The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability Expanded Communications Satellite Surveillance and Intelligence Activities utilising Multi-beam Antenna Systems Desmond Ball, Duncan Campbell, Bill Robinson and Richard Tanter Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability Special Report 28 May 2015 Summary The recent expansion of FORNSAT/COMSAT (foreign satellite/communications satellite) interception by the UKUSA or Five Eyes (FVEY) partners has involved the installation over the past eight years of multiple advanced quasi-parabolic multi- beam antennas, known as Torus, each of which can intercept up to 35 satellite communications beams. Material released by Edward Snowden identifies a ‘New Collection Posture’, known as ‘Collect-it-all’, an increasingly comprehensive approach to SIGINT collection from communications satellites by the NSA and its partners. There are about 232 antennas available at identified current Five Eyes FORNSAT/COMSAT sites, about 100 more antennas than in 2000. We conclude that development work at the observed Five Eyes FORNSAT/ COMSAT sites since 2000 has more than doubled coverage, and that adding Torus has more than trebled potential coverage of global commercial satellites. The report also discusses Torus antennas operating in Russia and Ukraine, and other U.S. Torus antennas. Authors Desmond Ball is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University (ANU). He was a Special Professor at the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre from 1987 to 2013, and he served as Head of the Centre from 1984 to 1991. Duncan Campbell is an investigative journalist, author, consultant, and television producer; forensic expert witness on computers and communications data; the author of Interception Capabilities 2000, a report on the ECHELON satellite surveillance system for the European Parliament, Visiting Fellow, Media School, Bournemouth University (2002-). Formerly: Staff Writer, New Statesman: Co- Founder, Stonewall; Co-Founder (1991), Investigation and Production Television: Founder Member, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Bill Robinson writes the blog Lux Ex Umbra, which focuses on Canadian signals intelligence activities. He has been an active student of signals intelligence matters since the mid-1980s, and from 1986 to 2001 was on the staff of the Canadian peace research organization Project Ploughshares. Richard Tanter is Senior Research Associate at the Nautilus Institute and Honorary Professor in the School of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Recommended Citation: Desmond Ball, Duncan Campbell, Bill Robinson and Richard Tanter, “Expanded Communications Satellite Surveillance and Intelligence Activities utilising Multi-beam Antenna Systems,” NAPSNet Special Report, 28 May 2015. 1 http://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/expanded-communications- satellite-surveillance-and-intelligence-activities-utilising-multi-beam-antenna- systems The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Nautilus Institute. Readers should note that Nautilus seeks a diversity of views and opinions on significant topics in order to identify common ground. 2 Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Authors ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Glossary.................................................................................................................................................. 4 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6 2. Five Eyes FORNSAT/COMSAT interception sites .......................................................... 12 2.1 GCHQ Bude, Cornwall ........................................................................................................ 17 2.2 Menwith Hill Station, Harrogate, Yorkshire ............................................................. 20 2.3 Ayios Nikolaos, Cyprus ..................................................................................................... 25 2.4 Seeb, Oman [LECKWITH] ................................................................................................. 28 2.5 Pine Gap, Northern Territory, Australia ..................................................................... 29 2.6 Waihopai, New Zealand .................................................................................................... 32 3. Technical and historical aspects of multi-beam systems ............................................ 38 3.1 Technical aspects ................................................................................................................ 38 3.2 Historical development for orthodox satellite reception .................................... 42 4. Russian and Ukrainian multi-beam communications interception antennas .... 44 4.1 Russian multi-beam system, Klimovsk ....................................................................... 44 4.2 Ukrainian multi-beam system, Ovidiopol-2, Dobroaleksandrovka ................. 48 5. Non-SIGINT U.S. military multi-beam antennas ............................................................. 53 5.1 March Air Force Base, Riverside, California ............................................................. 53 5.2 NSA HQ, Fort Meade, Maryland ..................................................................................... 54 5.3 CIA HQ, Langley, Virginia ................................................................................................. 57 5.4 Fort Belvoir, Virginia ......................................................................................................... 57 5.5 Naval Information Operations Command (NIOC), Suitland, Maryland .......... 58 5.6 Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado .............................................................................. 58 5.7 U.S. Army Transmitter Facility, Egelsbach, Germany ............................................ 59 5.8 Torii Station Teleport, Okinawa .................................................................................... 61 5.9 NASA Langley Research Center, Virginia ................................................................... 61 5.10 ATCi Warrior Satellite Surveillance System ........................................................... 63 Annexe 1: Analysis of satellite terminals at Five Eyes FORNSAT/COMSAT sites, 2000–2015 ..................................................................................................................................... 66 References .......................................................................................................................................... 70 3 Glossary ACTi Antenna Technology Communications Inc. AFB Air Force Base AFN-BC Armed Forces Network Broadcast Center AFRTS American Forces Radio and Television Service ARABSAT Arab Satellite Communications Organization communications satellite ARC Archive/Retrieval/Catalogue ASD Australian Signals Directorate BND Federal Intelligence Service (Germany; Bundesnachrichtendienst) CDAA Circularly Disposed Antenna Array CIA Central Intelligence Agency COMSAT communications satellite; COMSAT Corporation COTS Commercial off the shelf CSE Communications Security Establishment CSOS Composite Signal Organisation Station DCA Defense Communications Agency DMA Defense Media Activity DNI Digital Network Intelligence DoD Department of Defense DSCS Defense Satellite Communications System DSP Defense Support Program EUTELSAT Eutelsat S.A. communications satellite FLTSATCOM Fleet Satellite Communications System satellite FORNSAT Foreign Satellite FVEY Five Eyes GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters GCSB Government Communications Security Bureau GRU Main Intelligence Directorate (Russia; Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye) HF DF High Frequency Direction Finding INTELSAT INTELSAT Corporation ISRG Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group IOG Intelligence Operations Group JCSAT SKY Perfect JSAT communications satellite KGB Committee for State Security (Soviet Union; Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti) 4 LES Lincoln Experimental Satellite LNB Low Noise Block MBTA Multi-beam Torus Antenna MHS Menwith Hill Station MVR Massive Volume Reduction NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NIOC Naval Information Operations Command NRO National Reconnaissance Office NSA National Security Agency OSD-PA Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs RF Radio Frequency RGS Relay Ground Station RSI Radiation Systems Inc SATCOM Satellite Communications SBIRS Space-Based Infrared System SBU Security Service of Ukraine (Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny) SCA Service Cryptological Agency SCE Special Collection Elements SI Special Intelligence SIGAD SIGINT Activity Designator SIGINT Signals Intelligence SZRU Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (Sluzhba zovnishn’oyi rozvidky Ukrayiny) UKUSA UKUSA Agreement(s); see Endnote 2. XKS XKeyscore 5 1. Introduction The recent expansion of FORNSAT/COMSAT1 (foreign satellite/ communications satellite) interception by the UKUSA (Five Eyes or FVEY) partners – the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the Australian Signals