[He had questioned the activities of the CIA and sought to close U.S. military bases on Australian soil, including the highly strategic Pine Gap facility.] (1975)
I am reminded of druggies Boyce and Lee in 1977 attempting to compromise Rhyolite intelligence-gathering satellites.
One satellite (I believe geo-sync orbit below the equator on the far side of the planet) downloaded to the Pine Gap facility in the Outback of Australia (in the area of Nurrungar). Information was relayed to the Black Vault at TRW’s facility in Redondo Beach, California, if memory serves.
The coded information was sent and had to be decoded using daily punch cards which were then destroyed in a blender with water. Black Vault operations people would mix drinks using the blender(s) and the shredder(s).
Boyce and Lee headed to Mexico City to try and sell an operations manual for a Rhyolite to the Russians for $3,000 cash. The Russians figured out that the NSA was on to them, called the Mexican police, and at deportation were met by NSA personnel at the American border.
Whichever one, Boyce or Lee, Boyce I think, was not liking what he was reading about regime change being done by the CIA and decided to commit treason (probably a good excuse for drug money too, given his past).
Boyce’s father (if I’ve got the right guy) helped him get the job at TRW’s Black Vault (at least that’s what I read). TRW was a major contractor on the satellite series.
[and at deportation (Boyce or Boyce and Lee) were met by NSA personnel at the American border.]
‘The Falcon and the Snowman’... They made a movie out of it.