Yakima NSA Echelon Faclilty, Washington

For completeness I thought I'd find and add some images of Sugar Grove's twin facility outside Yakima, Washinton. Notice how many of the dishes are pointing inwards towards the United States, as well as West, to intercept traffic coming in off the Pacific. Images produced using Google Earth, click to enlarge.



The gorge in these photos runs due west.

Google Maps Link

Comments

Anonymous writes... I`d say that these photos, just east of what you picture, are more interesting. Dish antennas, and what looks like a big array. http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp;=46.682649~-120.356062&style;=h&lvl;=16 http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp;=46.687006~-120.366748&style;=h&lvl;=15 posted: 2005-12-29 17:28:15

David writes... maybe the antenna`s are pointing toward a satellite for receiving/transmitting video and data signals and NOT for spying on citizens? you think? posted: 2005-12-29 19:12:02

bob cock writes... thanks for the full info. ive lived in yakima most my life and never knew about this n.s.a. station just outside town until i read that new york times article the other day. altho it makes sense, because its listed as `yakima training center` when you drive by the exit for it on the freeway. part of it is used for military, because ive seen convoys go in and out of there. i wish there was an easy way to bring this to the attention of the local population. bleh. posted: 2005-12-29 21:13:44

Anonymous writes... Actually, upon closer examination, the second link might be a pretty big array of missile silos, and the first link might be targeting radars. posted: 2005-12-29 22:10:14

Anonymous writes... missle silos? yakima is a live fire training center, not a missile base. what you`re seeing is most likely a test range or a munitions depot. posted: 2005-12-30 01:02:36

Anonymous writes... missle silos? yakima is a live fire training center, not a missile base. what you`re seeing is most likely a test range or a munitions depot. posted: 2005-12-30 01:07:10

AUi writes... Actually the Yakima Herald had some articles about it when it was installed. The funny thing is they have a listing in the local govt yellow pages, which reaches the guard shack if I recall, and supposedly a secure floor in the telephone company`s big switching facility in downtown Yakima. I believe they were also mentioned in `Puzzle Palace` a book exploring the NSA. The Yakima Firing Range facility has pretty much been documented as a telecommunications listening station, intercepting all the west coast traffic. A fireman told me there are also underground floors deep under the main building. The dishes are huge and can be seen from the highway to Seattle on the outskirts of Yakima. posted: 2005-12-30 03:49:40

AUi writes... Clarification, the phone book listing DOESN`T reach the downtown location, but a quard post at the facility, and the dude on duty probably won`t tell you what is there. posted: 2005-12-30 04:21:13

Zang writes... Hey! That large field off to the side (grid-aligned) must be the HARP posted: 2005-12-30 09:50:14

yakimaniac writes... It`s known as the ball bering plant. There isn`t a secure floor in Qwests building downtown (2nd Ave and Yakima Ave).. or I should say, a secureer floor.. all COs are secure. Go to the rest area just north of the George E. Redmond bridge on westbound I-82 and look east down the hill. The site is not accessed from the training (firing) center but from the road that goes to the MPRC which is well marked as Military Exit about halfway to Eburg. posted: 2006-03-13 02:50:00

yakimaniac writes... It`s known as the ball bering plant. There isn`t a secure floor in Qwests building downtown (2nd Ave and Yakima Ave).. or I should say, a secureer floor.. all COs are secure. Go to the rest area just north of the George E. Redmond bridge on westbound I-82 and look east down the hill. The site is not accessed from the training (firing) center but from the road that goes to the MPRC which is well marked as Military Exit about halfway to Eburg. posted: 2006-03-13 02:52:28

