* Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) satellite communications
* system, which most people erroneously think exists primarily for the
* space program.
*
* It does not.
*
* The satellites, indeed NASA and the entire American Space Program, exist
* largely to supply the NSA with its telecommunications system. That is why
* the bulk of its operations are officially declared 'secret'. This
* ultimate 'Big Brother' machine even has an official name 'Project
* Platform'.
[
"The Puzzle Palace": all these computer systems are linked together
under Project Platform. The first Cray went to the NSA. p138
]
* Although the NSA was officially formed in 1952, it grew out of an
* International Agreement signed in 1947. Officially termed the "UKUSA
* PACT," this was an agreement between Britain, the U.S.A., Canada, New
* Zealand, Australia and the NATO countries.
*
* The UKUSA PACT was, quite simply and bluntly, an agreement between these
* countries to collect and collate information on their respective citizens
* and to share this information with each other and pass on to Fort Meade.
*
* On March 9th 1977, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bill Hayden, asked
* "questions on notice" on the subject. On April 19, Prime Minister Malcom
* Fraser, declined to answer the questions, "in the interests of national
* security."
*
* The first clue of the Australian Headquarters of PROJECT PLATFORM appeared
* in 1975. Then, as today, government undertakings involving expenditure
* over a certain amount must be presented to a Senate body, the Joint
* Parli
