WEATHER AND U.S. MILITARY

Record Wildfires on the West Coast Are Capping a Disastrous Decade
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/24/climate/fires-worst-year-california-oregon-washington.html
Major fires exploded across Washington, Oregon and California earlier this month. They have added up to the worst fire season on record.

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Smokejumpers and the CIA
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Qu4ztAEACAAJ
https://jumpergoods.com/Smokejumpers-and-the-CIA-book
https://www.amazon.com/Smokejumpers-CIA-National-Association/dp/069283303X

The Little-Known Stories of Smokejumpers Working with the CIA
https://coffeeordie.com/smokejumpers-cia/

Smokejumpers and the CIA, by National Smokejumper Association
https://dc.ewu.edu/nsa_exhibit/16/

CIA Ties to Forest Service Smokejumpers Documented in New Account
https://missoulian.com/news/local/cia-ties-to-forest-service-smokejumpers-documented-in-new-account/article_17b2b302-2e30-5f02-8a61-92f45634d10d.html

After more than 50 Years, CIA Smokejumpers Honored for Secret Missions
https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2014/06/02/years-cia-smokejumpers-honored-secret-missions/9881375/

Smokejumpers worked for the CIA (Agency) over a 25-plus year period. Beginning in the spring of 1951, the CIA sent two agents to the Smokejumper base at Nine Mile, Montana, to be trained to parachute into mountainous and isolated terrain. The agents apparently reported back that there was a cadre of men already trained and willing to take on whatever the Agency wanted done. Ten Smokejumpers were recruited and went to work for the Agency that year. Seven of those Smokejumpers went to Taiwan where they trained National Chinese paratroopers and were involved in cargo drops deep into the mainland. In later years, jumpers moved on to Tibet to drop men and equipment to local forces fighting against Chinese occupation. Besides operations in Guatemala and the Bay of Pigs, Smokejumpers also took part in the Congo, India, and the 15-year "Secret War" in Laos. The CIA had realized in Smokejumpers men who were problem solvers and could get the job done under the most difficult circumstances.