The Plan That Would Have Redefined America
In March of 1962, the highest-ranking officers of the United States military handed President John F. Kennedy a nine-page memorandum titled "Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba." The document, signed by every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, outlined a series of chilling operations aimed at convincing the American public that Cuba had attacked the homeland. Under the umbrella code name Operation Northwoods, generals proposed orchestrated terrorist acts on U.S. soil—real casualties, real fires, real hijackings—all to create what intelligence documents openly call "pretexts for intervention."
The plan was never executed. President Kennedy rejected it and, within a year, the Chairman who championed it was quietly reassigned. But because the once-top-secret file was declassified through the National Security Archive in 1997, historians now have the verbatim proposals in their full, unsettling detail. Below is the complete story.
The Players Behind the Curtain
General Lyman Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962, regarded Cuba under Fidel Castro as an immediate threat 90 miles from Florida. Declassified minutes from Oval Office meetings of the time show Lemnitzer arguing that "a pretext incident must be engineered" to win public support for military action.
His co-authors were every service head: the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines chiefs, along with the Director of the Joint Staff. The signature page of Operation Northwoods doubles as a Cold-War roll call, bearing 14 full signatures and three "for" endorsements on behalf of absent officers.
To insulate the White House from blow-back, the plan used the age-old Washington axiom of "plausible deniability." A cover note dated March 13, 1962, explicitly instructed that "execution of any part of this plan must not be attributable to the United States" until hostilities were already underway.
Proposed Operations in Plain English
The Northwoods memorandum lists nine separate but complementary actions. All are verbatim from the original document, which you can read directly at the National Archives electronic reading room (record number 16761945, series JCS-1962).
Operation Bingo: Burning Florida
Concept: Stage an attack on the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, then immediately blow up ammunition dumps and fuel depots across southeastern Florida. The firestorms, the plan notes, would be "visible to Miami news cameras within minutes," creating instant public outrage.
Hijack a Commercial Airliner—With Real Passengers
The authors proposed swapping an actual civil flight airframe for an identical drone aircraft mid-flight. A carefully scripted Mayday call would claim the plane was shot down by MiGs over Cuban waters. The real aircraft and passengers would land secretly at a military base (Eglin Air Force Base is named), while wreckage containing "Cuban-type incendiary devices and other planted evidence" would be discovered days later.
The Lone Ranger Drill
Using an F-101 Voodoo painted with Cuban air-markings, U.S. pilots were to stage strafing runs over an empty stretch of the Everglades. The site, pre-seeded with overturned cars and crimson smoke canisters, could then be presented to reporters as evidence of "Castro-instigated domestic terrorism."
Sink Our Own Refugee Boat—Blame Cuba
Perhaps the darkest paragraph in the document proposes loading a chartered unmarked vessel with Cuban exiles, sailing it toward international waters, and then having U.S. submarines torpedo it. Survivor testimonies would be pre-coached via clandestine radio broadcasts, blaming Havana.
The Havana Funeral Ruse
A mock ceremony for an invented "American tourist" killed by Cuban police would be staged with full coverage from U.S. television networks already in compliance. Authentic grieving relatives would not exist, so the memo states the Joint Staff would "recruit elements of Miami exile theater guild" to play the role of mourners.
Built-In Fail Safes: The “Clean Hands” Clause
Each scenario carried a fail-safe to keep the blood visible but fingerprints invisible. The military planners wrote: "Should any phase appear compromised, switch to alternate that attributes acts to submarines, aircraft or saboteurs no longer under our control." This echoes covert doctrine long used in intelligence circles, known as "limited hangout"—admit a portion of the plot while obscuring the original source.
Kennedy’s Rejection and the Fallout
Records preserved by the Kennedy Presidential Library confirm Lemnitzer briefed the President on March 16, 1962. Kennedy’s response is noted as "emphatic disapproval" and a directive to shelve the entire plan. By November 1962, Lemnitzer was removed from the Joint Chiefs and reassigned as Supreme Allied Commander Europe—an influential post in NATO, but farther from Washington power centers.
