Cuban Project The Cuban Project , also known as Special Group Augmented or Operation Mongoose ( ) , was a covert operation of the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) developed during the early years of President John F . Kennedy ' s administration . On November 30 , 1961 , aggressive covert operations against Fidel Castro ' s revolutionary government in Cuba were authorized by President Kennedy . The operation was led by U . S . Air Force General Edward Lansdale and went into effect after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion . Operation Mongoose was a secret program against Cuba aimed at removing the communists from power , which was a prime focus of the Kennedy administration according to Harvard historian Jorge Domínguez . The program has been described as terrorism by some historians . A document from the U . S . State Department confirms that the project aimed to " help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime " , including its leader Fidel Castro , and it aimed " for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962 " . U . S . policymakers also wanted to see " a new government with which the United States can live in peace " . Origins . After the Cuban Revolution , and communism ' s rise under Fidel Castro , the U . S . government was determined to undercut the socialist revolution ' s integrity and install in its place a government more in line with U . S . philosophy . A special committee was formed to search for ways to overthrow Castro when the Bay of Pigs Invasion failed . The committee became part of the Kennedy imperative to keep a tough line on communism , especially as Cuba was the nearest communist state to the U . S . . It was based on the U . S . government ' s estimation that coercion inside Cuba was severe and that the regime was serving as a spearhead for allied communist movements elsewhere in the Americas . Planning . The U . S . Defense Department ' s Joint Chiefs of Staff saw the project ' s ultimate objective to be to provide adequate justification for U . S . military intervention in Cuba . They requested that the Secretary of Defense assign them responsibility for the project , but Attorney General Robert F . Kennedy retained effective control . Mongoose was led by Edward Lansdale at the Defense Department and William King Harvey at the CIA . Lansdale was chosen due to his experience with counter - insurgency in the Philippines during the Hukbalahap Rebellion , and also due to his experience supporting Vietnam ' s Diem regime . Samuel Halpern , a CIA co - organizer , conveyed the breadth of involvement : " CIA and the US Army and military forces and Department of Commerce , and Immigration , Treasury , God knows who else – everybody was in Mongoose . It was a government - wide operation run out of Bobby Kennedy ' s office with Ed Lansdale as the mastermind . " There were 33 plans ( as there are 33 living species of mongoose s ) considered under the Cuban Project , some of which were carried out . The plans varied in efficacy and intention , from propagandistic purposes to effective disruption of the Cuban government and economy . Plans included the use of U . S . Army Special Forces , destruction of Cuban sugar crops , and mining of harbors . Operation Northwoods was a 1962 plan , which was signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and presented to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for approval , that intended to use false flag operations to justify intervention in Cuba . Among things considered were real and simulated attacks which would be blamed on the Cuban government . These would have involved attacking , or reporting fake attacks on Cuban exile s , U . S . military targets , Cuban civilian aircraft , and development of a false - flag terror campaign on U . S . soil . The operation was rejected by Kennedy and never carried out . The Cuban Project played a significant role in the events leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 . The Project ' s six - phase schedule was presented by Edward Lansdale on February 20 , 1962 ; it was overseen by Attorney General Robert Kennedy . President Kennedy was briefed on the operation ' s guidelines on March 16 , 1962 . Lansdale outlined the coordinated program of political , psychological , military , sabotage , and intelligence operations as well as assassination attempts on key political leaders . Each month since his presentation , a different method was in place to destabilize the communist regime , including the publication of Anti - Castro views , armaments for militant opposition groups , the establishment of guerilla bases throughout the country and preparations for an October military intervention in Cuba . Many individual plans were devised by the CIA to assassinate Castro . Plans to discredit Castro in the eyes of the Cuban public included contaminating his clothing with thallium salts that would make his trademark beard fall out and spraying a broadcasting studio with hallucinogen s before a televised speech . Assassination plots included poisoning a box of Castro ' s favorite cigars with botulinus toxin and placing explosive seashells in his favorite diving spots . The CIA operation was based in Miami , Florida and among its other aspects enlisted the aid of the Mafia ( who were eager to regain their Cuban casino operations ) to plot an assassination attempt against Castro ; William Harvey was one of the CIA case officers who directly dealt with mafioso John Roselli . Professor of History Stephen Rabe writes that " scholars have understandably focused on … the Bay of Pigs invasion , the US campaign of terrorism and sabotage known as Operation Mongoose , the assassination plots against Fidel Castro , and , of course , the Cuban missile crisis . Less attention has been given to the state of US - Cuban relations in the aftermath of the missile crisis . " Rabe writes that reports from the Church Committee reveal that