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(U) Letter from Oz
FROM:
SUSLOC Liaison Officer (F33)
Run Date: 05/09/2005
NSA'ers work around the globe. Here's a view of life in Canberra.
(U//FOUO)
(U//FOUO) G'day from down under! I am writing from Canberra,
the capital of Australia, and the home of the Defence Signals
Directorate (DSD), our Australian SIGINT partner. NSA is
represented at DSD by Special U.S. Liaison Officer, Canberra, Ed
Post, 8 SUSLOC staff personnel, and 12 integrees, working as
analysts, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists.
We're a mix of field rats and first-time field personnel, singles and
families, all having a go in the land of Oz.
(U) Canberra's name is thought to mean "meeting place" and is
derived from the Aboriginal Kamberra. Canberra is a planned city
of 320,000 people, designed in 1911 by U.S. architect Walter
Burley Griffin, where concentric circular streets, planted with more
than 10 million trees and shrubs, are set on the shores of Lake
Burley Griffin. Canberra's contrast of nature and suburban living
has earned it the nickname "the bush capital," and many city
attractions, such as Parliament House, the Australian War
Memorial, museums and galleries are within walking distance of
each other.
(U) Parliament buildings in Canberra
(U) Canberra is a sports-lovers paradise. Biking, walking and riding
trails wind through the city and its bushland, while Lake Burley
Griffin is the place for sailing, rowing and sailboarding. A number
of professional teams call Canberra home, to include the Brumbies
Rugby Union team, the Raiders Rugby League team (who knew
there was more than one kind of rugby!), and the Canberra
Capitals basketball team, led by WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson of the
Seattle Storm, playing in her "off" season.
(U) Sheep grazing on a dry lakebed near Canberra. (Reuters)
(U) We have found Australia to be family friendly. The Canberra
schools are good, and we've become used to seeing children in
school uniforms, even those who attend public schools. Our
children have snorkelled at the Great Barrier Reef, hiked through
Cradle Mountain National Park, ridden horses along the beach, and
seen shows at the Sydney Opera House.
(U//FOUO) After almost 3 years in Canberra my family and I feel
very much at home; that doesn't mean, however, that we are not
occasionally homesick. I miss fresh bagels and stores that stay
SERIES:
(U) SID Around the
World '05
1. Paradise Found
2. A Very Southern City
3. Stress Doesn't Live
Here
4. Remember the
Alamo!
5. The 'Other' End-toEnd SIGINT Site in
the UK
6. Letter from Oz
open past 5:30 pm, and cannot appreciate Tim Tams*, Vegemite+,
or beetroot slices on hamburgers. I do, however, admire the lattes,
wines, DSD's biweekly happy hour, short commutes, and the more
relaxed pace of life we have enjoyed in Australia. So, this weekend
we'll put snags on the barbie, open a few stubbies, watch cricket on
the telly, and continue to enjoy our fair dinkum Aussie adventure.
Cheers!
(U) Notes:
*(U) Tim Tams are a cross between a chocolate bar and a cookie,
and were named after a horse that ran in the 1958 Kentucky
Derby. The standard pack contains 11 Tim Tams, one for each
player in a cricket team.
+ (U) Vegemite is a black gooey substance made from malt
extract, invented in the 1920's.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108