Photos like this of RAF Croughton will now be illegal under new security rules instituted by the Ministry of Defense.
The Ministry of Defense in the United Kingdom is set to introduce measures designed to tighten security and limit access to US airbases in Britain, according to the Independent.
Among the sites where the new rules are set to be imposed are two US Air Force military bases – RAF Croughton and RAF Menwith Hill listening station in North Yorkshire.
RAF Croughton is currently a United States Air Force communications base in Northamptonshire, England, to the southeast of the village of Croughton. The station is home to the 422nd Air Base Group and operates one of Europe’s largest military switchboards and processes approximately a third of all U.S. military communications in Europe.
RAF Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force station near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England which provides communications and intelligence support services to the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site (source: http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/rafmenwithhill.cfm) and has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6916262.stm).
The list of 10 banned actions within the protected area includes prohibitions on taking “any visual image of any person or thing”.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that there have been an increase of patrols at both bases recently.
It is unclear if the actions are as a result of security concerns or breaches . As usual in these types of situations the MoD refuses to discuss the situation as well as the Pentagon, which actually hung up the phone on me when I inquired about the subject.
See related article: Mod tightens security at American spy bases liked to drone attacks http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mod-tightens-security-at-american-spy-bases-linked-to-drone-strikes-9030864.html