◆ SpookStack

a = ad J. CLANDESTINE PARAMILITARY OPERATIONS -~ AIR 1. The first attempt at a clandestine air drop over Cuba took place on 28 September, 1960. (By coincidence this was the same night as the first maritine. operation.) A 100-man arms pack was dropped for an agent rated as having considerable: poten- tial as a resistance leader. The crew missed the drop zone by seven miles and dropped the weapons on a dam. Castro forces - scooped them up, ringed the area, caught the agent and later shot him. The airplane got lost on the way back to Guatemala and landed in Mexico. It is still there. 2. This operation might have indidated an unpromising future for air drops. In fact, its failure was influential in persuading the chiefs of the project of the futility of trying to build up an internal resistance organization by clandestine means, and within the next few weeks the operational emphasis was beginning its fateful swing toward the overt strike-force concept. To this extent the portent of failure was heeded, but it did not suffice either to halt the air drops or to ensure arrangements for their success. The attempts went on and on with results that were mostly ludicrous or tragic or both. 3. On 26 December 1960, Headquarters received word that a Cuban agent, who had been given Agency training in this country, wanted an air drop of not more than 1,500 pounds of demolition and sabotage materiel and weapons. He clearly specified the - 98 -