Life At The Secretive Indian Ocean U.S Military Base Diego Garcia (Photo-Gallery)

Daily Mail: 'Like a lunar outpost': Former intelligence officer and a flight attendant posted to secretive Indian Ocean U.S military base Diego Garcia share photos of their time on the island and reveal what life was like there 

* Former U.S intelligence officer and patrol plane pilot Bill Preston was posted to the island in the 1970s 

* He reveals that he navigated his way to the remote 15-mile-long atoll with the help of a sextant 

* Tarina Peterson was a flight attendant on military flights to Diego Garcia between 2006 and 2010 

* Bill lived on the island for six weeks at a time while Tarina was given a bus tour courtesy of a ground handler 

Even getting there was an adventure.

Former U.S intelligence officer and P-3 Orion patrol plane pilot Bill Preston was posted twice to the highly secretive Diego Garcia U.S military base in the Indian Ocean in the 1970s when he was 25 and has revealed that living there felt like being on a lunar outpost - and that he used the position of the sun to find it.  

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WNU Editor: These pictures were taken over 45 and 10 years ago. I am sure there has been a lot of changes since then.

Satellite Images Reveal Three B-2 Stealth Bombers Deployed To The Island Of Diego Garcia

Warzone/The Drive: Trio Of B-2 Stealth Bombers Deployed To The Island Of Diego Garcia As Seen From Space

The B-2s flew direct from the U.S. to the remote outpost in the Indian Ocean and have already executed missions over Asia.

On August 11th, 2020, U.S. Air Force sent a trio of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers halfway around the world from their home at Whiteman AFB in Missouri to the remote island outpost of Diego Garcia located deep in the Indian Ocean. The unannounced deployment is part of the Air Force's new unpredictable bomber deployment strategy and comes at a time where tensions in Asia vis-à-vis China have peaked.

The remote airfield, which was a bustling hive of activity during the first decade of the Global War On Terror, is a far quieter place today. Still, it has seen a small resurgence in heavy bomber use as of late, with B-52s being sent there as a backstop against potential Iranian aggression last Winter. Now Diego Garcia''s huge parking apron has received three of its most prized, but temperamental patrons, ones which have their own special "VIP" climate-controlled clamshell shelters along the edge ramp that sit ready and waiting should the bombers have to use them in a crisis, or in this case, a deployment.

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WNU Editor: This deployment of B-2s to Diego Garcia was announced last week. But the way these bombers are displayed for satellites with high resolution cameras to detect tells me the US is purposely sending a message to countries in the region that the U.S. has prioritized the Indian Ocean in its military planning.

Three B-2Stealth Bombers Have Been Deployed To Diego Garcia

Staff Sgt. Mark Farrar, a crew chief from the 131st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, marshalls a B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber as it arrives at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, Aug. 12, 2020. (Tech. Sgt. Heather Salazar/Air Force)

Warzone/The Drive: Trio Of B-2 Stealth Bombers Deploy To The Remote Island Outpost Of Diego Garcia

Forward deploying the B-2s to the Indian Ocean puts them well within reach of hotspots in the Middle East and Asia.

Three U.S. Air Force B-2A Spirit stealth bombers launched from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, in the early hours of Aug. 11, 2020, heading for the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The three bombers flew west from their home base and out over the Pacific Ocean, passing Hawaii and then onwards for a planned run across northern Australia before continuing west to the secluded island air base.

The launch of this B-2 mission, which saw the aircraft using the callsigns Reaper 11, Reaper 12, and Reaper 13, follows the deployment of six USAF B-52Hs earlier this year to the remote base. That deployment was a response to a spike in tensions with Iran, details of which you can find here in this previous War Zone feature.

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Update: B-2s deploy to Diego Garcia (Air Force Times)

WNU Editor: This happens on every US Presidential election cycle. Two to three months before the election US military forces are deployed throughout the world.

Will The U.S. Give-Up Diego Garcia?

Negotiations Begin On Fate Of Strategic Jewel Diego Garcia -- Aol Defense

Defense One: How a Tiny Indian Ocean Island Could Force a US-UK Rift

Will the U.S. choose its closest ally over the international rule of law?

Mauritius does not usually make headlines in the United States, but this small island state off the east coast of Africa could force the U.S. to rethink operations in the Middle East and Asia — and strategic policy around the globe.

The country has recently notched victories at the International Court of Justice and UN General Assembly in its battle to take from Britain its sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago. The largest of these islands, Diego Garcia, has for decades been a key logistics, reconnaissance, and operational base for U.S. forces. While many factors are at play, including discussion about the Chagossian people, the Diego Garcia case reveals two critical dimensions that warrant attention by U.S. policymakers now.

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WNU Editor: Not going to happen.

