CIA Accused of Changing Weather With Chemicals

A declassified CIA report from the 1960s has resurfaced online, leading to renewed accusations that the agency was involved in secret weather control programs and the release of chemicals into the sky.

The 18-page report, titled “Weather Modification,” was originally issued in October 1965 and declassified by the CIA in 2003. It described the United States’ interest in controlling weather patterns and discussed plans involving rockets and aircraft to release chemicals that could influence the climate and local storms.

One social media post claimed: “The CIA has been poisoning the sky and controlling the weather since 1965!”

According to the Daily Mail, the documents said federal funding for secret weather-related projects was expected to quadruple by 1967. The files also included a letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson praising the classified program.

Johnson had previously suggested that weather control could give the United States major global power. In a May 1962 speech to graduates at Southwest Texas State University, he said: “He who controls the weather will control the world.”

After that speech, the CIA launched projects including Project Stormfury and Project Popeye. Project Stormfury involved flying aircraft into hurricanes and seeding them with silver iodide in an attempt to weaken the storms.

Johnson’s letter specifically referred to work on a recent hurricane near Florida, believed to be Hurricane Betsy.

By 1967, Project Popeye aimed to disrupt enemy supply lines during the Vietnam War by artificially extending the monsoon season.

The resurfaced documents have also been linked by conspiracy theorists to modern claims about “chemtrails.” They allege that aircraft today are fitted with secret tanks and nozzles that spray chemicals such as aluminum, barium, strontium, and mercury into the atmosphere.

Environmental researcher Dane Wigington has claimed that between 40 million and 60 million tons of nanoparticles are released into the atmosphere each year.

RFK Jr. has also commented on the issue, saying: “Those materials are put in jet fuel. I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it. Find out who’s doing it and holding them accountable.”

Scientists, however, say most contrails are simply frozen water vapor from aircraft engines at high altitudes. The U.S. government maintains that weather modification has only been used to weaken storms or to induce rainfall in drought-affected areas.

Records also show that the United States seeded clouds with lead iodide near the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. The effort reportedly caused landslides and blocked supply routes.

Lead iodide is toxic to humans and can cause headaches, fatigue, abdominal pain, neurological damage, and developmental issues in children.