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286 TURBULENCE AND TERROR
the Intelligence Co-ordinator, of his private worries. Sir Alan
Cottrell, the senior defence scientist, had compiled a damning
report, and Hooper thought it contained 'many passages which
would be unsuitable for American eyes' Y The whole system
suffered from enormous amounts of background noise, and the
intelligence dividends were thin. Efforts to solve the problems
might cost another £20 million, and even then there was no
guarantee of success. The whole concept of 'Over the Horizon
Radars' might soon be eclipsed by a new generation of satellites
that were much better at detecting missile launches. 28 In
addition, the limited intelligence that Cobra Mist was giving on
Soviet aircraft movements was already available from sigint
sources. 29
Cobra Mist had also caused trouble in unexpected quarters.
Keith Joseph, the Secretary of State for Health, was alarmed by
the high-power radiation emitted by the radar and its effects
on nearby residents. His officials feared that the latest cardiac
pacemakers might be neutralised by the radar pulses. Improbably,
Joseph argued that the leads which connected directly to the
heart muscle 'might pick up sufficient energy from a high
frequency high intensity radiation to administer a lethal shock'.
While he admitted that it was unlikely that such patients would
be 'found wandering along the foreshore at Orford Ness', he
nevertheless insisted that some would be 'in grave danger of
death'.3D No sooner had the excitable Joseph been reassured
than technicians from the Post Office warned that the nearby
town of Aldeburgh might lose all television reception. This rather
more plausible prospect seemed to cause officials real anxiety.31
On 18 June 1973 the Americans formally announced that
they wanted to pull out of Cobra Mist leaving the British to
wind up the operation and layoff hundreds of disgruntled staff. 32
Burke Trend, the Cabinet Secretary, was horrified by the likely
drain on Britain's intelligence funds. 33 Louis Le Bailly, the highly
capable Director General of Intelligence at the Ministry of
Defence, agreed that they were now faced with considerable
costs for a white elephant, including restoring the ecology around