Location: Oceania, atoll in strategic location in the North Pacific Ocean, about one-third of the way from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands. Johnston Island and Sand Island are natural islands, which have been expanded by coral dredging; North Island (Akau) and East Island (Hikina) are manmade islands formed from coral dredging; closed to the public.
Both the US and the Kingdom of Hawaii annexed Johnston Atoll in 1858, but it was the US that mined the guano deposits until the late 1880s. The US Navy took over the atoll in 1934, and subsequently the US Air Force assumed control in 1948. The site was used for high altitude nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s, and until late in 2000 the atoll was maintained as a storage and disposal site for chemical weapons (Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS)). Munitions destruction is now complete. Cleanup and closure of the facility is progressing, with completion anticipated in 2004.
Government: Unincorporated territory of the US; administered from Washington, DC, by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and managed cooperatively by DTRA and the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Economic activity is limited to providing services to US military personnel and contractors located on the island. All food and manufactured goods must be imported.
Population: No indigenous inhabitants. In previous years, there was an average of 1,100 US military and civilian contractor personnel present; as of September 2001, population decreased to approximately 970 when US Army Chemical Activity Pacific (USACAP) departed. As of January 2003, the island population was just above 800 personnel.