The scientist says that three years ago he received a call asking whether experts would be able to spot attempts of “hostile nations” to upset the US climate, triggering droughts or flooding.
However, the professor says, the real intention was to find out how feasible it might be to secretly interfere with the climate of another country.
“Of course they were also asking — if we control someone else’s climate, would they then know about it," the US media quotes him as saying.
"I told them, after thinking a little bit, that we probably would (be able to spot attempts of 'hostile nations') because if you put enough material in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight we would be able to detect it and see the equipment that was putting it up there," he said.
'US Attempted to Weaponize Weather Before'
However, at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose (February 12-16) the researcher said that the US had already attempted to weaponize weather before.
During the Vietnam War, US scientists tried to increase rainfall, by seeding clouds, to hamper the enemy’s progress, shut off tracks by making them muddy.
And the CIA has already done the same over Cuba "to make it rain and ruin the sugar harvest."
Spy Agency Funds Climate Research to Get It Under Control
The CIA is also believed to have been funding a major geo-engineering report.
The Intelligence Agency is listed among the sponsors of the study, which was published last week by the US National Academy of Sciences, alongside with the US National Research Council, NASA, and the Department of Energy.
"The CIA is a major funder of the National Academies report so that makes me really worried who is going to be in control," said Professor Robock.
He added that the tension created by any large-scale meddling in the climate could escalate to such an extent that it would end in all-out war.
"If one country wants to control the climate in one way, and another doesn’t want it or if they try to shoot down the planes…if there is no agreement it could result in terrible consequences," said the scientist.
Another US project also deserves to be mentioned. The Alaska-based High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP).
It is an ionospheric research program geared at analyzing the ionosphere, an area of the upper atmosphere, with the announced aim of developing better radio communications and surveillance technology.
The program is jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
HAARP is a major target of conspiracy theorists, who say it is used for weather modification, to cause earthquakes, tsunamis, to disrupt global communications systems, and more. Some even went as far as supposing that it was used to engineer the disappearance of Flight MH370 (a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing).
Though denied by HAARP officials, some researchers also alleged that secret electromagnetic warfare capabilities of HAARP are designed to advance the US military’s stated goal of achieving full-spectrum dominance by the year 2020.
Major aspects of the program, however, are kept secret for alleged reasons of “national security.”
In May 2014, the US Air Force notified congress that it would be closing down the program.
According to David Walker, the Air Force deputy assistant secretary for science, technology and engineering, the Air Force is no longer interested in maintaining HAARP.
At a Senate hearing on May 14, Walker said the Air Force is moving in another direction in ionospheric management.
