stated that he would not be joining Netanyahu’s government without judicial reform, specifically calling out that Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara had been “ousted,” but “they are still inviting her to meetings.”

Ben-Gvir also discussed his reforms in the Israel Police and prison services, saying that, under his leadership, “the police are more free to shoot,” and “terrorists are afraid to enter Israeli prisons.”

He also said that he believed the IDF should have fewer restrictions on opening fire.

“I think that the IDF also needs to be more free against people who throw rocks and Molotov cocktails,” he said, adding, “It isn’t to kill for no reason, but to protect the lives of our citizens. I expect IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth to enable this.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-903898

Mexican government tries to implement biometric registration for mobile phones; millions don’t comply, and the government backs down

1 July was the deadline for Mexicans to register all of the estimated 158 million mobile phone pay-as-you-go SIM cards using their personal biometrics as identification. Non-compliance meant the SIM card would be disconnected and unusable.

But the Mexican government’s policy was defeated by millions of ordinary people who didn’t comply. There was no organised protest, no court cases. Millions just quietly carried on with their lives, Jane Murdoch writes.

By simply not complying, ordinary Mexicans forced one of the most ambitious biometric registration programmes in the world to retreat. At least for now.

https://expose-news.com/2026/07/28/mexican-government-tries-to-implement/

Fauci’s personal diary released — and it’s shocking. Check out some of these quotes, incredible.

Fauci’s private diary. March 2020.

March 21 — “deaths 9800”:

“Big front page article about me appeared in the Washington Post. Very flattering.”

“my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable”

“It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable persons in the world.”

March 22 — “Cases continue to soar. 30,000 in USA with 400 deaths”:

“Press is going wild with me.”

“Front page in Washington Post yesterday and Op Ed by Maureen Dowd in NY Times today about me.”

“Profile by Peter Nicholas on me in The Atlantic.”

He tracked the body count and his press clippings on the same page.

https://citizenwatchreport.com/check-out-some-of-these-quotes-incredible/

This woman who went to George Washington University Hospital to deliver Stickers in all the break rooms on all the floors of the Hospital & looked all over the Hospital even in Labor & Delivery & Mitch McConnell was definitely not there & neither were the Capitol Police inside.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2081839674864140520

Israeli public opinion researcher tells Jewish Insider that Israelis don't understand rising anti-Israel sentiment in the U.S. and "don't believe Israel's own actions have any bearing on U.S. criticism of Israel."

https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2081895886141935752

Ukrainian-Israeli Citizen Sentenced for Multi-Million Dollar Fake Brokerage Scheme

Yaroslav Shilkloper, 50, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel, was sentenced today to four years in prison for his participation in a conspiracy that utilized a sophisticated phony brokerage-business to scam U.S. citizens out of millions of dollars. Shilkloper was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and $1.43 million in restitution to his victims.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Shilkloper and his co-conspirators defrauded victims in the United States of more than $3 million dollars by promising high rates of return on investments made through their “K6 Investing,” “Neotron Holding LTD.,” and “Goldex Technology” companies. As part of the scheme, the defendant provided access to a digital platform that allowed victims to see what they believed were real-time investment performance data. The victims’ money, however, was never invested, but instead diverted and laundered through a series of bank accounts in Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Czech Republic, and elsewhere, all controlled by Shilkloper and his co-conspirators. When victims attempted to withdraw their money, they were prevented from doing so, threatened with legal action, or manipulated into sending more money to the fraud ring.

Shilkloper is the first of three defendants charged in the case to be sentenced. He was extradited from Poland after being arrested there in 2023. Today’s U.S. forfeiture order adds to the $2.8 million already previously returned to the victims as a result of forfeiture proceedings against Shilkloper and co-conspirators in the Republic of Georgia.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Wright of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New Orleans Field Office made the announcement.

The HSI New Orleans Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Ben Tonkin and Justin G. Bish of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter McCreight for the Southern District of Mississippi prosecuted this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Polish authorities to secure the arrest and extradition of Shilkloper.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ukrainian-israeli-citizen-sentenced-multi-million-dollar-fake-brokerage-scheme

Former Senior Bank Executive, Edward Gene Smith, Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison For Sexual Assault, Child Pornography, And Obstruction Of Justice Offenses

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that EDWARD GENE SMITH was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer to 30 years in prison for drugging a female victim (“Victim-1”) with the intent to rape her, enticing another female victim (“Victim-2”) to travel to New York where SMITH drugged and sexually assaulted her, receipt of child pornography, and obstruction of justice. SMITH also admitted to additional conduct relating to other victims.