from June 1963 onward , the Kennedy administration intensified its war against Cuba while the CIA integrated propaganda , " economic denial " , and sabotage to attack the Cuban state as well as specific targets within . One example cited is an incident where CIA agents , seeking to assassinate Castro , provided a Cuban official , Rolando Cubela Secades , with a ballpoint pen rigged with a poisonous hypodermic needle . At this time , the CIA received authorization for 13 major operations in Cuba , including attacks on an electric power plant , an oil refinery , and a sugar mill . Rabe has argued that the " Kennedy administration . . . showed no interest in Castro ' s repeated request that the United States cease its campaign of sabotage and terrorism against Cuba . Kennedy did not pursue a dual - track policy toward Cuba . . . The United States would entertain only proposals of surrender . " Rabe further documents how " Exile groups , such as Alpha 66 and the Second Front of Escambray , staged hit - and - run raids on the island . . . on ships transporting goods … purchased arms in the United States and launched . . . attacks from the Bahamas . " Harvard Historian Jorge Domínguez states that Mongoose ' s scope included sabotage actions against a railway bridge , petroleum storage facilities , a molasses storage container , a petroleum refinery , a power plant , a sawmill , and a floating crane . Domínguez states that " only once in [ the ] thousand pages of documentation did a US official raise something that resembled a faint moral objection to US government sponsored terrorism . " Actions were subsequently carried out against a petroleum refinery , a power plant , a sawmill , and a floating crane in a Cuban harbour . Execution . The Cuban Project was originally designed to culminate in October 1962 with an " open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime . " This was at the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis , where the U . S . and the USSR came alarmingly close to nuclear war over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba . The operation was suspended on October 30 , 1962 , but 3 of 10 six - man sabotage teams had already been deployed to Cuba . Dominguez writes that Kennedy put a hold on Mongoose actions as the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated , but " returned to its policy of sponsoring terrorism against Cuba as the confrontation with the Soviet Union lessened . " However , Noam Chomsky has argued that " terrorist operations continued through the tensest moments of the missile crisis " , remarking that " they were formally canceled on October 30 , several days after the Kennedy and Khrushchev agreement , but went on nonetheless " . Accordingly , " the Executive Committee of the National Security Council recommended various courses of action , " including ‘ using selected Cuban exiles to sabotage key Cuban installations in such a manner that the action could plausibly be attributed to Cubans in Cuba ’ as well as ‘ sabotaging Cuban cargo and shipping , and [ Soviet ] Bloc cargo and shipping to Cuba . " Assassination proposals . Many assassination ideas were floated by the CIA during Operation Mongoose . The most infamous was the CIA ' s alleged plot to capitalize on Castro ' s well - known love of cigars by slipping into his supply a very real and lethal " exploding cigar . " While numerous sources state the exploding cigar plot as fact , at least one source asserts it to be simply a myth , and another , mere supermarket tabloid fodder . Another suggests that the story does have its origins in the CIA , but that it was never seriously proposed by them as a plot . Rather , the plot was made up by the CIA as an intentionally " silly " idea to feed to those questioning them about their plans for Castro , in order to deflect scrutiny from more serious areas of inquiry . Other plots to assassinate Castro that are ascribed to the CIA include , among others : poisoning his cigars ( a box of the lethal smokes was actually prepared and delivered to Havana ) ; exploding seashells to be planted at a scuba diving site ; a gift diving wetsuit impregnated with noxious bacteria and mold spores , or with lethal chemical agents ; infecting Castro ' s scuba regulator apparatus with tuberculous bacilli ; dousing his handkerchiefs , his tea , and his coffee with other lethal bacteria ; having a former lover slip him poison pills ; and exposing him to various other poisoned items such as a fountain pen and even ice cream . The CIA even tried to embarrass Castro by attempting to sneak thallium salts , a potent depilatory , into Castro ' s shoes , causing " his beard , eyebrows , and pubic hair to fall out " . The US Senate ' s Church Committee of 1975 stated that it had confirmed at least eight separate CIA run plots to assassinate Castro . Fabian Escalante , who was long tasked with protecting the life of Castro , contends that there have been 638 separate CIA assassination schemes or attempts on Castro ' s life . In March 1960 author Ian Fleming met John F . Kennedy at a dinner through a mutal friend where he proposed several schemes to discredit Castro . Legacy . The Cuban Project , as with the earlier Bay of Pigs invasion , is widely acknowledged as an American policy failure against Cuba . According to Noam Chomsky , it had a budget of $ 50 million per year , employing 2 , 500 people including about 500 Americans , and still remained secret for 14 years , from 1961 to 1975 . It was revealed in part by the Church Commission in the U . S . Senate and in part " by good investigative journalism . " He said that " it is possible that the operation is still ongoing [ 1989 ] , but it certainly lasted throughout all the 70 ' s . " Media Portrayals . In the Oliver Stone film " JFK " , Operation Mongoose is portrayed in flash - back sequences as a training ground where , among others , Lee Harvey Oswald becomes versed in anti - Castro militia tactics .