The Secret Operation Revealed Decades Later

Operation Northwoods: Plan fake terrorist attacks

In response to Fidel Castro’s burgeoning dictatorship and the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) circulated a memo on March 13, 1962, with the subject line “Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba.” In the missive, the JCS outlined suggestions to provoke Cuba such as “Start rumors (many),” “Sink ship near harbor entrance. Conduct funerals for mock-victims,” and “…blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.” Days later, President John F. Kennedy rejected Operation Northwoods, and JCS chairman Lyman Lemnitzer was denied a second term of office.