Why Diego Garcia Is An Important U.S. Military Base

An undated file photo of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean and the site of a major US military base leased from Britain in 1966. Reuters

Business Insider: See inside Diego Garcia, a secretive US Navy base on British land at the center of a bitter tug-of-war in the Indian Ocean

* In 1966, the UK leased the US the remote, 17-square-mile Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
* Diego Garcia is now a key US military base in the region, and it is used as a launchpad for Air Force missions in the Middle East.
* About 5,000 service members and contractors are based on Diego Garcia, which has a bowling alley, a burger bar, and stores.
* The British government evicted thousands of islanders from their homes on Diego Garcia and the surrounding area to make way for the base.
* The UN's top court recently ruled that the British illegally gained possession of the island in 1965, placing the future status of the base in doubt.

On the remote tropical island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean lies a secretive, strategically vital US military base.

The base has served as a launchpad for US military operations in the Middle East and as a refueling point for Air Force patrols headed to the South China Sea, and it was even designated an emergency landing spot for space missions by NASA.

But this distant outpost of American power isn't located on US territory. Instead it occupies what used to be part of the British Empire — and its former owners want it back.

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WNU Editor: The Americans are not going to give up this base.

Is The U.S. About To Lose Its Military Base Diego Garcia?

CNN: UN court ruling puts future of strategic US military base Diego Garcia into question

(CNN)The UK must return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius "as rapidly as possible," the United Nations' highest court ruled Monday, branding its occupation of the Indian Ocean archipelago illegal.

The islands, which are home to US military base Diego Garcia, were separated from the former British territory of Mauritius during decolonization in 1968. The international Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that act was illegal under international law.

For years, the US base has been vital to the military, serving as a landing spot for bombers that fly missions across Asia, including over the South China Sea. The UN ruling raises questions about its future.

The decision by the ICJ is merely advisory. The matter of who holds sovereignty over the Islands, located more than 2,000 miles off the east coast of Africa, will now be debated by the United Nations General Assembly -- which referred the case to the ICJ despite London's protests.

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WNU Editor: This international Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling is only advisory. The next step is to have this debated at the United Nations General Assembly, where I suspect that any decision is going to take a long time to be made. So for the moment, the U.S. military base at Diego Garcia is going no where.

Will The U.S. Lose Its Base At Diego Garcia?

Sputnik: US May Lose Significant Military Base Located on UK Territory


America may soon lose one of its largest military bases overseas due to the expiration of the lease on Diego Garcia Island in December this year.

A 1966 agreement with the UK allowed the US Defense Ministry to use the Diego Garcia island — the largest of the 60 small islands in the Chagos Atchipelago in the Indian Ocean — for military purposes. The lease runs out in December, although there is an option to extend it for another 20 years.

The islands were reportedly exchanged for an $11 million (£7.65m) discount on buying Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missiles. After a secretive deal between then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and then US President Lyndon Johnson, native inhabitants were forcefully removed from the archipelago.

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WNU editor: Talks on renewing the lease have begun .... Deal to send Chagos islanders back to their tropical paradise could be closer after Cameron and Obama discussed US air base lease on Diego Garcia over the weekend (Daily Mail).

What Has Been The Role Of Diego Garcia Too The CIA's Rendition Program?

Negotiations Begin On Fate Of Strategic Jewel Diego Garcia -- Aol Defense

Diego Garcia Guards Its Secrets Even As The Truth On CIA Torture Emerges -- the Guardian

There have long been questions on the role of the British territory in the rendition of US terror suspects. But not even the Senate’s damning report on CIA black sites has answered them

It was July 2005 and Jack Straw was in combative mood. During a parliamentary debate, the then foreign secretary insisted that there was no need for a judicial inquiry into the UK’s role in extraordinary rendition – “unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying, that I am lying, that behind this there is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces in the United States”.

But the publication last week of a long-awaited US Senate intelligence report has raised fresh questions about what the UK knew about the CIA’s torture programme – and in particular the role played by an obscure overseas British territory.

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Update: Is this speck in the Indian Ocean Britain's Guantanamo? Chilling questions raised over secretive island as more disturbing allegations emerge over UK's role in CIA torture -- Daily Mail

My Comment: We will probably be told on the role that Diego Garcia has played in America's "war against terror" campaign in the future .... my guess is somewhere at the end of this century .... maybe.

Iran Official: The U.S. Base At Diego Garcia Is In Range Of Our Missiles

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser Mojtaba Zonnour boasted that Tehran's missiles could hit a U.S. military base.

US Military Base Within Iranian Striking Distance, Official Warns -- FOX News

A top Iranian defense official's claim that a U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean is now within missile range served both as a threat to American interests and a revelation that, if true, Tehran has doubled its striking distance.

"In the event of an irrational attack by the U.S., America's military bases will not be safe from our missiles, whether in Bahrain or at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean," the senior official, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser Mojtaba Zonnour, was quoted as saying to Iran's "Defa Moghadas," or Holy Defense.

