Navy Information Operations Command. Nationla Security Agency / NSA. Condition: Used, but in nice shape. This coin is 1 1/2 inches. Royal Air Force Menwith Hill or more simply RAF Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force. England which provides communications and intelligence support services to the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The site contains an extensive satellite. Ground station and is a communications intercept. And missile warning site. And has been described as the largest electronic monitoring. Station in the world. RAF Menwith Hill is commanded by a Royal Air Force. Officer, supported by an RAF element, whilst the majority of support services were provided by the United States Air Force. 421st Air Base Group until 2014. The site acts as a ground station for a number of satellites. Operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office. On behalf of the US National Security Agency. With antennae contained in a large number of highly distinctive white radomes. And is alleged to be an element of the ECHELON. Menwith Hill Station was opened on 545 acres 2.21 km. Of land acquired by the British War Office. In 1954 and leased to the United States. The United States Army Security Agency. Established a high frequency. Radio monitoring capability, monitoring communications emanating from the Soviet Union. In 1966 the National Security Agency. (NSA) took on responsibility for the U. Operation of the site, expanding the capabilities to monitor international leased line communications transiting through Britain. The site was then one of the earliest to receive sophisticated early IBM computers, with which NSA automated the labour-intensive watch-list scrutiny of intercepted but unenciphered telex. In March 2012 researcher Dr. Steve Schofield produced a 65-page report called “Lifting the Lid on Menwith Hill”. Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. And commissioned and published by the Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disaarmament (CND). Menwith Hill’s primary mission is to provide “intelligence support for UK, US and allied interests”. The base’s multimillion-pound expansion, Project Phoenix, is “one of the largest and most sophisticated high technology programs carried out anywhere in the UK over the last 10 years”. Of the 1,800 employees in 2012, 400 were British and 1,200 were American employees of the NSA. During an interview with Russia Today. In April 2012, Schofield alleged that Menwith Hill was involved in drone. He said: The UKs providing a facility here thats involved in drone attacks that we know, from independent assessments, are killing and injuring thousands of civilians, and because of the covert nature of that warfare, its very difficult to provide information and accountability through the UK parliament. And yet these are acts of war. And normally when we have war, parliament should normally inform people that were involved in those. And were not being informed. Were kept entirely in the dark about them. During the 2009 G-20 London Summit. NSA intercept specialists based at Menwith Hill attempted to target and decode the encrypted telephone calls of the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. ECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence. (SIGINT) collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement. And the United States. Referred to by a number of abbreviations, including AUSCANNZUKUS. It has also been described as the only software system which controls the download and dissemination of the intercept of commercial satellite trunk communications. ECHELON, according to information in the European Parliament document, “On the existence of a global system for the interception of private and commercial communications (ECHELON interception system)” was created to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union. And its Eastern Bloc. Allies during the Cold War. In the early 1960s. The system has been reported in a number of public sources. Its capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament. During 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001. And by author James Bamford. In his books on the National Security Agency. Of the United States. The European Parliament stated in its report that the term ECHELON is used in a number of contexts, but that the evidence presented indicates that it was the name for a signals intelligence collection system. (which once carried most Internet traffic) and microwave links. Bamford describes the system as the software controlling the collection and distribution of civilian telecommunications traffic conveyed using communication satellites, with the collection being undertaken by ground stations located in the footprint of the downlink leg. Never personally given any of the coins. All coins are guaranteed to be in excellent condition unless otherwise specified above. The item “Menwith Hill Navy Information Operations CMD Joint NSA Echelon Challenge Coin” is in sale since Sunday, September 22, 2019. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Militaria\Current Militaria (2001-Now)\Original Items\Challenge Coins”. The seller is “rolyat11″ and is located in Panama City, Florida. This item can be shipped worldwide.