In 1950 , Cold War tensions ran high and authorities official were terrified that Soviets would infest Alaska . late - declassified document discover the details of “ Operation Washtub”—a joint FBI - Air Force architectural plan to raise Alaskans as “ abide - behind ” agents to pucker military intelligence .
Sounds like the plot to a movie called White Dawn , but it was real .
The issue that prompt the secret operation was the invasion of South Korea by Soviet - backed North Korean forces . Some U.S. officials conceive Korea was specify to be a distraction from a pending Soviet encroachment of Western Europe . Military deviser considered the territory of Alaska to be a likely prey for unfold a second front in this diversion tactic , dedicate its law of proximity to Russia . “ The military believes that it would be an airborne invasion involve bombing and the dropping of paratroopers , ” one FBI memo say
That memo is just one of704 pages of documentsobtained by a FOIA request . The plan , delineate in the mountain of paper , called for the recruitment and training of “ ordinary ” Alaskans — such as “ man of affairs , granger , trappers and fishermen”—who would form a little , covert net transport information on enemy cause . They would be provided not only with equipment but privy , bury caches of food and other survival gear .
“Don’t Trust The Eskimos”
U.S. functionary conceive that civilian were a better choice than military or intelligence personnel department because they were more familiar with sail Alaska ’s rugged terrain — pee-pee them better qualified to covertly notice Soviet activities or be after an safety valve if they excite suspicion .
An model of a distinctive person to be one of the principal is a professional photographer in Anchorage ; he has only one subdivision and it is felt that he would not do good the foeman in any labor battalion ; he is an inexpert receiving set operator ; he is a professional photographer ; he is certify as a hunting or fishing template , and well versed in the art of selection ; he is a pilot of a modest aircraft ; he is reasonably intelligent , particularly foxy , and possessed of sufficient physical courage as is show by his offer to manoeuver a company which was to have hunted Kodiak carry armed only with obeisance and pointer . If such an individual were opt it is believe that he would be eminently satisfactory as a dealer .
Moreover , it was trust that civilian would be more successful at meld in , since they were already longtime resident physician with cover stories . And , they would be organise in small cells , which would be give the minimum amount of information necessary to fill in their assigned tasks . Several of the declassified documents convey worry that large numbers of agent — with military or intelligence backgrounds — would be vulnerable target , since Soviet doctrine get married the “ elimination ” of all suspected sources of resistance in occupied territory . And , intelligence official worry about the efficiency with which the Soviets could extract selective information :
It is to be await that , in any future war , prisoners taken by the Soviet Army , or by any other Army trained in Soviet method will be ruthlessly exploited . They will be interrogated in detail , and the methods used will be plan to pull out the last moment of information from them . It must be anticipated that knowledgeable prisoners peculiarly will be submit to vigorous inducement to disclose such selective information as they own .
As such , Operation Washtub outline the criteria for pick out agents :
agent choose should be lasting occupant of Alaska and have established mean of bread and butter and logical reason for being placed where they mean to engage .
Agents should not have been members of the armed forces of the United States nor employee of the United States Government .
Agents should be chosen from those person who will not be lucid internee or victims of the foe .
Still , despite such heroic prospect as the aforementioned one - armed , Kodiak bear tracker , U.S. intelligence did n’t suppose highly of Alaskans , since “ most of them who settle there are concerned primarily in making money . ” That meant they would have to be carefully screen , and promised generous fiscal recompense .
One group , however , was regarded as altogether off - point of accumulation for enlisting — the indigenous Alaskan peoples :
The selection of agents from the Eskimo , Indian , and Aleut groups in the Territory should be avoided in horizon of their proclivity to drink to excess and their fundamental indifference to constituted governments and political doctrine . It is point out that their quality concern is with survival and their allegiance would easily lurch to any king in control .
likewise , another memo noted :
The Eskimo would plausibly not resist an invasion and would readily accept foreign rule if the Eskimo is provide the necessary for sustaining liveliness . The Eskimo has been experience so long in a land where his principal interests are touchable things that will keep him active that he just can not comprehend the intuitive feeling of allegiance to the Government .
Peacetime Dividends
Deborah Kidwell , official historian of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations , or OSI , said that the “ Washtub ” plan were in place from 1951 to 1959 , the year that Alaska became a U.S. state .
“ While warfare with the Soviet Union did not come to Alaska , OSI train 89 SBA ( stay - behind agents ) , and the survival caches served peacetime purposes for many years to come , ” she drop a line in an OSI magazine publisher .
And , in recent years , the autochthonous Alaskans who were once so freeze off by U.S. officials , would become frontline perceiver during the Cold War .
As a 1988 New York Times articlereported :
tension between East and West may have been reduced in the viewing of successful talks to reduce atomic blazonry in Europe . But for the Eskimo guide of Alaska ’s National Guard the Cold War stay with a frigidity to match an Alaskan wintertime .
The Eskimos are suspect of their Soviet neighbors in nearby Siberia and say they are the first line of defence against the Russians .
” You must realise the Russians are only a few short miles from our home , ” aver Sgt . 1st Class Mike Apatiki of the First Scout Battalion . ” We can see them across the Bering Strait and watch their plane flee overhead . ”
Senior military officer in Alaska say they are grateful for the alertness of the scouts and calculate upon them to patrol the vast and sparsely populated sphere of western and northern Alaska .
The area contains many strategic installations vulnerable to commando raids . These include radiolocation sites that are part of a net of similar site situated across Alaska and Canada to monish of a Soviet projectile approach over the polar ice cap . Northern Alaska also has a telephone number of key air bases and electronic intelligence facilities crucial to hemispheric security measures .
Carrying out the scouts ’ mission is considered a obligation of all Eskimos . Even those with no military links account to the close scout when they learn something out of the ordinary while hunt or sportfishing .
” In this agency the scout increase their eyes and ears a thousandfold , ” said Maj . Gen. John W. Schaeffer , adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard , an Eskimo who started out as a private in the scouts in 1957 . Few American soldiers could come through the conditions under which the scouts cultivate .
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