sentences:  As such, the base was the target for several espionage attempts by the Soviet Union.By 1969 the total US Navy and Marine Corps contingents had dropped to 3,000 and to 1,000 by 1971.As facilities and structures closed, assets were transferred to the Government of Canada under the terms of the U.S.-Britain lend-lease program; Newfoundland having become a Canadian province in 1949.