“Edward Gene Smith is a sexual predator and a serial rapist,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “He spent years hiding behind wealth, education, and status while he committed egregious sexual crimes. He drugged and raped women, documenting his crimes with extensive notes planning how he would torture and punish his victims, and surreptitiously photographing them, while they were nude and unconscious. The defendant also obtained and maintained a trove of thousands of files of child sexual abuse material. The defendant took steps to hide his crimes, and, when he was caught, obstructed the investigation by compelling a victim he had drugged and raped to sign a false letter of support. He is now where he belongs, in prison. Every New York family is safer with the defendant off the streets.”

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in public court proceedings:

Between approximately 2015 and June 2024, SMITH, who was during that approximate time period a senior executive of major financial institutions, planned to drug, attempted to drug, and/or drugged numerous women with the intent to incapacitate them and/or render them unable to consent to sexual activity. SMITH did, in fact, engage in sexual activity with multiple of these women, and, in at least some cases, surreptitiously took videos or photographs of his criminal sexual activity.

At least on or about April 23, 2023, SMITH drugged and raped Victim-1 in his Central Park South residence. Specifically, unbeknownst to Victim-1, SMITH gave Victim-1 one or more alcoholic beverages that he had laced with Klonopin, a controlled substance. After Victim-1 consumed the drugged drink, SMITH physically restrained Victim-1, and raped her while she was unconscious. While Victim-1 was still unconscious, SMITH also took a video of himself sexually assaulting Victim-1, and then shared that video with others via an encrypted messaging platform, on a channel that was dedicated to sharing depictions of incapacitated or unconscious women in sexually exploitative positions.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-senior-bank-executive-edward-gene-smith-sentenced-30-years-prison-sexual

Protestors Want Pine Gap Closed

Pine Gap is a garrison outpost dominated by the U.S. imperium that defiles sacred native land and aids Israel in its cleansing conflict against Palestinians, writes Binoy Kampmark.

It remains a prickly reminder that Australia is an embarrassed vassal of power, annexed to the security interests of another state basking in imperial and fast diminishing splendour.

Pine Gap, known more technically as the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG), is a largely U.S.-operated effort in Alice Springs, Central Australia. As the late scholar of strategic studies Desmond Ball pithily remarked in 1988, it is “an espionage operation. Euphemisms should not be allowed to obscure this essential point.”

It grew out of a desire on the part of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) in 1965 to establish a remote Australian-sited ground control station intended for signals intelligence satellites. Land belonging to the Central Arrernte people was accordingly excised the following year for the site.

The decision, in typically rough fashion, was made without consultation and discussion with local residents or elders, a secret place that became what Trevor Paglen would describe as a “blank space on the map … erased from the public record.”

The facility staffs some 800 personnel from the U.S. National Security Agency (N.S.A.), C.I.A., the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (N.R.O.) and such Australian agencies as the Australian Signals Directorate and Australian Federal Police.

Over the years, the base has become increasingly corporatised with a heavy American accent: Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, IBM and Hewlett Packard. A mere 10 percent of the constituted personnel are said to be Australian government employees.

The base periodically attracts its keen and principled protesters, aghast at the base’s role in furnishing targeting data for U.S. and allied drone and missile strikes across the Middle East and Africa. This year, the Close Pine Gap-Sacred Land Back convergence three days (July 18-20) of activities, with hundreds of participants gathered in Alice Springs to demand the closure of the facility through a series of workshops, panels and woven “threads of anti-militarism and decolonial movements.”

On July 20, a rally of 300 individuals gathered close to the front of the spy base, the largest since 1987, sporting signs and flags and chanting the stock phrases: “shut it down,” “close Pine Gap,” and “always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”

New South Wales Greens Senator David Shoebridge was present, expressing his concern about a “foreign military base setup for the interests of a foreign military” in the service of “right wing politics” and disrespectful of international law.

The base was also a potential target for any adversaries the U.S. might be willing to antagonise, thereby bringing “danger into the heart of our country.”

https://consortiumnews.com/2026/07/27/close-that-facility-the-pine-gap-protests/