Lyman Lemnitzer Operation Northwoods March 1962, Washington D.C. In the early 1960s, Cold War tensions were rising fast. The Bay of Pigs invasion had failed, Fidel Castro was still in power, and Cuba was becoming an increasingly important Soviet ally just ninety miles from the Florida coast. Many military leaders believed direct action against Cuba was becoming inevitable. The problem was that the American public didn't want another war. Sounds familiar, I know. In March of 1962, senior officials within the Department of Defense produced a proposal known as Operation Northwoods. The document was reviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and signed by Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer before being forwarded to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. What they proposed wasn't an invasion plan. It was a collection of ideas designed to create public support for one. Up and to include the killing of American civilians and military. The documents discussed incidents that could be blamed on Cuba and then used to justify military action. Some proposals involved staged attacks, manufactured evidence, and orchestrated acts of sabotage. One particularly surprising recommendation that stood out was: "We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba." The part that always stands out to me is who was involved. These weren't fringe actors operating in the shadows. These were some of the most senior military leaders in the United States discussing ways public opinion might be shaped to support a war that many already believed should happen. President Kennedy rejected Operation Northwoods and the plans were never implemented. The documents disappeared into classified archives and remained hidden from public view for decades. There is no evidence that Operation Northwoods had anything to do with Kennedy's assassination. What is true is that twenty months after rejecting one of the most controversial military proposals in American history, Kennedy was dead, and the proposal remained hidden from the public for decades. Guantanamo Incidents (continued)