A secret 1965 mission by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and India’s Intelligence Bureau to install a nuclear-powered surveillance device in the Himalayas resulted in the permanent loss of the equipment, according to historical accounts of the Cold War operation The idea for the clandestine mission reportedly originated during a conversation at a Washington cocktail party between Gen. Curtis LeMay, then chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, and Barry Bishop, a mountaineer who had summited Mount Everest
The joint operation aimed to place a 123-lb plutonium-powered SNAP-19C telemetry unit on a high-altitude peak to gather intelligence However, the mission did not go as planned, and the device was lost on Nanda Devi, one of India's highest mountains. Subsequent efforts to locate the device were unsuccessful, and its location remains unknown
This incident highlights the high-risk nature of covert operations undertaken during the Cold War. The partnership between American and Indian intelligence agencies on such a sensitive operation remained secret for years. The unrecovered device, containing radioactive plutonium, represents a lingering legacy of the era's geopolitical tensions and the extreme measures employed in the pursuit of strategic advantage
ISN MEDIA
