Around 1961, Cold War tensions were reaching a fever-pitch. There was concern among allied
nations that communist ideals and Soviet influence could spread across the Western Hemisphere, and
Cuba was proving to be a strategic concern under Fidel Castro's communist regime.
After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were desperate to overthrow Castro
before the Soviet Union established a military base in Cuba. They drafted a proposal to justify the
U.S. going to war against Cuba. Dubbed "Operation Northwoods", the proposal outlined details of a
false flag attack to be committed by CIA operatives against the U.S. military and civilian targets
in the guise of Cuban terrorists.
Upon receiving the proposal, President John F. Kennedy summarily rejected it, and went on to remove
Lyman Lemnitzer as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a few months later.
No projects outlined in the proposal were undertaken or made active.
On January 1, 1959, U.S. friendly dictator, Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba after support for Fidel
Castro gained traction and a coup was being formulated.
On January 9, Castro arrived in Havana, where he proclaimed himself Representative of the Rebel
Armed Forces of the Presidency.
On February 16, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba. As a supporter of communism, the
proximity of Castro's ideology to U.S. territory and neighbouring Latin American soil proved to be
a thorn in the sides of many American politicians and business owners.
On October 13, 1960, the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba and imports of their sugar. In
turn, this act only sought to improve Cuban ties with the Soviet Union, who stepped in to purchase
Cuba's sugar, creating an economic alliance between the two nations.
On April 17, 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion took place, which saw U.S. troops landing on the
southwestern coast of Cuba. However, the invasion was a catastrophic failure, with overwhelming
resistance from Cuban forces dealing the U.S. a decisive blow.
On November 30, 1961, "Operation Mongoose", a campaign of terrorism against Cuba was authorized by
President John F. Kennedy.
On February 2, 1962, a proposal entitled "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba" was
submitted by Brigadier General William H. Craig to Brigadier General Edward Lansdale, the commander
of Operation Mongoose. The proposal outlined false flag attacks staged on U.S. facilities in Cuba
and blame Castro.
On March 9, General Lyman Lemnitzer and the Joint Chiefs of Staff created the Operation
Northwoods proposal, outlining details on staged terrorist attacks.
On March 13, Lemnitzer presented Operation Northwoods to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara with
the recommendation that the Joint Chiefs of Staff oversee the execution of the operation.
On March 16, Lemnitzer and Lansdale met with Kennedy to discuss the cuba
situation. Kennedy rejected the proposal to use military force against Cuba, shutting down all
possibility of initiating Northwoods.
In June, Kennedy removed Lemnitzer as Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
On October 26, 1992, The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act was passed, seeing
the release of declassified documents pertaining to Kennedy's assassination.
On November 18, 1997, The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board declassified 1,521
pages of military records, making Northwoods public for the very first time.
On April 24, 2001, James Bamford's book Body of Secrets outlined the details of Operation
Northwoods, sparking widespread attention and amplifying public awareness.
The details of Operation Northwoods' proposed course of actions are layed out in full in the "Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba" memorandum that was declassified after the passing of the The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act.
A number of scenarios were made involving coordinated staged attacks in and around the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. These included:
The second part of the plan consisted of the U.S. responding to the attack by securing water and power supplies before recapturing the base and commencing large scale military operations against Cuba.
Inspired by the USS Maine incident of 1898, a proposal was put forward that would see a U.S. ship or unmanned drone destroyed by Cuban forces, with a fake air/sea rescue operation to evacuate the non-existant crew.
A terrorist campaign was proposed for Miami, as well as a number of other Florida cities. This campaign included the sinking of a boat of Cuban refugees enroute to Florida, attacks on civilians using plastic bombs, the arrest of Cuban agents, and the release of falsified files placing the blame on Castro's regime.
With Castro backing subversive groups across a number of his neighbouring Caribbean nations, there was an idea of inciting further tensions by using Cuban aircrafts to invade Dominican air space and enacting night raids on cane fields. Another idea, was to send supply crates of weapons to the pro-communist groups in those nations, which would be discovered and blamed on Castro.
A proposal to use Cuban MiG aircrafts to harass, attack, and destroy U.S. military drones was pitched as a "complementary action", further suggesting that a U.S. jet could be painted as a Cuban MiG and flown by a civilian airliner as evidence for any aggressive actions taken. An alternative proposal suggested Cuban MiGs destroy a U.S. Air Force craft over international waters in an unprovoked attack.
Terrorism aimed at air and surface crafts were proposed, with hijacking attempts encouraged under the auspice of Cuban approval. Alternatively, a false attack plan was devised that would see a painted U.S. aircraft filled with passengers that would be switched out for a genuine civil airliner before being destroyed.
Operation Northwoods was a smaller program under Operation Mongoose: a large-scale terrorism attack campaign against Cuba. A memorandum, entitled "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba" written by Brigadier General William H. Craig, was submitted as part of Operation Mongoose, and detailed a number of other operations similar to Northwoods.
In order to disrupt Cuban military communication facilities, an undetectable vacuum tube containing a chemical compound was to be inserted into selected communication equipment.
To foment dissent amongst the Cuban populace, valid one-way flight tickets to mostly South American countries was to be airdropped over Cuba.
As a way to sow mistrust between Castro and his officials, falsified plans to remove Castro as revolutionary leader, along with intelligence hardware would be placed where Castro would eventually find them.
To entice Cuban military personnel to defect with important equipment, there could be a promise of rewards, or other "intelligence means".
To degrade confidence in Soviet-provided aircrafts, boats and vehicles, a corrosive material could be introduced to sabotage them and affect their combat capabilities.
The objective would be to convince the Cuban government that any naval forces assigned to Project MERCURY, a 1962 human space-flight program, was just a cover.
Should Project MERCURY fail, the blame would be placed on the Cuban government by placing evidence to prove electronic tampering.
By introducing a biological agent into jet fuel storage facilities, it could weaken Cuba's confidence in fuel supplied to them by the Soviets.
By creating the impression that air drops and landings have been made, it could convince Castro that infiltrations are occuring regularly in order to create distrust.
By staging false flag attacks around the Guantanamo Bay facilities, it gives just cause for the U.S. military to devise a plan of retaliation to overthrow the Cuban government.
By distributing fake yet convincing photographs of Fidel Castro enjoying a lavish lafestyle, it may provoke a revolt amongst the underprivileged masses.
In order to tighten and stress Cuban security, false information regarding the defection of loyal Red pilots should be injected into the Cuban intelligence system.
