It is unlikely that the Prime Minister of Australia, as the head of government, would claim not to know or not to have an informed opinion on which American agencies were placing officers within his country at Pine Gap. The deputy chief, the Australian leader at Pine Gap who acts as chief when that individual is away from the facility, is required to be an Australian, and this person should certainly have known (or had a good idea) which US agency employed his counterpart. If the Prime Minister was ignorant of this basic information, why would anyone want to keep it from him and how would they have succeeded in keeping such details from the head of government? Surely he, more than anyone in Australia, should be entitled to the clearance authorising him access to some details and information obtained at Pine Gap and the background of the Americans working there. Did the Australian Government actually sign an agreement allowing Pine Gap to be constructed without the proviso for this information?
The agreement establishing Pine Gap on 9 December 1966 listed the cooperating United States organisation as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).[22] As expected, there was no mention of the CIA or NSA in this document, but if these agencies had personnel working there, was there a verbal agreement allowing this with Australia? If so, would this verbal information have been passed on to the Prime Minister and his successors? Only those present in the early days can answer this question.
On 19 October 1977, shortly after the Whitlam dismissal, the agreement was amended to state that the United States Department of Defense was the cooperating United States organisation at Pine Gap.[23] As I’ve said, ‘the Department of Defense’ can be used as a nonspecific reference to the NSA.
Rumours of CIA involvement at Pine Gap have been around since the construction phase, with the average Alice Springs resident fully versed in these stories. The apparent ‘intelligence gap’ between the Australian leadership and the residents of Alice Springs seems inconceivable, and the explanation that Gough Whitlam didn’t know (or suspect) which United States government agency ‘ran’ Pine Gap makes no sense.[24]
An interesting side story as to who actually ran Pine Gap can be found in the book Legendary Territorians by Reg Harris.[25] Reg, a good friend of mine in Alice Springs, owned a vacant lot next to his home on Cavenagh Crescent, which he eventually sold to the United States Government. On this lot the Americans constructed a rather large property that became home to the second chief of Pine Gap, Harry, and remained the chief’s residence until a new home was constructed around 2001. When Harry moved into his new home, Reg and Harry became close friends, remaining so well after Harry retired and moved home to Virginia. In his book, Reg explains:
Harry eventually retired from the United States Government and he and Betty live in a most attractive home in the tiny town of Clifton, some 20 miles out of Washington. My wife and I visited them in 1987. We were taken downstairs to the bar. The walls were covered with certificates, photos, and memorabilia, including photos of Harry with President Reagan ███████████████; which had handwritten messages praising Harry. There was also a silver-plated shovel and hard hat used by Harry to turn the sod for the planned 400 million dollar extensions to the ████████████ head office in Washington DC. Finally, on the wall were eighteen framed citations for meritorious service to ████████████.[26]
Reg told me many stories about Harry, including how, during the 1987 visit, he asked Harry directly who he had worked for while he was chief at Pine Gap. Harry told him, asking his old friend to keep this information ‘private’.
In his book, Reg also explains how Harry served as a model citizen during his tenure in Alice Springs and how he demanded the same from his American staff. His first rule to the new arrivals was ‘No ugly Americans’ or they would be sent home—the next day! He was keen to maintain support from the community for Pine Gap and by every account he succeeded beyond all expectations.
As a token of their friendship, Harry gave Reg a pair of JDSRF cufflinks before his tour ended in Alice Springs and before the name of the facility was changed. Over the years, I spent many evenings with my friends Reg and his wife Marge, who frequently referred to me as their ‘favourite American’. Before Reg died in 2007, he gave me the now collectible cufflinks presented to him by Harry. They are among my most valued possessions that I’ve proudly worn every year to the annual Pine Gap Ball.
4: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD
I had visited Australia and Alice Springs before and could still vividly remember my first impressions. The three-hour flight from Sydney had taken me over an immense dry land of mostly red desert, and as my plane approached the Alice Springs airport I could see the radomes of Pine Gap nestled quietly in the MacDonnell Ranges to the left of the aeroplane. It was the height of summer, and as I stepped off the plane I was greeted by the brilliant sunlight, a searing heat, a cloudless blue sky, and what I can only describe as a biblical ‘plague’ of flies. One of my fellow passengers was wearing a white shirt, but his back was black with flies soon after stepping off the plane. I glanced over my shoulder to discover that the flies had taken an immediate liking to me as well. It didn’t take me long to become expert in the legendary ‘Aussie salute’—habitually brushing flies away with a wave of the hand. ‘Alice Springs needs to work on its welcoming committee,’ I thought to myself. I eventually discovered that Alice Springs also has seasons when it is besieged by grasshoppers and cicadas, in addition to the flies.
When I actually arrived in Alice Springs to begin my two-year tour, I stepped off the plane into a sunny spring day. All new arrivals had been assigned an American sponsor before leaving for their new home, and this person had to be someone who had been living in Alice Springs for at least six months and knew both the town and the basic needs of a new arrival. My sponsor, Steve, had worked at the Base for more than a year and was to be my immediate supervisor. He had already organised my new mailing address at the local American Post Office, set up my phone and stocked my refrigerator and freezer with basic foods by the time he picked me up and drove me to my new residence. He even rang me before I left my home in Maryland and suggested suitable clothing for the local weather conditions.
As Steve and I drove into town, I was again struck by the ancient landscape of the Australian desert. My new home was very different to anywhere I had lived before. The large rock formations, the vibrant reds and greens of the desert stretching in all directions, and the red and white river gums standing starkly in the dry Todd River bed all made me eager to explore the striking sights around me. As we drove through a pass in the ranges known as Heavitree Gap, I craned my neck to see the rocks rising several hundred metres above us.
Just near my flat Steve pointed out a tall eucalypt. I later crushed the leaves between my fingers, smelling the stimulating scent of eucalyptus on my skin. It was hard to imagine a place more remote and of greater contrast to the life I had left behind near Washington DC.
My new flat was small and stocked with a survival kit of essential items such as linen, pillows and bathroom supplies while I waited for my household goods to arrive from Maryland. The housing team at Pine Gap had twenty years experience helping new arrivals adjust to life in their new home and I was grateful that they’d made my transition so easy. Funnily enough, one of the things that took some adjusting to was television in Alice Springs—it was certainly behind the times by US standards: Aussies in those days received only four channels, unlike the relatively large number of cable channels back home. It would take another six to seven years before satellite television finally arrived.
24
There has been a plethora of books and articles relating to the circumstances surrounding the removal of Gough Whitlam as prime minister and the alleged involvement of the American government in what remains the greatest political destabilisation in Australia’s history. I defer to the reader to research this subject to reach an independent conclusion.