yakavegas writes... Published on Sunday, January 29, 2006 Why readers need to know about NSA in our backyard A news report on today`s front page describes what was called ``one of the best kept secrets in the entire Pacific Northwest`` — unless, of course, you`ve looked at more than 1,100 results that turn up on the Google search engine, read the New York Times in the last month or recall a 1982 book titled ``The Puzzle Palace.`` The ``secret`` is those massive white satellite dishes you can glimpse off to your right as you drive up Interstate 82 toward Ellensburg, after you cross Fred G. Redmon Bridge and before you get to the rest area. It`s called the Yakima Research Station and is one of two National Security Agency eavesdropping stations in the United States. (The other ``secret`` facility is in Sugar Grove, W.Va.) And I expect some readers may be concerned that we have revealed this well-kept secret. We haven`t. In truth, it isn`t much of a secret at all — and it hasn`t been for some time. But the attention the Yakima facility receives has intensified since a New York Times report on Christmas Day by James Bamford, a former ABC News producer who first documented the installation 24 years ago in his book ``The Puzzle Palace.`` Bamford`s Dec. 25 piece was actually about the Sugar Grove facility, which he described in detail, including the information that it was one of two major NSA listening posts in the United States. He mentioned in almost an off-hand manner that the other site was in Yakima, Wash. In the years I`ve been in Yakima, I`ve seen the installation east of I-82 innumerable times, and I`ve been told by at least a dozen people that it was an NSA facility. I`ve even told other people that, all the time unsure of whether I was just passing along an urban myth. But I had never checked it out, until I read the Bamford article on Christmas Day. That`s when I Googled the phrase ``Yakima Research Station.`` I was rewarded with 1,100 hits, some with detailed information that even included topographic maps of the site within the Yakima Training Center. And that`s when we decided we needed to tell our readers more. As reporter Chris Bristol discovered in trying to gather information for his front-page story today, official sources aren`t willing to say much about the Yakima Research Station. In fact, mentioning the initials ``NSA`` is enough to shut up just about anyone. But it has existed just north of Yakima for nearly three decades, and we believe people here have a right to know what stands watch in our backyard. That leads to my last point about why we in the Yakima Valley need to know about this site: It presents a target we may not have known existed. We knew about other potential targets for terrorism around the United States, even around the area. Hanford? Yes. The Umatilla Army Depot? Yes. The region`s major hydroelectric dams? Yes. The military installations around the Puget Sound? Yes, yes and yes. A major NSA site just outside our community? I have to believe the answer is yes. I hope you found Chris` research as fascinating as I did — because now when I drive to Ellensburg and glimpse those white buildings and satellite dishes off to the east, I will have a better understanding of what I`m seeing. And when I read continuing reporting about NSA eavesdropping — or the United States` ``terrorist surveillance program,`` as President Bush has termed it — I will have a better understanding of Yakima`s role. And the risk we run by living in its shadow. * Sarah Jenkins is editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic. If you have a question or concern, you can reach her at 577-7703: P.O. Box 9668, Yakima WA 98909: or [email protected] posted: 2006-03-13 03:17:59

unknown writes... conspiracy paranoia...get a life posted: 2006-11-28 05:05:09

arkdvr writes... As someone who was stationed at the Yakima Firing Center, as it was then named, I have been in the Yakima Research Station as NSA has designated it. There are NO subfloors! They intercept electronic data for thebig computers at Ft Meade, MD. It is no great secret considering then President Bill Clinton "outed" it during his time in office. It is one of the original Echelon stations and no greater threat to the law abiding citizen than a cop in a radar trap. After all the guys stationed there during the mid-70's used to illegally intercept the super bowl, so they can't be all bad. Also, they have own security, independant from the Training Center, provided by the ASA. posted: 2008-03-12 20:44:03

Walsall dentists writes... Superb terrestrial view of the location quoted in a classic way. posted: 2009-06-17 14:22:58

S'z writes... http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/11/12/nsa-might-want-some-backblaze-pods/ posted: 2009-11-16 14:47:29

Structural Foam writes... This whole fear that someone might be watching us is very unnerving not because we are up to no good but because it irks me no end to think that someone has the right to infringe upon our privacy like that. Do you know what the irony of the matter is? If our parents interfere in our lives and snoop or spy we have the option of booking them. Isn’t this the same? Who do we go to? posted: 2010-07-19 14:55:24

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