Fearing a Russian invasion and occupation of Alaska, the U.S. government in the early Cold War years recruited and trained fishermen, bush pilots, trappers and other private citizens across Alaska for a covert network to feed wartime intelligence to the military, newly declassified Air Force and FBI documents show.
Invasion of Alaska? Yes. It seemed like a real possibility in 1950.
"The military believes that it would be an airborne invasion involving bombing and the dropping of paratroopers," one FBI memo said. The most likely targets were thought to be Nome, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Seward.
So FBI director J. Edgar Hoover teamed up on a highly classified project, code-named "Washtub," with the newly created Air Force Office of Special Investigations, headed by Hoover protege and former FBI official Joseph F. Carroll.



Two-time Nascar Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has died at 41 after being hospitalized with a...
When Billie Jean King left college in 1964, she had a purpose. Within a few years,...
The two teenage assailants responsible for a mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego,...
Former LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman, who gained infamy when his past racist comments came to light...





























