It was the late summer of
1962.
The previous year, the U.S.
invasion of the Bay of Pigs, meant to topple the communist regime of
Fidel Castro, had been an embarrassing failure.
The administration of
President John F. Kennedy had turned instead to a Plan B to
destabilize Cuba and hopefully take down Castro: Operation Mongoose.
A National Security Council
memo released Thursday as part of the JFK assassination documents
details a meeting to discuss possible clandestine operations aimed at
sabotaging and destabilizing the Cuban regime.
Among those present at the
meeting, which took place on Sept. 6, 1962 — just six weeks before
the Cuban Missile Crisis – included National Security Advisor
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy;
Air Force Gen. Edward Lansdale, who led clandestine operations
against Cuba; and Edward R. Murrow, the famous broadcast reporter who
was serving at the time as the director of the U.S. Information
Agency, and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, Gen. Marshall
Carter.
Here are some of the possible
operations against Cuba. Some are only alluded to, others given a bit
more detail. It is not known which, if any, were actually put into
practice:
- An apparent plan to use
balloons to drop propaganda leaflets over Cuba: "After
considerable discussion, it was agreed that details should be
presented to the Group, to include the content of the leaflets which
would be dropped, and specifics as to the method and place of
launching, the technical details of the release of leaflets, etc.,
etc."
- Possible disruption of
Cuban radio and TV broadcasts: "Mr. Murrow explained the
far-reaching reactions that the Cubans could mount against U.S. radio
stations, and said that he felt on balance it would not be profitable
to provoke this kind of electronic warfare."
- Unspecified economic
sabotage actions aimed at "wrecking the Cuban economy."
- The introduction of
biological agents, which would "appear to be of natural
origins" to produce crop failures. One of the members
present, Gen. Carter, "emphasized the extreme sensitivity of
any such operation and the disastrous results that would flow from
something going wrong, particularly if there was obvious attribution
to the U.S." Bundy said he wasn't worried "about any
such sabotage which could clearly be made to appear as the result of
local Cuban disaffection or of a natural disaster, but that the
[U.S.] must avoid external activities such as release of chemicals,
etc., unless they could be completely covered up."
- Infiltrating and
distributing "small explosives or incendiaries" to
(anti-Castro) Cubans. Gen. Carter notes a problem: "the
people have shown no inclination to use such materials despite many
exile claims to the contrary."
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