KEY POINTS:
A small band of protesters know they will be ignored as they march on New Zealand's top-secret Waihopai "spy base" today.
Just like every other year, their calls for the closure of the facility that "leaves blood on New Zealanders' hands" will be met with deafening silence from
those behind the high-security perimeter fence.
But protest organiser Murray Horton will not be put off. "We keep going as long as the bloody place is there ... to at least remind people about it.
"If we didn't go, even in our small and insignificant numbers, that place would get zero coverage.
"It just would not even register, which is the idea."
Situated in a remote Marlborough valley, the Waihopai satellite communications interception station quietly goes about collecting information from airwaves throughout the world that can be shared with other nations.
The base's opponents argue that it is primarily feeding information to the United States in support of wars New Zealanders do not support. There is another base at Tangimoana, near Bulls.
But the secretive Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), which operates the base, rejects this.
A bureau spokesman told the Weekend Herald: "The station is wholly owned and operated by the GCSB on behalf of the New Zealand Government to serve New Zealand's own needs for foreign intelligence to inform our Government's decision-making processes.
"The GCSB, and by extension the Waihopai facility, operate exclusively in support of ... Government policy."
Mr Horton, of the Anti Bases Campaign group, says United States-led wars such as that in Afghanistan rely heavily on electronic intelligence collected around the world.
Today's protest is part of a global day of action against foreign military bases by networks around the world.
Among the protesters expected are veteran activists such as Green Party MP Keith Locke and John Minto, of Global Peace and Justice Auckland.
The intelligence game
* The secretive Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) collects "intelligence" on New Zealand's behalf, and is responsible for guarding the country's secret information.
* Its budget for the current financial year is $39.288 million and it employs about 370 staff.
* The GCSB's head office is in Wellington and it operates intelligence-gathering posts at Waihopai, in Marlborough, and at Tangimoana, near Bulls.
