Top secret military operations in history

[Levina]

Op- acoustic kitty was impractical, op-MIAs was stupidity, my favourite is Op-Ivy Bells.

Top Secret Military Operations in History

Many events in history have been changed because of covert missions undergone by the military or by secret organizations led by the government. As a result of such activities, there have been discoveries made, conspiracies disclosed, injustices done, lives killed, and governments changed as a result of keeping everything concealed from public knowledge


The Underground Nuclear Ice City


Sometimes history is just a little bit weirder than science fiction.
fter the military takeover, Camp Century was converted into a giant ice-bound missile silo. The goal was to store approximately 600 nuclear missiles in the base. Project Iceworm was the code name for a top-secret United States Army program during the Cold War to build a network of mobile nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet. The ultimate objective of placing medium-range missiles under the ice — close enough to strike targets within the Soviet Union — was kept secret from the Danish government. To study the feasibility of working under the ice, a highly publicized “cover” project, known as Camp Century, was launched in 1960. However, unsteady ice conditions within the ice sheet caused the project to be cancelled in 1966.

Details of the missile base project were secret for decades, first coming to light in January 1995 and resulting in a political scandal, when the Danish Foreign Policy Institute (DUPI) was asked by the Folketing (Danish Parliament) to research the history of nuclear weapons in Greenland during the Cold War.


Operation Paperclip


In the aftermath of World War II American Intelligence launched Operation Paperclip as a covert attempt to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment in the United States. It turned out to be quite successful.


Operation Anthropoid


Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the assassination attempt on Nazi Officer Reinhard Heydrich. The operation was carried out in Prague on 27 May 1942 after having been prepared by the British Special Operations Executive with the approval of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Although only wounded in the attack, Heydrich died of his injuries on 4 June 1942. His death led to a wave of merciless reprisals by German troops, including the destruction of villages and the killing of civilians.


Operation Valkyrie


Operation Valkyrie was a German World War II emergency plan issued to the Reserve Army to take control in case of civil breakdown. German Army officers General Friedrich Olbricht, Major General Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg modified the plan with the intention of using it to take control of German cities, disarm the SS, and arrest the Nazi leadership once Hitler had been assassinated in the July 20 Plot. Hitler’s death (as opposed to his arrest) was required to free German soldiers from their oath of loyalty to him. After lengthy preparation, the plot was carried out in 1944, but failed.


Project 404

Project 404 was the code name for a covert United States Air Force advisory mission to Laos during the later years of the Vietnam War. The purpose of Project 404 was to supply the line crew technicians needed to support and train the Royal Laotian Air Force.

Project Azorian



The US government spent over $800 million in order to complete Project Azorian, which involved the recovery of K-129, a Soviet submarine that sank in 1968. The mission was undertaken in 1974 with the hopes of recovering everything on the submarine, which included a nuclear missile, documents, and top secret equipment. The Hugh Glomar Explorer, a mission-specific ship was also created to be used as the primary vessel for the mission.


Acoustic Kitty



Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project launched by the Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1960s attempting to use cats in spy missions to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies. A battery and a microphone were implanted into a cat and an antenna into its tail. This would allow the cats to innocuously record and transmit sound from its surroundings. Due to problems with distraction, the cat’s sense of hunger had to be addressed in another operation.

Operation Gold


Back in the 1950s, the American CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service had joined together in order to breach the Soviet Army’s defenses by tapping into their lines and having leaked information become a tool in determining the course of action. This was made possible with Operation Gold by creating a tunnel underneath the Soviet headquarters in Berlin and intercepting landline communications. However, before this mission even began, mole George Blake discovered the tunnel and foiled the mission.

 

[Levina]

Operation MIAS



The CIA launched Operation MIAS (Missing in Action Stingers) in order to purchase back the stinger missiles that were given to the Mujahideen in order for Afghans to fight against the Soviet forces. In a way, it was created to clean the mess created by another mission, Operation Cyclone, that funded the Afghan-Soviet war to begin in the first place. Overall, aside from the need of the government to spend over $65 million to recover all the missiles, it was labeled a failure due to tracking issues.

