Declassified CIA documents have revealed America’s once-secret ambitions to influence global weather patterns as a means of exerting control. These files, made public in 2003, shed light on the contentious practice of weather modification—a method involving the dispersal of chemicals into the atmosphere via rockets or aircraft to alter climate conditions and storm systems.
Though these 1965 documents do not specify the chemicals employed in these experiments, they emphasize the necessity for increased funding. This financial support was intended for developing weather modification projects, which were anticipated to become a strategic tool in warfare.
Notably, the memos indicated that federal investment in this clandestine initiative was set to quadruple by 1967. This was the year the United States reportedly began deploying chemical agents over Vietnam to induce floods and landslides as part of its military strategy.
A post on social media platform X claims, “The CIA has been influencing the weather and polluting the skies since 1965!” This assertion highlights the enduring controversy surrounding these revelations.
The resurfacing of the 18-page report by conspiracy theorists has reignited interest in the topic. The report, which was discreetly added to the CIA’s public archives, includes a letter from then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, commending the classified program.
The 18-page report was recently shared by conspiracy theorists, years after it was quietly placed into the CIA’s public archives, including a letter praising the classified operation from US President Lyndon B Johnson.
Johnson’s endorsement of the CIA’s weather modification project came just three years after he gave an ominous speech on the future of America and the work to create ‘weather satellites’ with the power to strengthen storms.
While giving the commencement address at Southwest Texas State University in May 1962, then-Vice President Johnson said: ‘He who controls the weather will control the world.’
Conspiracy theorists have claimed that airliners have been pouring various chemicals into the atmosphere for years for nefarious reasons including population control and mind control
Lyndon B Johnson (Pictured) spoke about controlling the weather in 1962, less than two years before becoming president and endorsing the CIA’s weather modification efforts
Just 18 months after giving this speech advocating for the US to control the weather, LBJ became the 36th president and would oversee two infamous projects designed to manipulate the weather – Project Stormfury and Project Popeye.
Following the speech, the records showed real government programs were already underway by 1965, such as Project Stormfury, which flew into hurricanes and seeded them with a freezing agent called silver iodide to try to weaken the storms by disrupting their inner structures.
Johnson’s letter, which is among the 18-page CIA report, from September of that year specifically mentioned the project’s work in manipulating a recent hurricane near Florida, believed to be Hurricane Betsy, which made landfall in Louisiana as a major Category 4 storm.
By 1967, however, this work expanded to Project Popeye, which was used against enemy supply lines during the Vietnam War to artificially extend the country’s monsoon season.
Intelligence officials also noted they had the full support of Johnson, who was determined to beat the Soviet Union’s efforts to control the weather as global tensions escalated.
The US government has maintained that weather modification has been used only to help weaken dangerous storms and induce rain in drought-stricken areas.
However, conspiracy theorists sharing the files have accused the CIA of using these projects to keep the world dependent on government by weaponizing storms, blocking sunlight and poisoning food supplies to intentionally make people sick.
Those allegations focus on so-called ‘chemtrails,’ the white streaks seen coming from high-flying jets on clear days, which appear to spread out and dissipate very slowly.
Declassified documents from 1965 reveal funding for a secret weather-controlling project was set to increase dramatically under the presidency of Lyndon B Johnson
President Johnson personally praised the efforts of the CIA in creating weather modification technology
Ever since the start of the government’s weather modification efforts, conspiracy believers have said these streaks are filled with a host of dangerous chemicals being sprayed by military jets and commercial airliners over populated cities.
‘Those long-lasting trails that turn blue skies into milky haze for hours? Not condensation. That’s poison falling on your family, your water, your lungs,’ one person on social media alleged without proof.
According to US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and environmental researcher Dane Wigington, chemtrails allegedly contain toxins and metals, including aluminum, barium, strontium and even mercury.
‘Those materials are put in jet fuel,’ RFK Jr claimed in April 2025. ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it. Find out who’s doing it and holding them accountable.’
The vast majority of scientists have long declared this theory as false, arguing that most condensation trails, or ‘contrails,’ are the result of water vapor from aircraft exhaust freezing into ice crystals as they hit cold air at high altitudes.
Chemtrails allegedly carry multiple toxic chemicals which are released by airplanes, including barium salts, aluminum oxide, strontium, and mercury
However, the declassified files and former President Johnson’s own words have revealed new evidence that the US was in a Cold War battle to master weather control technology before the Soviet Union.
Records disclosed to the public after the Vietnam War showed the US seeded clouds with a toxic substance called lead iodide in order to increase rainfall near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, causing landslides and making the route impassable.
Lead iodide is toxic to humans because it contains lead, which can cause lead poisoning with symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, abdominal pain, neurological damage, kidney problems and developmental issues in children.
There is no safe level of exposure according to health authorities.
Wigington, an environmental researcher for 30 years, claimed that the conspiracy surrounding chemtrails was not only true but has actually crippled the Earth’s ability to naturally overcome the pollution caused by humans.
He said that lab tests on rain samples, photos of specialized planes carrying these chemicals, government documents, and whistleblower testimony all show clear evidence that a secret program has attempted to weaponize weather.
Soil tests estimated that airliners allegedly equipped with secret nozzles and tanks on their wings, filled with aluminum, barium, manganese, graphene and various polymers, dump between 40 and 60 million tons of nanoparticles in the sky annually.
