Operation Northwoods

In 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed Operation Northwoods to President Kennedy: a plan to commit terrorist attacks on American soil — bombings, hijackings, and shootings — and blame them on Cuba to justify an invasion. The plan included sinking a US military ship in Guantanamo Bay, blowing up a US drone aircraft painted to look like a civilian airliner, and orchestrating violent terrorism in Miami. JFK rejected the plan and fired Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer. The documents were declassified in 1997 as part of the JFK Assassination Records Review Board. The plan was real, approved by the Joint Chiefs, and reached the president's desk. More shocking than Operation Mockingbird, Northwoods involved 17 documented acts of terrorism, including 6 planned bombings.