It is operated by the British signals intelligence service, officially known as the Government Communications Headquarters, commonly abbreviated GCHQ.

[4] Another sign of the close cooperation between both countries was that Sir Leonard Hooper, GCHQ director in the late 1960s, wrote to his NSA counterpart regarding the then two large dishes.

[5] The British General Post Office (GPO) routinely monitored all communications passing along the TAT-3 cable, forwarding any messages they felt were relevant to the security services.

[5] The site at Cleave Camp presented an opportunity to monitor submarine cable traffic from the nearby landing points, while at the same time intercepting communications meant for the commercial satellite ground station at Goonhilly Downs.

[4] The Grace Hopper is a private undersea cable funded by Google that connects New York with Bude, with the location chosen as it was "an ideal, nicely protected beach and adjacent to a lot of the terrestrial infrastructure needed".

[9] Staff are drawn from GCHQ (UK) and the NSA (US), and the station is operated under the UKUSA agreement, gathering data for the ECHELON signals intelligence (SIGINT) network.

Comparable stations in operation include RAF Menwith Hill (UK), Sugar Grove Station (West Virginia, US), Yakima (Washington, US), Sabana Seca (Puerto Rico), Misawa Air Base (Japan), Pine Gap (Australia), Geraldton (Australia), GCSB Waihopai (New Zealand), and GCSB Tangimoana (New Zealand), that cover other INTELSAT areas such as South America and the Pacific Ocean.

[10] The activities of GCHQ Bude usually remain classified, partly in response to concerns expressed by some European Union (EU) member states that Morwenstow is responsible for industrial espionage and the interception of civilian communications; a report by the European Parliament (referenced below) was made public in 2001 that provides some details about the station.

[11] On 1 June 2007, GCHQ Bude was designated as a protected site for the purposes of Section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.

[15] In June 2013, The Guardian newspaper, using documents leaked by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden, revealed the existence of an operation codenamed Tempora, whereby GCHQ is able to tap into data which flows along undersea cables and then store it for up to 30 days, to assess and analyse it.

[16] A further Guardian report in December 2013 stated that eavesdropping efforts to target charities, German government buildings, the Israeli Prime Minister, and an EU commissioner centred on activities run from GCHQ Bude.

Dr Joss Wright of the University of Oxford Internet Institute[19] explained how mirror images of the signals running down submarine Ethernet cables are used to gather and analyse data.

She arrived by helicopter and was greeted by the head of GCHQ Bude Station, along with the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho.

The visit consisted of a short tour of the site, and the princess met many members of staff, of all grades, from whom she learnt about some of the activities carried out at Bude.