- Apr 24, 2013
- 1,200
- Content source
- http://rt.com/in-motion/213151-berlin-nsa-spy-station/
Ruptly's drone soared over a derelict site, once home to one of the NSA's largest listening stations, located in the north of Berlin's Grunewald Forest.
The US National Security Agency (NSA) built one of its biggest listening stations on top of a hill, and began surveillance operations from there in 1961, while construction of a permanent facility, known as USM 620 Kilo, began in 1963. Giant 12-meter (39 ft) satellite dishes on the site's two towers enabled the NSA to intercept satellite signals, radio waves, and other transmissions, before interpreting and analyzing their findings. As the hill was located in the British sector of Berlin, the British and Americans co-operated on spying progams as part of the worldwide ECHELON spy network.
The station was eventually abandoned in 1992, three years after the fall of the Berlin wall. In 1996, the site was sold to developers for 5.2 million Deutschmark (€2.65 million, $3.29 million) who planned to convert the building into a hotel and restaurant, but the project was abandoned.
