Pine Gap

Pine Gap is the name of the largest US military base in Australia. Officially it is regarded as the "Joint Defence Force Facility", which implies that it is run by both Australian and US military personnel. Because the base itself is a secret, no reliable information has ever been released to suggest who is actually in control. Nonetheless, the majority of people who actually work there are US citizens, with approximately 5,000 US citizens working at the base.

The base is located approximately 90 km from Alice Springs. It is a dome shaped building. Going up to it there are signs that anyone coming within 50 km of the site will be shot on sight. Nonetheless, in 2004 a group of protesters went all the way to the base itself and took pictures of themselves at the site.

The site is primarily underground, with a huge dome over the surface. It is apparently 50 floors below the ground, with only 5 floors above ground. The dome apparently contains large satellite dishes.

The purpose of the site is supposed to currently be primarily to act as a spy base, to track various activities around the world. They were apparently primarily responsible for giving information to troops in Iraq during both wars.

They also do occasional missile tests, although not as much as they used to. At one point they used to release large weapons, which could be described as weapons of mass destruction, from the base which did a lot of damage to nearby communities and there are a number of law suits surrounding this. They also have a number of air craft including stealth bombers that operate out of the site.

There is a huge amount of speculation as to what they actually do. Apparently CIA agents operate there and hence they also operate in Alice Springs in large numbers. Some people claim that Pine Gap has aliens there and alien space ships, and that it is the Australian equivalent of Area 51.

Nonetheless, they have a public sale once per year of all of their unused or out of date stock, where they allow people from the Alice Springs public to come to Pine Gap, for one day per year, to buy all of their stock at discounted prices. This sale is advertised on television, radio and newspaper for all to see.

They also have their own doctors, who communicate with people in Alice Springs.

Most of the permanent staff members at Pine Gap live at Alice Springs permanently. Many former staff members settle in Alice Springs. This leads to Alice Springs having a very American feel, much more than other Australian towns.