[1][2][3] It is on the shortest route between the east coast of the United States and the Panama Canal.

[6] A keeper and two assistants were assigned to live there until the Lighthouse Service installed an automatic beacon in 1929.

The U.S. Navy set up an observation post for the duration of World War II.

In 1996, the Coast Guard dismantled the light on Navassa, which ended its interest in the island.

Consequently, the Department of the Interior assumed responsibility for the civil administration of the area, and placed the island under its Office of Insular Affairs.