The U.S. Navy operates a naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, space-tracking facility at Diego Garcia, an atoll some 1,000 nautical miles off the southern tip of India. If the regime in Tehran really can hit Diego Garcia with its ballistic missiles, it means they have a range of at least 3,100 miles -- more than double current estimates. And the boast came even as Iranian officials were in Switzerland, meeting with their Western counterparts to finalize a nuclear deal.

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Update #1: Iran Warns US's Diego Garcia Base is in Range of Its Missiles -- Arutz Sheva
Update #2: Iran: 5,000km-Range Missile Can Hit US Indian Ocean Base -- Algemeiner

My Comment: With such threats being issued .... you would think that the White House would pause in their talks with Iran .... apparently not.

Did Britain Cooperate With The CIA In Operating A 'Black Site' On Diego Garcia?

U.K. Govt Pressed Over Allegations CIA Used Diego Garcia As Black Site -- Al Jazeera

The British government faced renewed questions Thursday over whether the CIA has used the island of Diego Garcia, a leased U.K. territory in the Indian Ocean, to detain high-value suspects.

Prompted by an Al Jazeera report that published information from a classified U.S. Senate report, London-based human rights group Reprieve called on U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague to release more information on the issue.

On Wednesday, it was reported that a Senate Intelligence Committee paper confirms that U.S. intelligence agents detained suspects on Diego Garcia, an island about 1,100 miles off the southern tip of India. The article cited two unnamed U.S. officials with knowledge of the classified document, which is set for declassification after an Intelligence Committee vote last week.

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Update #1: British gave 'full co-operation' for CIA black jail on Diego Garcia, report claims -- The Telegraph
Update #2: Claims British territory of Diego Garcia was 'used by US as a secret jail to hold terror suspects' puts pressure on Hague -- Daily Mail

My Comment: The other Diego Garcia story is this one .... New conspiracy suggests MH370 is parked on Diego Garcia -- MINA

Will The U.S. Lose Their Base In Diego Garcia?

Negotiations Begin On Fate Of Strategic Jewel Diego Garcia -- Aol Defense

WASHINGTON: The United States, Britain and Mauritius have begun talks that may lead to the loss of ports, airstrips and listening posts on Diego Garcia, the remote tropical atoll that has played an important role in American maritime, air and space operations throughout Asia and the Indian Ocean for much of the last 50 years.

During an era when the Pentagon has declared a pivot from Europe and the Atlantic to Asia and the Pacific, the prospect of handing over so many installations located in such a strategic spot -- or having them more accessible to a foreign government such as Mauritius -- must worry Pentagon officials.

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My Comment: Considering it's strategic importance .... I have a feeling that sovereignty and the future of Diego Garcia is not going to be pursued seriously by either Britain or the U.S. for a very long time. And while publications like The Guardian have been vocal in their opposition to the U.S. presence in Diego Garcia .... bottom line .... nothing is going to change.

Maintaining & Running Diego Garcia

From Defense Industry Daily:

Located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia is a key strategic base that acts as a staging area for navy ships, long-range bombers, aerial tankers, and other military assets whose missions take them to Africa, Asia, and the Middle east. Secondary missions include its status as one of the Space Shuttle’s emergency landing sites, and hosting one of Global Positioning System’s 3 ground antennas, as well as facilities belonging to the USA’s Space Surveillance Network.

The UK/ U.S. treaty that turned the island into a military base was signed in 1966. It runs until 2036, but either government can opt out in 2016. Meanwhile, there’s the non-trivial matter of supplying, improving, and operating the island’s military infrastructure…

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My Comment: An interesting peak on what it takes to run and maintain one of America's most important bases abroad.

Source: British Territory Used For US Terror Interrogation

The U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

From Time Magazine:

Almost two years have passed since President George W. Bush publicly acknowledged the existence of a CIA program in which agency-leased aircraft fly terror suspects between secret prisons and interrogation sites around the world. "This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they have a chance to kill," the President said on Sept. 6, 2006. Since that admission, the White House has declined to elaborate or comment further on the program's specifics, although multiple reports have surfaced regarding the existence of secret facilities in Poland and Romania.

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More News On Diego Garcia Renditions

U.S. assures UK over secret flights, doubts persist -- Reuters
David Miliband 'duped' over US rendition -- Guardian
Time: U.S. used Diego Garcia as prison -- UPI
Diego Garcia Interrogations -- Swampland (Time Magazine)
MPs accuse Washington of lying over rendition flights -- Independent

My Comment: Using Diego Garcia as a transfer point for the 9/11 planners such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his associate, Abu Zubaydah, is not a surprise to me. Being caught in Pakistan, these mass murderers were going to be transfered out. Diego Garcia was the first logical choice for these men to be sent to.

Critics of U.S. policy on combating Al Qaeda are vocal in their opposition to using their territory to assist the U.S.. This is no surprise. What is a surprise is that it took them so long to figure out what I already figured out 5 years ago.