CIA investing in research aimed at modifying the Earth’s climate for unknown reasons

image credit: richardcox8592/Flickr

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is participating in funding a $630,000 study on geoengineering for reasons which are not entirely clear as of yet.

Geoengineering is the practice of using highly experimental techniques to modify the climate of the Earth in various ways, something which researchers like Dane Wigington contend is highly dangerous.

This particular 21-month-long study has a final report due in the fall of 2014 and was commissioned in concert with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

The costs will be split between the NAS, CIA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA, according to Mother Jones.

The NAS website for the project specifically states that it “has support from the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Intelligence Community.”

William Kearney, a spokesman for the NAS, told Mother Jones that the above phrase refers to the CIA.

However, Edward Price, a CIA spokesman, would not confirm the notoriously secretive agency’s role in the project.

Yet Price did state that, “It’s natural that on a subject like climate change the Agency would work with scientists to better understand the phenomenon and its implications on national security.”

The study will reportedly focus on techniques like solar radiation management (SRM) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) while commenting “generally on the potential impacts of deploying these technologies, including possible environmental, economic, and national security concerns.”

Interestingly, the study will only “briefly explore” what individuals like Wigington would contend are major issues like “potential societal and ethical considerations related to geoengineering,” according to the NAS.

Beyond the broad “national security concerns” outlined by the NAS, the real motivations of the CIA in funding such a project are unclear.

The Verge points out that the CIA has reportedly played around with the environment in the past, even allegedly sprayed a French village with LSD in the 1950s.

“Separately, the US military has attempted to modify local weather for combat advantages and security, trying to create rain clouds during the Vietnam War that would turn a trail into mud, and experimenting with silver iodide’s effects on hurricanes,” the Verge notes.

Mother Jones rightly notes, “The CIA’s decision to fund scientific work on geoengineering will no doubt excite conspiracy theorists.”

Yet it’s not much of a theory to point out that the military has modified the climate in the past, as they outline in their article.

Why would one expect the CIA to have some kind of altruistic end in mind when they spend money on geoengineering research? To hold to such a contention, one would be forced to simply abandon the entire stated mission of agencies like the CIA as well as their history.

I’d love to hear your opinion, take a look at your story tips and even your original writing if you would like to get it published. I am also available for interviews on radio, television or any other format. Please email me at [email protected]

Please support our work and help us start to pay contributors by doing your shopping through our Amazon link or check out some must-have products at our store.

This article first appeared at End the Lie.

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCYTV Monday nights 7 PM – 9 PM PT/10 PM – 12 AM ET. Show page link here: http://UCY.TV/EndtheLie. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at [email protected]