evidence: Little information is publicly available about Wake, a secretive military base on a cluster of three small islands far out into the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and Japan. Wake is operated by the U.S. Air Force through Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, and is located within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. [...] A tiny 5-square-mile coral atoll that was uninhabited for centuries, Wake has no water supply, with residents relying on rain water and reverse osmosis, and is only marginally habitable. It was formally claimed by the United States in 1899, and when global air travel began, Pan American Airways established an outpost at Wake Island in the 1930s as a mid-Pacific refueling station for trans-Pacific air traffic. A small hotel operated there for the convenience of air travelers. [...] In 2009, the United States once again underscored its ownership and military control of Wake Island when President George W. Bush issued a proclamation creating the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The measure was promoted as an effort to preserve and protect marine life. But the proclamation also made clear that the Secretary of Defense would continue to manage Wake Island, although in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce.