TimeLine

America’s first transatlantic radio intercept station was built on Gillin Farm in Houlton, Maine, by the US Army MI-8 Radio Intelligence Service just before the end of WWI. The Houlton Radio Intelligence Station intercepted German diplomatic communications primarily from its Nauen high power radio station. The Radio Intelligence Service (R.I.S.) was created during World War I by MI-8 using selected Signal Corps personnel for the sole purpose of supporting strategic intelligence through radio intercept. Houlton was the first unit of its type built by the US intelligence services, and its success helped to lay the foundation for many more US long range radio intercept stations.