The Mystery Of The JM
WAVE
Just south of the Miami
Metro Zoo lies a small road leading to the University of Miami’s South Campus,
a university owned-property that many do not know exists. If that’s not enough
mystery for you, guess what the property formerly housed? The CIA. It served as
a 1960s CIA headquarters known as JM WAVE.
When World War II broke
out, the U.S. government decided to clear this 2,107 acre-property, which was
then a swamp, to build the Richmond Naval Air Station. But in 1945, when a
Category 4 hurricane destroyed the naval base, the property became up for
grabs.
With an upsurge in
student enrollment during the 1946-1947 school year, then-President Bowman
Foster Ashe was searching for a place to house hundreds of male students. Thus,
the university bought a three-year lease on the land.
On Nov. 1, 1946,
classes began at South Campus for 1,100 male students, primarily freshmen.
There were recreational, housing and dining facilities along with a bookstore
and a business office on the campus. Many students grew tired of the secluded
location though, which prompted the university’s 1948 decision to use the land
for research purposes only.
UM later decided to
lease several unoccupied buildings of South Campus to the CIA, who named the
new headquarters JM WAVE. This station was used for Operation Mongoose, a
mission aimed at training Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro. Operation
Mongoose was a response and second attempt at the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion by
Brigade 2506.
“We were to attack
certain parts of Cuba and continue the attack until we took over Cuba,” said
Maximo Cruz, former brigade member and president of the Bay of Pigs Museum and
Library.
During the Bay of Pigs
Invasion, many brigade members were killed or captured. Ultimately, President
Kennedy negotiated the release of the survivors.
“After we were
liberated, we did have members become heavily involved in Operation Mongoose,”
Cruz said.
Operation Mongoose was
not a full-fledged invasion like the Bay of Pigs but instead focused on
sabotage and propaganda.
The CIA needed a
headquarters close to the enemy, so Bob Reynolds, then-deputy chief of the Cuba
task force in Washington D.C., was asked to create the Miami JM WAVE station.
“He negotiated a deal
with UM President Henry Stanford because the South Campus was an isolated
location with a bunch of abandoned buildings,” said Don Bohning, former
reporter for The Miami Herald and author of The Castro Obsession.
In his book, Bohning
writes that JM WAVE became the largest CIA operation aside from its
headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Ted Shackley eventually
took over for Reynolds as head of the station. Under his leadership, JM WAVE
had 400 agents and 300 to 400 front companies throughout the Miami area. At
these “company” locations, operatives were trained. The businesses ranged from
airlines and merchant shipping to hunting camps and marinas. The JM WAVE
headquarters itself also had a front company named Zenith Technological
Enterprises, Inc. Though they were fronts, the agents ran the businesses like
any other venture.
“The business operations
certainly contributed to a healthy economy in Miami,” Bohning said.
Most UM students were
completely unaware of the CIA happenings on South Campus since the majority of
classes were held in Coral Gables. Don Crarreau, a 1961 UM alum and former
Richter Library reference librarian, said students who took classes at the
South Campus generally studied things that the majority did not, such as
agriculture.
“We never heard
anything about the JM WAVE,” Crarreau said. “It’s not something [the
university] would advertise.”
In June 1964, David
Wise and Thomas B. Ross blew the whistle on JM WAVE’s front business, Zenith
Technological Enterprises, Inc., in their book The Invisible Government. The
agency had to change its company name to Melmar Corporation in order to resume
normal activities.
After countless
unsuccessful missions, however, the CIA decided to shut down the JM WAVE
station. In The Castro Obsession, Bohning explains that the station also
believed that their cover had eroded through the years, thus jeopardizing its
security.
Although the Gold Coast
Railroad Museum, Miami Metro Zoo and UM South Campus are all now occupants of
this once secret-filled land, the government still owns a piece of the
property. Michael Hall, the executive director of Gold Coast Railroad Museum,
said over the museum fence resides land occupied by the Department of
Defense.
Hence, though the JM
WAVE station no longer exists, the happenings within and around South Campus,
which requires special clearance to visit, remain a mystery yet to be solved.
Miami Was Created by the CIA
This is the fascinating & obscure story about
Miami's origins: JMWAVE.
This one takes place during the 1960's. It's about
how the largest CIA headquarters in the world was not located off-shore, which
is normally the case, but in Miami, FL.
A CIA station in a domestic city... And it's not
supposed to be that way ;-)
The building had a cover story, "Zenith
Technical Enterprises, Inc." and hired hundreds of people, including Cuban
exiles.
The building was rented from the University of Miami
(established 1925). It was their South campus, which was eventually
fully-acquired by the CIA.
When it was publicly revealed in 1964, via Look
Magazine, that the CIA was stationed in the University of Miami's South
campus, UM officially denied knowing about the CIA's operation...
Although it's since been revealed the president of the university
knew all along (duuhhhhh).
Some of the operations ran through JMWAVE
include Operation Mongoose (the CIA's operation to kill Fidel Castro &
overthrow the Communist government), The Bay of Pigs Invasion, & The
Cuban Missile Crisis.
According to Dr. Vince Houghton, modern Miami - its
economy & political intrigue - is the direct result of "Zenith
Technical Enterprises, Inc."
It was the largest CIA station in the world outside
of its headquarters in Langley. It employed 300-400 officers on a $50 million
dollar yearly budget. Over 15,000 Cubans were connected to JMWAVE. It was one
of the biggest employers in South Florida between 1961-1968.
According to Houghton, there were 4 people employed
in JMWAVE specifically assigned to manage CIA-acquired South Florida real
estate & properties. Marinas, hunting camps, exile-operated publishing
workshops, safe-houses, hundreds of cars, merchant shipping, airlines, motels,
leasing & transportation firms, etc.
JMWAVE also ran the third largest navy in the Caribbean,
behind the United States & Cuba.
The economy of Miami was transformed from a sleepy
town where a bunch of snowbirds relocated, to a bustling metropolis that it is
today because of the CIA station & Fidel Castro.
In other words, Miami is a shadow-image of the CIA.
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