The Top-Secret Mission To Prepare Alaska For Soviet Invasion

At the height of the Cold War in the ‘50s, the United States strategized ways to defend Alaska from a possible Soviet invasion. Its location near the Bering Strait, which separates America and Russia, made the ice-covered state an entryway for the Soviets to invade the rest of the country.

And so, Operation Washtub was born. It recruited Alaskan citizens— from gold miners to white-collar workers— and trained them how to wage a counterinsurgency in the event of an invasion. The project was abandoned in 1959 due to the high cost that came with keeping agents. It was finally uncovered in 2014 when documents pertaining to the mission were declassified.