Operation Washtub



The CIA organized Operation Washtub to frame Guatemala as a close ally of Moscow by installing a fake Soviet arms cache in Nicaragua, which if proven, could overthrow Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. The covert mission was considered a success although it didn’t meet its original goals. Instead, operatives managed to frame Guatemala using a fake soviet submarine.

Phoenix Program



The CIA, US Special Ops Forces, Australian Army Training Team, and South Vietnam’s security force worked together in executing and operating the Phoenix Program, whose aim was to neutralize the forces of the Viet Cong. But instead of attacking soldiers, the program focused on abducting civilians and gathering information from them. Most civilians, especially those who were suspected members of the VC, were kidnapped, tortured, and killed.



Operation Ivy Bells.

The Regulus guided missile submarine, USS Halibut (SSN 587) which carried out Operation Ivy Bells.
Nearly 400 feet beneath the frigid waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, deep inside Soviet territorial waters, the divers stayed alive only by the umbilical cords that pumped warm water into their dive suits.
In an effort to alter the balance of Cold War, these men scoured the ocean floor for a five-inch diameter cable carry secret Soviet communications between military bases.

Captain James Bradley conceived the mission and firmly believed that he could find the tiny Soviet cable under the immense expanse of the ocean. Bradley remembered the signs that he saw during his childhood along the Mississippi River warning boaters not to anchor near cables. He rationalized that the Soviet’s would use similar signs and lead him right to his target. Bradley’s theory proved correct when the Halibut located a series of such signs in the Northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, after an arduous search.

The divers found the cable and installed a 20-foot long listening device on the cable. designed to attach to the cable without piercing the casing, the device recorded all communications that occurred. If the cable malfunctioned and the Soviets raised it for repair, the bug, by design, would fall to the bottom of the ocean. Each month Navy divers retrieved the recordings and installed a new set of tapes.

Upon their return to the United States, intelligence agents from the NSA analyzed the recordings and tried to decipher any encrypted information. The Soviets apparently were confident in the security of their communications lines, as a surprising amount of sensitive information traveled through the lines without encryption.

The Americans continued their operations undetected until 1981, when one day, surveillance satellites showed a number of Soviet warships, including a salvage ship, anchored over the undersea cable. Another intelligence-capable submarine, USS Parche (SSN-683), was quickly sent to the site to retrieve the pod. Unable to find the tap, the Parche’s divers realized that the Soviets had discovered the operation. The submarine made it back to the United States safely, leaving American leaders to determine how the Soviets had suddenly detected the tap.

After a long probe, United States counter-intelligence agents determined an NSA employee, Robert Pelton, betrayed Operation Ivy Bells to the Soviets. He sold the secret of Operation Ivy Bell for $35,000, which ended nearly a decade of espionage. Pelton was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The original tap that was discovered by the Soviets is now on exhibit at the KGB museum in Moscow.

@Psychic i know you like such stuff.
@jhungary

 

[Sage]

Thanks for sharing ...such an awesome stuff !

 

[Psychic]

Very nice thread.
BTW What was the outcome of op Azirona?

Ivy bells look very dangerous, and what if USS parche was detected by already alert Soviet warships?

 

[tahir195]

nice thread

 

[Levina]

Very nice thread.
BTW What was the outcome of op Azirona?

Azorian!!!
It was one of the most complex, expensive, and secretive intelligence operations during Cold War.
It is said that the American ship did recover a portion of K-129, but due to a mechanical failure in the grapple, two-thirds of the recovered section to break off during recovery. So I would not call it successful.

Ivy bells look very dangerous, and what if USS parche was detected by already alert Soviet warships?

Ivy bells by far was the most dangerous operation, and you gotta read how the Russians came to know of the American operation....
*******
Ronald Pelton, a 44-year-old veteran of the NSA, was fluent in Russian and considered to be a highly skilled communications analyst/specialist, but very bad at personal finance. Hostile toward the agency and dissatisfied with his position, Pelton was $65,000 in debt and filed for personal bankruptcy just three months before he resigned. With only a few hundred dollars in the bank, Pelton walked into the Soviet embassy in Washington, DC in January 1980 and offered to sell what he knew to the KGBfor money.

