The Farm

There are not too many TV shows or movies about the CIA that don't mention "The Farm" in some way or another.  The one I've seen most recently was The Recruit with Al Pacino.

That made me wonder what exactly is "The Farm?"  It should be perfect for 31 days of random CIA facts.  Right?

The most interesting thing I've seen, or not seen, is the lack of information.  There is a lot of speculation, but nothing definitive.

But let's start with the basics.

The rumor is that the CIA maintains a clandestine training facility at Camp Peary in Virginia.  Okay, so let's learn more about Camp Peary.  Would you like to see a map?

It was initially used as a Seabee training facility during WWII.  Also during it's formation, the residents of the towns of Magruder and Bigler's Mill had to relocate, which is interesting to me, because apparently the town of Magruder was an established community for freedmen after the Civil War.  Camp Peary was also apparently used as a POW camp for German soldiers.

There are approximately 9,000 acres, lots of fresh water, and lots of wildlife.  It has also been closed to the public since 1952.

So, those are the "known" facts.  You can look up just about any of those and confirm them.

How about some speculation, then, since we do not know all the facts.

I'm going to start by linking to all the articles where I found this information.  I would dearly love to do more in depth research and get my hands on physical copies, but I just don't have the time or the resources right now. 

Wikipedia Article on Camp Peary
Source Watch article on Camp Peary
Eyeballing Camp Peary
eHow article on CIA Training
Daily Press news article from 1994 - This one is the one I found the most interesting and the one that I would like to chase down every lead and article it mentions.  This was a good article to read.

Going through these articles, I have a brief timeline of supposed reports.

In 1964, Camp Peary officials reached out to the Daily Press to reassure area residents that nothing improper or unsafe was being conducted by the river or the woods.  That the camp was a training camp in experimental war techniques.  (Daily Press)

In 1970, a former operative, Bill Wagner attends a 3 week interrogation course, that he describes as the "premier course."  Attendees take the roles of interrogators and the interrogated.  Supposedly, this course was dropped after the Watergate scandal.  (The Atlantic via Wikipedia)

In 1972, The Virginia Gazette reports that CIA officers are being trained as assassins, and quotes former agents saying "experimental" training includes hand held nuclear devices, such as a backpack bomb.  (Wikipedia, Daily Press). A "high-ranking CIA official ended up calling the Washington division of the Richmond Times Dispatch to deny the claim and say that it was nonsense that they trained assassins.  (Daily Press)

In 1984, three game wardens were able to breach security in order to ticket six hunters with improper hunting without launching any alarms.  (Daily Press)

In 2005, airplanes are regularly seen taking off and landing at the airstrip.  Flight plans include Guantanamo Bay.   (Eyeballing)

So what goes on at "the farm?"

According to former operatives, this is a basic operations course.  There is Weapons and Explosives, Driving, Navigation and Parachuting, and Tradecraft, which includes tailing, breaking and entering, bugging, drop offs, and report writing.  (eHow)

And according to the Daily Press:

"What else goes on there is pure speculation and area folklore."

Hugs,
Melinda