20/20 today had a segment on the operation of the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau), the trading name of the NSA in New Zealand. This was motivated by the recent publication of Nicky Hagers book "Secret Power" which goes into great detail about the operation of the GCSB (it has floor plans of the monitoring stations, details of operations, staff, names and contact numbers, etc etc - it's a very well researched book covering the day-to-day running of an intelligence agency). In the 20/20 segment, Nicky and a reporter managed to get through the security perimeter at the Waihopai base with a camera and ladder, climbed up to the windows, and shot footage of the interior of the base through improperly-closed curtains. The main operations room had racks of equipment which is hard to identify (it's not a very good shot), along with tables containing PClone monitors and HP II's[1]. Unfortunately the resolution isn't good enough to show what's being displayed on the monitors. Another shot of an office showed a desk with Intelsat operations manuals, providing, for the first time, direct proof of whose traffic is being monitored - not the Russians, not the Chinese, but NZ's pacific neighbours and trading partners. The intercepted traffic is then passed straight back to the NSA for analysis. AFAIK there's never been any direct, documented proof of what these bases are intercepting - the dishes are pointed in the right direction for intercepting Intelsat transmissions, but the various agencies have been able to deny the nature of the interception. The footage of operations manuals on a desk would seem to prove beyond a doubt that the agencies are engaged in large-scale interception and monitoring of civilian communications. It was rather unfortunate that the program was shown at the same time as the political leaders debate on another channel (we have an election in four days time), because virtually noone will have watched 20/20. Peter. [1] Given that the windows looked like plain glass and that these things have a control zone that reaches halfway to Antarctica, I'd love to park outside the base with certain pieces of receiving equipment...