Operation Washtub
How did the CIA build a secret network inside Alaska?
4.1 (29)
43 mins
Explore Operation Washtub, a Cold War-era CIA program that recruited ordinary Alaskans to prepare for a possible Soviet invasion. Discover how civilians were trained as covert agents, equipped with hidden supplies and expected to gather intelligence if Alaska was attacked.
Ep 1:
Alaska's Secret Cold War Shield
As Soviet bombers loomed 55 miles from Alaska, the FBI and Air Force launched an unprecedented plan to turn civilians into a hidden last line of defense.
Ep 2:
Spies in Plain Sight
Postmasters, trappers, and bush pilots became secret spies trained in guerrilla warfare and interrogation resistance—while entire groups were quietly deemed too risky to recruit.
Ep 3:
Buried Arsenals, Buried Truths
As ICBMs and satellites made the mission obsolete, Washtub vanished without honor—its operatives silenced forever, and its buried caches resurfacing decades later as haunting relics.
Discussions (5)
Theodore
Level 2 · 1 day agoGil McIntyre was TOTALLY a spy lol
Paxton
Level 2 · 1 day agoThe Inupiat exclusion wasn't just bias, it was a massive tactical failure. Nobody knew that terrain better and they threw away their best asset over zero actual evidence of disloyalty.
Carlos
Level 4 · 1 day agoThe CIA declined Washtub not for moral reasons but strictly jurisdictional. They had no legal authority on US soil.
