Russia To Reopen Intelligence Gathering Facility in Cuba

It appears that Russia will reopen the intelligence gathering facility in Cuba. According to reports
President Putin and the Castro brothers have signed an agreement that will allow Russia to reopen the
Lourdes Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) near Havana.

It was once the largest such facility that the Soviet Union operated outside of Russia, and was
operated by more than 1,500 KGB, GRU and Cuban DGI operatives.

It was able to monitor and intercept a vast amount of commercial and government communications,
covering the southeast U.S. as well as communications between the U.S. and Europe.

Russia was able to monitor and copy commercial satellites communications as well as United
States military, merchant shipping and also NASA space programs.

It should be made clear that now the U.S. Central Command, Souther Command and Special
Forces Command are all located in Florida.

Russia closed the facility in 2001, but in recent years has been negotiating with Cuba to reopen
the facility and it now seems that the deal has been finalized.

Russian President Putin had said that the "goodwill gesture" was not appreciated by the
United States, so Russia now plans to reopen and modernize the facility.

With new and modern equipment it will take far fewer personnel to operate and will be
able to cover a wider area and receive much more information.

So, now Russia will be in the spy game very close to the U.S., and with Russia planning
to become more active in Central and South America, one has to question the reasoning
behind all this.

Putin has said he does not want to start another Cold War, but as Russia continues to
grow their military and introduce new weapons and equipment, the rest of the world
would do well to watch very closely how things progress.

---- Jerald Terwilliger Chairman American Cold War Veterans "We Remember" ---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996