VIRGINIA BEACH

Motorists traveling on Shore Drive between North Great Neck Road and the entrance to First Landing State Park will have to slow down in August when the speed limit drops from 45 mph to 35 mph.

The change will take place Aug. 3, but signs alerting motorists to the change will be in place beginning Wednesday, according to a news release from the city of Virginia Beach.

What's in a name? Camp Peary, near Williamsburg

Posted to: News Williamsburg - James City By Julian Walker The Virginian-Pilot© July 27, 2009

Rear Adm. Robert Edwin Peary

Obtaining an official explanation of what goes on at the roughly 9,300-acre military installation along the York River near Williamsburg isn’t easy. Neither is getting a peek inside. A spokesman for the facility declined a recent request to visit the premises, noting that tours aren’t provided as they are at some other military outposts.“There’s really nothing to see here,” he said. When pressed for further explanation, the spokesman demurred, citing the “sensitive nature of what we do here.”Likewise, attempts to get more clarity from military officials were unsuccessful. Often referred to as an experimental training facility, the base is named for Commodore Robert Peary, leader of a North Pole expedition in 1909.Situated on land once partially occupied by two small villages, the site was used during World War II as a training ground for Navy Seabees and later as a stockade for German POWs. The military apparently decamped from the site after the war, but the Navy returned in 1951 and declared the property closed to the public. It remains that way today.CIA recruits are said to be trained there in a variety of techniques including lock picking, wiretapping and other skills useful in covert operations. Official details, however, remain scarce. A search for the term “Camp Peary” on the Department of Defense Web site produces fewer than a dozen hits. But the paucity of public records hasn’t stopped people from writing about the place. Several books, including “Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy,” give first-hand accounts of training conducted at Camp Peary.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com