News you may have missed #799
October 3, 2012 Leave a comment
By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
►►Is NSA using UK spy base to guide predator drones? Surrounded by farmland and sheep, hundreds of National Security Agency staff go to work every day at RAF Menwith Hill, where they eavesdrop on communications intercepted by satellite dishes contained in about 30 huge golf ball-like domes. Menwith Hill has been used by the NSA since the 1960s; but lately there is growing disquiet in Britain over whether intelligence gathered at the base is being used to help with the CIA’s controversial clandestine drone strikes. And the British government is keeping mum.
►►Aussie envoy seduced by spy feared her phone was bugged. Former senior Austrade commissioner to Hanoi Elizabeth Masamune, who recently admitted before an Australian court that she had sexual relations with a Vietnamese intelligence officer, told police she feared her Hanoi offices were bugged. In her statement during the trial of eight former Reserve Bank company executives on bribery charges, she said that after receiving a call from a journalist she recalled “being concerned of the level of information which she had. I was also more concerned about whether my phone was being monitored”, she said.
►►NSA whistleblower describes beating polygraph test. Russell Tice, the National Security Agency whistleblower who helped blow the lid open on warrantless wiretapping conducted by the federal government on US citizens post-9/11, says that he took between 12 and 15 polygraph tests during his nearly 20-year-long government career. The tests mellowed over time, Tice says, and they may have also gotten easier to beat. Tice, who is no longer at the NSA, says he, along with those still in contact with at the agency, marvel at how easy it is to beat the lie detector.
Purchase of Cyprus hotel by Chinese firm raises alarm in nearby British military base
September 7, 2026 by intelNews 6 Comments
The hotel resort, known as the City of Dreams, is a 15-acre, 16-story complex located approximately 4.5 miles north of RAF Akrotiri. Military and intelligence officials have expressed concerns over its location, as it affords a panoramic view of one of the UK’s most critical overseas military bases. In addition to a host of British military aircraft, the base currently hosts both F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters and Lockheed U-2 (nicknamed “Dragon Lady”) reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force. With the resort standing significantly taller than surrounding buildings and dominating the local skyline, British and American officials have noted the site’s potential to provide its owners with the ability to monitor aircraft movement, military personnel and other activity in and around the base. One source said that “there was no world in which the Chinese state would not seek to exploit the hotel’s location”.
The City of Dreams is owned by Melco Resorts and Entertainment, which is led by Chinese-Canadian billionaire Lawrence Ho. Ho reportedly sits on China’s National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is described as a “patriotic United Front” organization, populated by wealthy, influential, and well-connected individuals. Despite the claims, there has been no official evidence of espionage or wrongdoing by Ho, Melco, or the hotel. The City of Dreams has firmly denied the allegations, describing them as “entirely unfounded”. City of Dreams executives insist that the resort operates solely as a tourism and business destination.
This unease follows increased attention on Akrotiri’s security following the Iranian loitering munition that struck the base on March 1, 2026. It also echoes a 2024 case where the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly raised the alarm over a Chinese-owned hotel overlooking a Swiss military base that housed F-35 aircraft. In a separate case in July 2026, a US senator requested a security review of a Chinese solar manufacturer’s purchase of a facility near a military base in Ohio, calling the manufacturer a potential Beijing “shell company”.
Security sources reportedly told the British press that the RAF base would implement counter-intelligence measures, but noted their limitations in being able to foil espionage operations from the City of Dreams site.
► Author: Molly Jones | Date: 07 September 2026 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Akrotiri (Cyprus), City of Dreams (Cyprus), Cyprus, espionage, Lawrence Ho, News, Royal Air Force, UK