Exhibit 396

Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba (TS) (Operation Northwoods memorandum)

Exhibit 396 · Military planning memorandum

Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba (TS) (Operation Northwoods memorandum)

We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.

Top Secret JCS memorandum forwarding, as a preliminary submission for planning, a list of pretexts to justify military intervention in Cuba, in response to a request from the Chief of Operations, Cuba Project (Lansdale). Declassified through the Assassination Records Review Board in 1997; NARA record 202-10002-10104.

Source: Joint Chiefs of Staff (L. L. Lemnitzer, Chairman) to the Secretary of Defense
Date: 13 March 1962
Quoted from: Annex to Appendix to Enclosure A, p. 8, para 3a (PDF p. 11)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: A proposal only; the paper says it is 'a preliminary submission suitable only for planning purposes.' NARA copy (212 pages, RIF 202-10002-10104): https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/202-10002-10104.pdf.

Cited by

Finding DEF-2.10: Primary record A Joint Chiefs of Staff memorandum of 13 March 1962, forwarded to the Secretary of Defense as "a preliminary submission suitable only for planning purposes," listed pretexts for U.S. military intervention in Cuba, including "We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba." Lansdale's memorandum for the record says the President said on 16 March 1962 that "we were not discussing the use of U.S. military force", and the cited records show no approval and no execution of any item.