Harvey Point

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The Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity facility, owned by the Department of Defense, is located on a peninsula in Perquimans County, North Carolina, along the Albemarle Sound, near the city of Hertford. Established in World War II as an operating base for sea planes conducting anti-submarine surveillance of the Atlantic coast, it is currently used by the CIA's National Clandestine Service for personnel training in explosives, paramilitary combat, and other clandestine warfare techniques. A close by Naval facility in Weeksville, NC served as a blimp base during and after WWII.

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[edit] History

The point was originally occupied during the 1670s by the Harvey Family, including North Carolina's first native-born governor, Thomas Harvey. Hence the name Harvey Point.

[edit] World War II

Courthouse records indicate that in November 1942 the United States Navy purchased the point, roughly 1,200 acres (5 km²), for $41,751. The Navy then constructed an air station on the property for use during World War II. During WWII Harvey Point was used as a seaplane base.

After the war, the air station was deactivated until 1958 when the Navy announced Harvey Point would serve as the testing grounds for the Martin P6M Seamaster, an experimental long-range bomber. The project was thrown out in August 1959 when the Navy determined the aircraft wasn't successful enough for it to continue providing support for the program. Then, in 1961, the Navy returned to the property and announced that the property was closed to the public; it has remained that way ever since.

[edit] "The Point"

During the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the CIA code-named the base ISOLATION TROPIC and secretly stored weapons for the operation there. Following the invasion, the CIA continued to rely on Harvey Point as part of their continuing effort to undermine Fidel Castro.

Harvey Point later became well-known as "The Point", a training facility for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), although this has never been formally acknowledged by the U.S. Government. It is a sister facility to its more well-known CIA counterpoint, "The Farm", located at Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, Virginia. Today, the CIA continues to use "The Point" as a training facility for paramilitary warfare, demolitions, and unconventional weaponry. As of 2007, Harvey Point remains closed to the public and access to the property is still highly restricted.

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