JMWAVE
JMWAVE was the codename for a secret Central Intelligence Agency station that operated from 1961 until 1968. Its home was Building 25 on the grounds of the former Naval Air Station Richmond in Miami, once an airship base. The site lay about 12 miles south of the main campus of the University of Miami. Insiders also called it the Miami Station or Wave Station. Behind that quiet address, the agency ran covert operations and intelligence gathering on a scale few Americans ever suspected. How does a spy station that large operate next door to a university? What was it built to accomplish? And how long can an operation stay hidden in a city where so many people depend on it? The answers start with a single goal that the station was built to serve.
Operation Mongoose gave JMWAVE its purpose. The United States wanted to overthrow Fidel Castro's Communist government in Cuba, and Mongoose was the effort to do it. The CIA's unit dedicated to that effort was Task Force W, and JMWAVE began as its operations center. The station was also active in some form during the failed, U.S.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961. It did not appear from nothing. JMWAVE grew out of an earlier, fledgling CIA office in Coral Gables. Leadership changed in 1962, and the station's size changed with it.
Theodore Shackley led JMWAVE from 1962 to 1965, and under him it became the largest CIA station in the world outside the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It employed 300 to 400 professional operatives, possibly including about 100 based in Cuba. An estimated 15,000 anti-Castro Cuban exiles were on its payroll. Those exiles were trained in commando tactics, espionage and seamanship. The station supported numerous exile raids on Cuba. Its activities escalated and reached their peak in late 1962 and early 1963, around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Running so many people required a hidden web of businesses spread across South Florida.
The name on JMWAVE's main front company was Zenith Technical Enterprises, Inc. Around it, about 300 to 400 other front companies were created throughout South Florida. Together they came with a large range of safe houses, cover businesses and other properties. The station also operated a fleet of aircraft and boats. At the time, that fleet amounted to the third-largest navy in the Caribbean, behind only the U.S. Navy and the Cuban Revolutionary Navy. Keeping such machinery running carried a price, and Miami's own businesses would feel it.
An annual budget of approximately $50 million flowed through JMWAVE, and South Florida felt every dollar. The station had a major impact on the regional economy, creating a local boom in real estate, banking and certain manufacturing sectors. During this period the CIA was one of Miami's largest employers. Activity this widespread was hard to hide. JMWAVE's operations became an open secret among local Florida government and law enforcement agencies. Yet an open secret among officials is very different from one printed for the public.
On the 26th of June 1964, Look magazine published an exposé by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross. It revealed that Zenith, the station's main front company, was a CIA front. University of Miami authorities denied any knowledge of the CIA operation. Shackley, however, claimed privately that the university's president, Henry King Stanford, was fully aware of it. The station responded by changing its main front company name from Zenith to the Melmar Corporation. The new name kept the operation running for several more years, but the same worry about the university would eventually end it.
By 1968, JMWAVE had become increasingly obsolete. Concerns also emerged that the station would turn into a public embarrassment for the University of Miami. The CIA deactivated it and replaced it with a substantially smaller station at Miami Beach. The old site did not go quiet. As of 2004, the former Richmond Naval Air Station facilities were still used by several U.S. government agencies, including the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, the United States Air Force and the United States Army. Several original JMWAVE buildings are still standing. As of 2007, a local government effort was focused on converting Building 25 itself into a military museum and memorial.
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Common questions
What was JMWAVE?
JMWAVE was the codename for a major secret United States covert operations and intelligence gathering station run by the Central Intelligence Agency in Miami from 1961 until 1968. It was also called the CIA's Miami Station or Wave Station.
Where was the JMWAVE CIA station located?
JMWAVE was headquartered in Building 25 at the former Naval Air Station Richmond, an airship base in Miami. The site lay about 12 miles south of the main campus of the University of Miami.
Why did the CIA create JMWAVE?
JMWAVE began as the operations center for Task Force W, the CIA unit dedicated to Operation Mongoose. That was a U.S. effort to overthrow Fidel Castro's Communist government in Cuba.
How big was JMWAVE under Theodore Shackley?
Under Theodore Shackley from 1962 to 1965, JMWAVE became the largest CIA station in the world outside headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It had 300 to 400 professional operatives and an estimated 15,000 anti-Castro Cuban exiles on its payroll.
How was JMWAVE exposed to the public?
On the 26th of June 1964, Look magazine published an exposé by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross. It revealed that Zenith Technical Enterprises, Inc. was a CIA front, and JMWAVE then renamed its main front company the Melmar Corporation.
Why did the CIA close JMWAVE in 1968?
By 1968, JMWAVE had become increasingly obsolete, and concerns emerged that it would become a public embarrassment to the University of Miami. It was deactivated and replaced with a substantially smaller station at Miami Beach.
What happened to the JMWAVE site after it closed?
As of 2004, the site was still used by several U.S. government agencies, including the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, the Air Force and the Army. As of 2007, a local government effort aimed to convert Building 25 into a military museum and memorial.
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