No documents were passed from Pelton to the Soviets, as he had an extremely good memory. He reportedly received $35,000 from the KGB for the intelligence he provided from 1980 to 1983, and for the intelligence on the Operation Ivy Bells, the KGB gave him $5,000. The Soviets did not immediately take any action on this information. However, in 1981, surveillance satellites showed Soviet warships, including a salvage vessel, anchored over the site of the tap in the Sea of Okhotsk. USS Parche was dispatched to recover the device, but her divers were unable to find it and it was concluded that the Soviets had taken it. It remains unclear why it took the Soviets so long, although a plausible explanation is that it was used to feed disinformation to U.S. defense intelligence.

In July 1985, Vitaly Yurchenko, a KGB colonel who was Pelton's initial contact in Washington D.C., defected to the U.S. and provided the information that eventually led to Pelton's arrest.[1]

The recording device captured by the Soviets is currently on public display at the Great Patriotic War museum in Moscow. [R]
*****

Interesting isn't it??

 

[jhungary]

Operation MIAS



The CIA launched Operation MIAS (Missing in Action Stingers) in order to purchase back the stinger missiles that were given to the Mujahideen in order for Afghans to fight against the Soviet forces. In a way, it was created to clean the mess created by another mission, Operation Cyclone, that funded the Afghan-Soviet war to begin in the first place. Overall, aside from the need of the government to spend over $65 million to recover all the missiles, it was labeled a failure due to tracking issues.

Operation Washtub



The CIA organized Operation Washtub to frame Guatemala as a close ally of Moscow by installing a fake Soviet arms cache in Nicaragua, which if proven, could overthrow Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. The covert mission was considered a success although it didn’t meet its original goals. Instead, operatives managed to frame Guatemala using a fake soviet submarine.

Phoenix Program



The CIA, US Special Ops Forces, Australian Army Training Team, and South Vietnam’s security force worked together in executing and operating the Phoenix Program, whose aim was to neutralize the forces of the Viet Cong. But instead of attacking soldiers, the program focused on abducting civilians and gathering information from them. Most civilians, especially those who were suspected members of the VC, were kidnapped, tortured, and killed.



Operation Ivy Bells.

The Regulus guided missile submarine, USS Halibut (SSN 587) which carried out Operation Ivy Bells.
Nearly 400 feet beneath the frigid waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, deep inside Soviet territorial waters, the divers stayed alive only by the umbilical cords that pumped warm water into their dive suits.
In an effort to alter the balance of Cold War, these men scoured the ocean floor for a five-inch diameter cable carry secret Soviet communications between military bases.

Captain James Bradley conceived the mission and firmly believed that he could find the tiny Soviet cable under the immense expanse of the ocean. Bradley remembered the signs that he saw during his childhood along the Mississippi River warning boaters not to anchor near cables. He rationalized that the Soviet’s would use similar signs and lead him right to his target. Bradley’s theory proved correct when the Halibut located a series of such signs in the Northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, after an arduous search.

The divers found the cable and installed a 20-foot long listening device on the cable. designed to attach to the cable without piercing the casing, the device recorded all communications that occurred. If the cable malfunctioned and the Soviets raised it for repair, the bug, by design, would fall to the bottom of the ocean. Each month Navy divers retrieved the recordings and installed a new set of tapes.

Upon their return to the United States, intelligence agents from the NSA analyzed the recordings and tried to decipher any encrypted information. The Soviets apparently were confident in the security of their communications lines, as a surprising amount of sensitive information traveled through the lines without encryption.

The Americans continued their operations undetected until 1981, when one day, surveillance satellites showed a number of Soviet warships, including a salvage ship, anchored over the undersea cable. Another intelligence-capable submarine, USS Parche (SSN-683), was quickly sent to the site to retrieve the pod. Unable to find the tap, the Parche’s divers realized that the Soviets had discovered the operation. The submarine made it back to the United States safely, leaving American leaders to determine how the Soviets had suddenly detected the tap.

