Star Wars in North Yorkshire? It sounds highly unlikely. Yet the hundreds of employees at the RAF Menwith Hill military base must be doing something.

A BBC documentary will allege tonight that some of them are working to establish an illegal satellite network. Close Up North says it has evidence that the American base is at the heart of a scheme to resurrect Ronald Reagan's Star Wars system.

The Ministry of Defence has denied the claims, of course. Defence chiefs are hardly likely to reveal a highly sensitive military project just because someone asks them about it.

Close Up North should be congratulated for undertaking this difficult investigation. It puts the base at Menwith Hill near Harrogate back under the microscope.

North Yorkshire residents have grown used to the base. Those bizarre radomes, resembling giant golf balls, have become an off-beat tourist attraction.

But that does not mean we should abandon all interest in what goes on inside this shady American outpost.

A small group of peace protesters have sought to keep Menwith Hill in the public eye down the years. But during the Cold War, most people accepted it played a necessary role in keeping an eye on our Eastern bloc enemies.

Yet the Cold War has long since thawed. Logically, the base should have scaled down its operation. Instead the number of employees in 1980 was 400; today there are 1,400 staff.

We know almost nothing of their work. Although it is an RAF base, in reality it is run by and for the United States. What Britain gains from allowing the US a free hand is unclear.

Close Up North claims that the base's Space Based Infra Red Surveillance System breaks international law. That is a serious and disturbing allegation which deserves better than a Ministry of Defence perfunctory denial.

The MoD must realise that Menwith Hill is cloaked in the sort of secrecy that breeds paranoia and conspiracy theories. The only way to counter this is to be more candid.

Clearly defence officials cannot organise a Menwith Hill open day. But they can follow the example set by MI5 earlier this year and, without jeopardising national security, explain what the base does and why.

We have a right to know whether British peace protesters' conversations are being recorded, as they claim. We should have more idea of what 560 acres of North Yorkshire countryside are being used for.

If the RAF Menwith Hill eavesdroppers are any good, they should listen to the renewed rumblings of discontent and take positive steps to counter them.

see NEWS 'Spy base in 'space arms race''

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