Operation Washtub (United States)

rdf:langString Operation Washtub (United States)

rdf:langString Operation Washtub, also known as STAGE (Stay Behind Agent Program), was a top secret joint operation between the United States Air Force's Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Officially, its purpose was to build an intelligence network in the event that the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Alaska. Primarily formulated by J. Edgar Hoover and his then protegé Joseph Carroll (DIA), the Operation was enacted from 1951 to 1959, when Alaska was granted statehood. The primary objectives of Operation Washtub were fostering potential stay-behind agents in the then Territory of Alaska for covert intelligence gathering, and maintaining evasion and escape facilities for captured friendly American Forces. The FBI "abruptly" ended its involvement in September 1951, for reasons which do not appear in declassified FBI materials. Correspondence dated to that time period would indicate that Director Hoover directly ordered the FBI to "get out at once," fearing humiliation for the agency should an invasion occur. This meant that almost the entirety of the operation's realization was carried out by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.