After a long probe, United States counter-intelligence agents determined an NSA employee, Robert Pelton, betrayed Operation Ivy Bells to the Soviets. He sold the secret of Operation Ivy Bell for $35,000, which ended nearly a decade of espionage. Pelton was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The original tap that was discovered by the Soviets is now on exhibit at the KGB museum in Moscow.

@Psychic i know you like such stuff.
@jhungary

Nice, although they actually aren't that top secret anyway (If you have my clearance you would have a field day lol) but that was quite comprehensive for a list.

Just one thing tho, where was the mission to capture the enigma machine??

 

[Levina]

Just one thing tho, where was the mission to capture the enigma machine??

Afaik there was no operation to capture enigma, the first enigma machine was captured from a submarine. The U-571 movie is based on the same I guess.

 

[Foxtrot-Bravo]

Amazing stuff, I have been waiting for this for a long time on this platform.

 

[Jamwal's]

Koh e Paima

 

[anant_s]

very interesting reading.
you may also consider adding Israeli airforce's Operation Opera to the list.

 

[Levina]

very interesting reading.
you may also consider adding Israeli airforce's Operation Opera to the list.

Interestingly, Iran had conducted an operation called scorch sword months before Israel's attacks on the same nuclear reactor, albeit the outcome of this operation was minor damage to the reactor. This was the first time a nuclear facility was attacked, and in history only 3 such attacks have been made, which includes op. Opera.
Despite official hostility between Khomeini Of Iran with Israel, certain elements of Iran and Israel's government continued to help each other clandestinely because they had a common enemy called Iraq. Israel had secretly shipped aircraft spare parts to help Iran's air-force against US's wishes.
Iran lacked intelligence assistance from America's spy satellite unlike Israel, they had no idea of the layout of the plant and ergo they attacked only the research laboratories, the reactor control building, and the training facility.

 

[MMG]

Project Azorian, did they recover nuclear missile?

 

[IrbiS]

Very nice thread.
BTW What was the outcome of op Azirona?

Azorian!!!
It was one of the most complex, expensive, and secretive intelligence operations during Cold War.
It is said that the American ship did recover a portion of K-129, but due to a mechanical failure in the grapple, two-thirds of the recovered section to break off during recovery. So I would not call it successful.

Official version by CIA states same that during the lift-up, boat broke because 1 of the salvage vessel's claw allegedly broke and 2/3rd of the boat fell off with missiles being smashed into pieces. Later there was no debris on the ocean floor. 6 bodies were recovered from the salvaged bow section, ceremonially buried at sea by Americans and they later gave USSR video of the ceremony.

But it doesn't sound like a full, true story

Nice, although they actually aren't that top secret anyway (If you have my clearance you would have a field day lol) but that was quite comprehensive for a list.

Just one thing tho, where was the mission to capture the enigma machine??

Afaik there was no operation to capture enigma, the first enigma machine was captured from a submarine. The U-571 movie is based on the same I guess.

That movie is phony. 1st was delivered to Allies by Polish resistance before war but new internal rotors in current use ( at that time ) were required. HMS Bulldog recovered from a U-Boat by forcing it to surface using depth-charges and boarding it in 1941

very interesting reading.
you may also consider adding Israeli airforce's Operation Opera to the list.

Interestingly, Iran had conducted an operation called scorch sword months before Israel's attacks on the same nuclear reactor, albeit the outcome of this operation was minor damage to the reactor. This was the first time a nuclear facility was attacked, and in history only 3 such attacks have been made, which includes op. Opera.
Despite official hostility between Khomeini Of Iran with Israel, certain elements of Iran and Israel's government continued to help each other clandestinely because they had a common enemy called Iraq. Israel had secretly shipped aircraft spare parts to help Iran's air-force against US's wishes.
Iran lacked intelligence assistance from America's spy satellite unlike Israel, they had no idea of the layout of the plant and ergo they attacked only the research laboratories, the reactor control building, and the training facility.

Irani attack was somewhat a regular war-time mission involving F-4s, gives you idea about accuracy. Opera was nonetheless a spectacular show of one's resolve.

Iran even allegedly agreed to let the zionists land in Iran after raid, if needed.

 

[Levina]

@meghdut
there you go!!!