It's an improbable spot for the biggest electronic surveillance centre in the world; in amongst the hill farms and high moors of the Yorkshire Dales. Officially the base is known as "RAF Menwith Hill" but in reality it's got very little to do with Britain - the base is completely controlled by the American National Security Agency. Lindis Percy has been campaigning for years to find out what goes on in the base. Now she's turned to the High Court to try and stop what she believes is the American military's most dangerous project since the end of the Cold War.

Lindis Percy believes that the by-laws that make it a criminal offence just to walk on land near Menwith Hill are unlawful. Normally the police don't enforce them but in front of the cameras they appear to want to put on a show of strength. Menwith Hill's activities have traditionally been shrouded in a deep fog of secrecy. For many years it was denied that Menwith - with its distinctive golf balls - even existed. The base is believed to be able to listen in to up to two million communications an hour. But it's Menwith's new activities that the High Court action is about.

When questions are asked in the House the replies tend to be circumspect - perhaps because the government has so little say over what happens at bases like Menwith Hill: "Operational control of deployed forces rests with the United States," Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean wrote in response to a question in the Lords. "The facilities currently under construction at RAF Menwith Hill, which relate to the US Space-Based Infra-Red System, will be operated in accordance with these principles."

The Space-Based Infra-Red System - as it's called - is a state-of-the-art missile tracking system. It will use a new generation of highly sensitive satellites in various orbits around the earth to monitor and track missile launches. Menwith Hill is key to the system. It is one of two ground stations which will feed the satellite data back to US Space Command. Later a third element will be added to create National Missile Defence. Satellite-based laser weapons will destroy any missiles before they reach American soil.

The Americans say the system is purely defensive - other nations see things differently. This latest threat to world peace has roused what was once a giant of international protest, a movement that bent the ear of governments around the world. Committed supporters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament like Dave Webb are rising to the new challenge.

President Clinton is set to ratify the $100 billion project in June - the Russians and Chinese are already talking darkly of "retaliatory steps". In the coming months the campaign to stop "son of Star Wars" looks set to be transformed from a local issue into an international dispute.

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