Diego Garcia, an isolated island in the Indian Ocean, is a paradise with lush vegetation and white sandy beaches, surrounded by crystal clear blue waters. However, this is not a tourist destination: the island, administered by the United Kingdom, hides a secret military base shrouded in rumors and mystery.
Access to Diego Garcia, located in the Chagos Archipelago near Mauritius, is strictly prohibited to most civilians. Here lies a secret military base of the United States and the United Kingdom.
The BBC received unprecedented access to the island in early September, and a reporter visited this place for five days.
### A perfect deal for Americans and Britons
Diego Garcia is the largest of the 60 islands that make up the Chagos Archipelago and is located halfway between East Africa and Indonesia.
The island has been inhabited since the 18th century by the Chagos population, slaves brought from Africa, Mozambique, and Madagascar to work on British plantations. Over time, they formed a distinct population with its own language and customs.
In 1965, the United Kingdom created the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) which includes the Chagos Archipelago, and the island was leased to the United States. Subsequently, 3,000 American soldiers were sent here.
Initially, the agreement signed in 1966 leased the island to the United States for 50 years, with a possible extension for another 20 years. The agreement has been renewed until 2036.
Diego Garcia was chosen for the collaboration between the US and UK governments due to its small population and strategic position in the middle of the Indian Ocean. For London, it represented an opportunity to maintain close military ties with the US, even with a modest British presence, but there was also a financial motivation. Washington agreed to a $14 million reduction in the purchase of Polaris nuclear missiles by the UK as part of the secret island agreement.
In recent years, the island has cost the UK tens of millions of pounds. Communications between officials at the Foreign Office in London, obtained by the BBC, show that according to the latest estimate, these costs will reach £50 million (67 million dollars) per year.
– [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckdg7jjlx2go)
Diego Garcia came into the public spotlight after in 2021 a group of Sri Lankan refugees rescued by the British in the Indian Ocean was brought there, and 60 migrants were held in a camp under inhumane conditions. The BBC fought for months to gain access to the trial held on the island to judge the asylum request of the migrants.
British government lawyers filed a legal challenge to try to block the BBC’s access to the hearing, and even when permission was granted following a decision by the Supreme Court of the territory, the US later opposed, announcing that they would not provide food, transportation, or accommodation to anyone trying to reach the island for the case – including the judge and lawyers.
So why is this tropical island so important that nobody is allowed to set foot on it?
### The perfect place to control half the planet
At first glance, Diego Garcia is a dream island for any tourist. The atmosphere is relaxed, military personnel and employees of military contracting companies ride bicycles, and here and there you see people playing tennis or surfing under the midday sun. There is a cinema, bowling alleys, and a museum.
The island has astonishing natural beauty, from lush vegetation to pristine white beaches, and is also home to the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world – the coconut crab. Military personnel warn of the danger of sharks in the surrounding waters.
The archipelago’s website mentions that the island has „the greatest marine biodiversity in the UK and its overseas territories, as well as some of the cleanest seas and healthiest reef systems in the world.”
However, there are some contrasts that catch the eye. British police officers can be seen on the island, but cars drive on the right, like in the United States. The accepted currency is the US dollar, and the power outlets are of the American type. And although the territory is administered by London, most of the personnel and residents are under US control.
Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the UK’s leading military think tank, Rusi, says that Diego Garcia is a base „of enormous importance” due to its position in the Indian Ocean and the facilities it holds: port, depot, and airstrip.
The nearest British unit is about 3,400 km away, and for the US, it’s nearly 4,800 km, he explains, the island being also an important location for „tracking and observing space capabilities.”
– [Source](https://x.com/rahul_mayfair/status/1840428460298158501)
Tanker aircraft taking off from Diego Garcia fueled American B-2 bombers flying from the US to deliver the first airstrikes on Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. And during the so-called „war on terror,” aircraft were sent directly from the island to Afghanistan and Iraq.
### „CIA’s Nest,” used for interrogating terrorism suspects
Rumors circulated about the possible use of the island as a secret CIA prison where terrorism suspects were interrogated.
The British government confirmed in 2008 that several planes carrying terrorism suspects landed on the island in 2002, after denying the existence of these flights for several years.
„The detainees did not leave the plane, and the US government assured us that no American detainee has ever been held on Diego Garcia. American investigations show no other transfers since then through Diego Garcia or any other overseas territory or through the UK,” said Foreign Minister David Miliband at the time, before the London Parliament.
– [Source](https://x.com/periodistan_/status/1378105401527386112)
On the same day, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said that the information „previously provided in good faith” to the UK about flights with terrorism suspects – that they never landed there – „proved to be wrong.”
„None of these individuals were ever part of the CIA’s high-value terrorism interrogation program. One was eventually transferred to Guantanamo, and the other was returned to his home country. These were rendition operations, nothing more,” Hayden stated, while also denying information that the CIA had a detention facility on Diego Garcia.
Years later, Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, told Vice News that intelligence sources told him Diego Garcia was used as a place „where people were held temporarily and interrogated from time to time.”
T.D.