GCHQ Bude, also known as GCHQ Composite Signals Organisation Station Morwenstow, abbreviated to GCHQ CSO Morwenstow, is a UK Government satellite ground station and eavesdropping centre located on the north Cornwall coast at Cleave Camp, between the small villages of Morwenstow and Coombe. It is operated by the British signals intelligence service, officially known as the Government Communications Headquarters, commonly abbreviated GCHQ. It is located on part of the site of the former World War II airfield, RAF Cleave.
History
The site of GCHQ Bude is in Morwenstow, the northernmost parish of Cornwall. During World War II, the location was developed for and used by the Royal Air Force (RAF). RAF Cleave was conceived as housing target and target support aircraft for firing ranges along the north Cornwall coast, and land was acquired from Cleave Manor. In 1939, it became home to two flights of (1AAC). In 1943, No. 639 Squadron was established on the site for the remainder of the war. The airfield was put under maintenance in April 1945, staying under government ownership.
Satellite interception
In the early 1960s, developments occurred which appear to have prompted the establishment of the facility now known as GCHQ Bude. In 1962, a satellite receiving station for the commercial communication satellites of Intelsat was established at Goonhilly Downs, just over a hundred kilometres south-southwest of Morwenstow.
The downstream link from the Intelsat satellites could easily be intercepted by placing receiver dishes nearby in the satellites' 'footprint'. For that, the land at Cleave was allotted to the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works in 1967, and construction of the satellite interception station began in 1969. Two dishes appeared first, followed by smaller dishes in the ensuing years. The station was originally signposted as 'CSOS Morwenstow', with 'CSOS' standing for Composite Signals Organisation Station. In 2001, a third large dish appeared, and the station eventually became known as 'GCHQ Bude'.
UK-US cooperation
From its inception, the station has been an Anglo-American co-operative project. The United States National Security Agency (NSA) paid for most of the infrastructure and the technology. The running costs, like payments for the staff, were paid by GCHQ, who also provided the land. The intelligence that was collected by the Bude satellite station was shared between NSA and GCHQ, and was jointly processed.
Another sign of the close cooperation between both countries was that Sir Leonard Hooper, GCHQ director in the late 1960s, wrote to his NSA counterpart regarding the then two large dishes. He suggested naming them 'Pat' and 'Louis', after NSA director Marshall 'Pat' Carter and his deputy, Louis Tordella.
In 2010, the National Security Agency paid GCHQ £15.5m for redevelopments at the site.
Cable interception
In 1963, TAT-3, an undersea cable linking the United Kingdom to the United States, was laid from Tuckerton, New Jersey, US to Widemouth Bay, Cornwall, just south of the site at Cleave Camp. The British General Post Office (GPO) routinely monitored all communications passing along the TAT-3 cable, forwarding any messages they felt were relevant to the security services.
The site at Cleave Camp presented an opportunity to monitor submarine cable traffic from the nearby landing points, while at the same time intercepting communications meant for the commercial satellite ground station at Goonhilly Downs.
The Grace Hopper is a private undersea cable funded by Google that connects New York with Bude, with the location chosen as it was "an ideal, nicely protected beach and adjacent to a lot of the terrestrial infrastructure needed".
Satellite installations
GCHQ Bude station comprises twenty one satellite antennas of various sizes, including three that have a diameter of , that could theoretically cover all the main frequency bands: L band, C band, Ku band, X band, Ka band, and V band. Calculated on the basis of their position, their elevation, and their compass (azimuth) angle, the antennas are generally orientated towards satellites of the INTELSAT, Intersputnik, and INMARSAT communications networks over the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, and the Indian Ocean, as well as towards the Middle East and mainland Europe. Somewhere between 2011 and 2013, a torus antenna was installed, which is able to receive the signals of up to thirty-five satellites simultaneously. This antenna is not covered by a radome.