Google Earth Uncovers Secret UK Nuke Base

thefickler writes "Gone are the days when governments could easily hide top secret bases. These days it's a weekend pastime to see who can find top secret facilities using Google Earth. Now it's the UK government's turn to be outraged after a secret facility was revealed by a British tabloid. The facility is said to be located in Faslane on the River Clyde in Scotland. This nuclear base was previously blurred out by the request of the British Government. However, with the latest update provided via Google Earth, many of the blurred out locations were accidentally revealed." Update: 3/08 at 14:24 by SS: Multiple readers have pointed out that the issue here is not the location of the base — it's simply that details of buildings and objects within the base (such as the location of a pair of nuclear submarines) are accidentally visible after the UK government specifically requested they be blurred out.

Comments

Re:Blurred out by request

[qbzzt]

Doesn't that just mean that a whole chain of people at Google now know the location is sensitive and could turn around and pass on that information?

Not if the government is smart enough to request enough blurs, with some of them being duds.

Besides, it's really hard to hide the existence of a facility in a densely populated area such as South England. The best you can hope for is to hide some of the internal details.

Re:Missile guidances systems like clear pictures

[OldCrasher]

The only people left that haven't a clue about what goes on in dockyards at Faslane are the British Taxpayers. Everyone else has spies there and photographs the place as needed.

Re:WTF? Hidden?

[legirons]

For more info, read the 4-part series on secret bases:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan-turnbull/secret.htm

Re:OK, where to begin.

[u38cg]

No, Faslane really is a nuclear base. You can tell because you get the Nth degree when you visit, unlike any other UK base where a plausible excuse and some form of ID gets you in. But don't ask about the one over the hill, which *also* stores nukes and you hear very little about ;)

Nothing special

[UnknowingFool]

During most of the cold war, you would think that the superpowers would be cognizant of satellite spying. These days, there's ever more satellites out there so governments should take necessary safeguards. There were stories about how the Soviet missile sites were easily detectable on by satellite photos.

First of all, a nuclear missile is expensive. You probably want high security around it. According to Soviet protocols, three layers of fencing are standard. Also to get the missile to the site, it has to be a delicate operation. You can't haul them over rocky and uneven terrain. Unlike the West, the Soviets didn't build roads to everywhere, only where they were necessary. Also the missile launchers were loaded onto trucks that required a wide turning radius.

So American intelligence found 1) a paved road to the middle to nowhere, 2) wide turning radii in the road, and 3) three layers of fencing at the endpoint of the road, they found a missile site.