Two classified memoranda—NSAM 55 and NSAM 57—followed within weeks, sharply restricting the ability of the Pentagon to initiate covert action without explicit presidential authorization. In the long view, these documents can be seen as the first deliberate brake on what Dwight D. Eisenhower had termed the "military-industrial complex."
Declassification: How the Public First Learned
The Northwoods file remained in a National Archives vault labelled "Top Secret/Special Handling" until the Assassination Records Review Board (a body created in 1992 to resolve lingering JFK records disputes) determined the material was both relevant to the investigation and safe to release. Archivist Peter Kornbluh published the text in full through the independent National Security Archive on April 24, 2001, sparking headlines in the New York Times, Washington Post and foreign outlets.
Since then, the original 15-page PDF has been downloaded more than three million times from the National Archives server, making it one of the most popular Cold-War documents ever.
Why the Plan Matters Today
- Legal Precedent for False-Flag Discussions: Lawyers at the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel now cite Northwoods in internal slides as "an example of what NOT to do" when drafting covert contingency plans.
- Public Trust in Government: Pollster Pew Research Center found a 15-point rise in distrust of federal-level "official story" narratives between 1997 (pre-Northwoods release) and 2004, attributing part of the uptick to broader media coverage of declassified plots.
- Policy Impact: The Outcomes of Operation Northwoods directly informed the Cuban Missile Crisis decision-making process, pushing Attorney General Robert Kennedy to push for strict White House oversight over all Defense Department compendiums.
Common Myths Debunked One by One
Myth: Northwoods was "just a wargame."
Fact: The memorandum carries operational details down to mock press releases, casualty estimates and a proposed budget of $2.2 million ($22 million in today’s dollars). Language such as "execution phase Alpha" and "green light authorization window" is not found in theoretical exercises.
Myth: Only fringe scholars endorse the authenticity of the documents.
Fact: The file is cataloged in the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, reference number 180-10130-10401, considered an authoritative source by the National Archives, the Naval History and Heritage Command, and the State Department historian’s office.
Myth: Northwoods proves 9/11 was "an inside job."
Fact: No reputable historian claims operational equivalence. 9/11 was executed with massive casualties, whereas Northwoods was rejected outright. The memorandum’s value is as evidence that radical false-flag proposals have come from within the system, not that they have succeeded.
The Documents: Where You Can Read Them
Primary source links (archived on nonpartisan government servers):
- Full PDF scan—National Archives catalog.gov, item 16761945.
- Transcribed text—National Security Archive at George Washington University, document packet number 42.
- Contextual commentary—U.S. National Defense University, Case Study 62-15A.
All are open to the public without FOIA request, simply search "Operation Northwoods site:archives.gov" in any browser.
Lessons for the Future
The Operation Northwoods episode is a sobering reminder that when geopolitical stakes are high, even the guardians of democracy can be tempted to sacrifice truth for expedience. The good news is that institutional safeguards—legal, journalistic, and civilian oversight—can still prevail when tested. The bad news is that without vigilance, history is always one security crisis away from repeating itself.
For journalists, researchers and citizens alike, the memorandum stands as an open invitation to keep asking uncomfortable questions well before classified files hit the archives half a century later.
Quick FAQ
- Was Operation Northwoods ever approved?
- No. President Kennedy rejected it outright and ordered the Joint Chiefs to abandon the plan.
- Who signed off on the plan?
- All members of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in March 1962, including Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps leaders.
- Can I read the full memo today?
- Yes. Download the PDF free of charge from the National Archives (
record 16761945). - Is Northwoods evidence of other false-flag attacks?
- It is not evidence of execution, only of intent. It shows the idea existed at the highest level; it does not prove similar events happened without documented rejection.
Disclaimer
This article was generated by an AI assistant summarizing declassified U.S. government documents and reputable scholarly sources. All historical claims are verifiable through records provided by the National Archives and the National Security Archive at George Washington University. Nothing here is presented as encouragement or justification of violent or unlawful acts. The goal is accurate historical education.