JMWAVE

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
Further information: <a href="/facts/Operation_Mongoose/nCQuBN5R">Operation Mongoose</a>
JMWAVE began as the operations center for Task Force W, the <a href="/facts/Central_Intelligence_Agency/U7urmQYL">CIA</a>'s unit dedicated to <a href="/facts/Operation_Mongoose/nCQuBN5R">Operation Mongoose</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> a U.S. effort to overthrow <a href="/facts/Fidel_Castro/W9WwblTq">Fidel Castro</a>'s <a href="/facts/Communism/PkUwa9xK">Communist</a> government in <a href="/facts/Cuba/vHjTXLPW">Cuba</a>. JMWAVE was also active in some form during the failed U.S.-sponsored <a href="/facts/Bay_of_Pigs_invasion/MR31HmRe">Bay of Pigs invasion</a> of Cuba in April 1961.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> The JMWAVE operation grew out of an earlier fledgling CIA office in <a href="/facts/Coral_Gables%2c_Florida/CcMbTzfg">Coral Gables</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a>
The station's activities escalated, reaching their peak in late 1962 and early 1963 around the <a href="/facts/Cuban_Missile_Crisis/GmDGYcWA">Cuban Missile Crisis</a>. Under <a href="/facts/Theodore_Shackley/MzpPKxIo">Theodore Shackley</a>'s leadership from 1962 to 1965, JMWAVE grew to be the largest CIA station in the world outside of the organization's headquarters in <a href="/facts/Langley%2c_Virginia/TqNCQeGb">Langley, Virginia</a>, with 300 to 400 professional operatives and possibly including about 100 based in Cuba and an estimated 15,000 anti-Castro <a href="/facts/Cuban_exile/ftGPJsEg">Cuban exiles</a> on its payroll. The CIA was one of <a href="/facts/Miami/L5FsgQcb">Miami</a>'s largest employers during this period. Exiles were trained in <a href="/facts/Commando/R75nynuA">commando</a> tactics, <a href="/facts/Espionage/oaDJ5fAd">espionage</a> and <a href="/facts/Seamanship/pztacend">seamanship</a> and the station supported numerous exile raids on Cuba.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a>
The main <a href="/facts/Front_organization/GehX8Qql">front company</a> for JMWAVE was "Zenith Technical Enterprises, Inc." In addition, about 300 to 400 other front companies were created throughout South Florida with a large range of <a href="/facts/Safe_house/oUl0oCCY">safe houses</a>, cover businesses, and other properties. With an annual budget of approximately $50 million (equivalent to $530 million in 2024)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> the station had a major impact on the economy of South Florida, creating a local <a href="/facts/Economic_boom/etH0t44s">economic boom</a>, particularly in the <a href="/facts/Real_estate/fngFAqrR">real estate</a>, <a href="/facts/Banking/l7VsKwas">banking</a>, and certain <a href="/facts/Manufacturing/3qW7bcdy">manufacturing</a> sectors. It also operated a fleet of aircraft and boats that was the third-largest navy in the <a href="/facts/Caribbean/zRI9aMCh">Caribbean</a> at the time after the <a href="/facts/United_States_Navy/xYK0fUou">U.S. Navy</a> and the <a href="/facts/Cuban_Revolutionary_Navy/FY483ezN">Cuban Revolutionary Navy</a>. JMWAVE's activities were so widespread that they became an open secret amongst local Florida government and law enforcement agencies.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a>
On June 26, 1964, <a href="/facts/Look_(American_magazine)/SrLv9I1P">Look</a> magazine published an <a href="/facts/Expos%25C3%25A9_(journalism)/j4Rx2wDf">exposé</a> by <a href="/facts/David_Wise_(journalist)/e9UYPd2a">David Wise</a> and Thomas B. Ross which revealed that Zenith was a CIA front. <a href="/facts/University_of_Miami/2rPFYefT">University of Miami</a> authorities denied knowledge of the CIA operation, though Shackley claimed privately that University President <a href="/facts/Henry_King_Stanford/z3U8CsPm">Henry King Stanford</a> was fully aware of it, and JMWAVE changed its main front company name from Zenith to Melmar Corporation.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a>
By 1968, JMWAVE became increasingly obsolete, and concerns emerged that the CIA station would become a public embarrassment to the University of Miami. Consequently, it was deactivated and replaced with a substantially smaller station at <a href="/facts/Miami_Beach%2c_Florida/QjUbXTID">Miami Beach</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a>
As of 2004, the facilities on the Richmond Naval Air Station site were still used by several <a href="/facts/Federal_government_of_the_United_States/VJCxUaf7">U.S. government agencies</a>, including the CIA's <a href="/facts/Foreign_Broadcast_Information_Service/EoCYM8NQ">Foreign Broadcast Information Service</a>, the <a href="/facts/United_States_Air_Force/7MxWBYlc">United States Air Force</a>, and the <a href="/facts/United_States_Army/WACWBEK9">United States Army</a>. Several original JMWAVE buildings are still standing. As of 2007, a local government effort was focused on converting Building 25 to a military museum and memorial.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">At 25°37′13″N 80°23′56″W / 25.6202°N 80.3990°W / 25.6202; -80.3990 <a href="https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=JMWAVE¶ms=25.6202_N_80.3990_W_" target="_blank">https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=JMWAVE¶ms=25.6202_N_80.3990_W_</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba, 1959-1965, Don Bohning, Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-675-4 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study, Steven Hach (ed. Jennifer Dickey), National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, October 2004 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"Twilight of the Assassins", Ann Louise Bardach, The Atlantic Monthly, November 2006 <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200611/cuba/3" target="_blank">https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200611/cuba/3</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">South Campus history page Archived 2009-05-08 at the Wayback Machine, University of Miami Libraries, accessed Jan. 24 2007.

