Operation Northwoods was a proposed false flag operation by the US Department of Defense in the early 1960s.
Operation Northwoods involved plans to stage false-flag terrorist attacks on US soil to create public support for a military intervention against Cuba.
The plan was developed in 1962 at the height of Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking military officials in the US, were involved in planning the operation.
Plans included hijacking planes, sinking boats carrying Cuban refugees, and conducting terrorist attacks in US cities, all to be blamed on Cuba.
President John F. Kennedy rejected the Operation Northwoods proposals, deeming them too extreme and unethical.
The existence of Operation Northwoods became public knowledge in 1997 when declassified documents were released.
The documents were obtained and published by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institution.
Operation Northwoods remains controversial and is often cited as an example of the extreme measures considered during times of heightened geopolitical tensions.