The first photograph on the page apparently shows Building 25 in 1946. <a href="http://scholar.library.miami.edu/umhistory/DisplaySubjects.php?subject_id=South+Campus" target="_blank">http://scholar.library.miami.edu/umhistory/DisplaySubjects.php?subject_id=South+Campus</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">"South Campus site formerly home to spies, surveillance Archived 2007-01-24 at the Wayback Machine", Walyce Almeida, The Hurricane (University of Miami student newspaper), December 1, 2006 <a href="http://media.www.thehurricaneonline.com/media/storage/paper479/news/2006/12/01/News/South.Campus.Site.Formerly.Home.To.Spies.Surveillance-2515726.shtml?sourcedomain=www.thehurricaneonline.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com" target="_blank">http://media.www.thehurricaneonline.com/media/storage/paper479/news/2006/12/01/News/South.Campus.Site.Formerly.Home.To.Spies.Surveillance-2515726.shtml?sourcedomain=www.thehurricaneonline.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study, Steven Hach (ed. Jennifer Dickey), National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, October 2004 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Spymaster: My Life in the CIA, Theodore G. Shackley, 2005, Brassey's, ISBN 1-57488-915-X <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ugcm7NwLlEoC&dq=JMWAVE&pg=RA1-PA72" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ugcm7NwLlEoC&dq=JMWAVE&pg=RA1-PA72</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">National Security Archives interview with Samuel Halpern, George Washington University, first broadcast Nov. 29 1998 on CNN <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-10/halpern2.html" target="_blank">http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-10/halpern2.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Official History of the Bay of Pigs Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine (Vol. I excerpt), Jack Pfeiffer, CIA, unpublished, excerpt released in 1997/98 under CIA Historical Review Program, CIA Freedom of Information Act database <a href="https://www.foia.cia.gov/browse_docs_full.asp?doc_no=0000141167&title=%28ESTIMATED+PUB+DATE%29+EXCERPT+FROM+VOLUME+I+OF+CIA%27S+OFFICIAL+HISTORY+OF+BAY+OF&abstract=%5BPAGES+313+THRU+317+ONLY%5D&no_pages=0006&pub_date=1%2F1%2F1961&release_date=6%2F2%2F1998&keywords=BAY+OF+PIGS%7CCUBA%7CPILOTS%7CCASTRO+FIDEL&case_no=CSI%2D1998%2D00005©right=0&release_dec=RIFPUB&classification=U&showPage=0001" target="_blank">https://www.foia.cia.gov/browse_docs_full.asp?doc_no=0000141167&title=%28ESTIMATED+PUB+DATE%29+EXCERPT+FROM+VOLUME+I+OF+CIA%27S+OFFICIAL+HISTORY+OF+BAY+OF&abstract=%5BPAGES+313+THRU+317+ONLY%5D&no_pages=0006&pub_date=1%2F1%2F1961&release_date=6%2F2%2F1998&keywords=BAY+OF+PIGS%7CCUBA%7CPILOTS%7CCASTRO+FIDEL&case_no=CSI%2D1998%2D00005©right=0&release_dec=RIFPUB&classification=U&showPage=0001</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba, 1959-1965, Don Bohning, Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-675-4 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba, 1959-1965, Don Bohning, Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-675-4 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study, Steven Hach (ed. Jennifer Dickey), National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, October 2004 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">"How the Kennedys hoped to take down Castro" (review of Bohning's book), Joseph C. Goulden, Washington Times, July 24, 2005 <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/books/20050723-092118-7370r.htm" target="_blank">http://www.washingtontimes.com/books/20050723-092118-7370r.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024. <a href="/wiki/John_J._McCusker" target="_blank">/wiki/John_J._McCusker</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba, 1959-1965, Don Bohning, Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-675-4 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study, Steven Hach (ed. Jennifer Dickey), National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, October 2004 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba, 1959-1965, Don Bohning, Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-675-4 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations in Cuba, 1959-1965, Don Bohning, Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-675-4 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574886754/</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study, Steven Hach (ed. Jennifer Dickey), National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, October 2004 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/coldwar/florida.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Press release Archived 2006-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, October 5, 2004, Miami-Dade County <a href="http://www.miamidade.gov/build/library/04-10-05-Historic_preservation.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.miamidade.gov/build/library/04-10-05-Historic_preservation.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">Richmond Naval Air Station Relocation and Rehabilitation[permanent dead link], Miami-Dade County Building Better Communities website, accessed Jan. 27 2007 <a href="http://www.miamidade.gov/Build/283-richnavairstation_building25.asp" target="_blank">http://www.miamidade.gov/Build/283-richnavairstation_building25.asp</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

JMWAVE open-in-new

JMWAVE