Operation Popeye, the 1996 Air Force Paper and Today's Cloud Seeding

An Ask a Prepper article by Kate L. Gilmour traces U.S. weather modification from a Vietnam War program to the cloud seeding that nine states run today, and questions official denials.

Key points

• Operation Popeye: In March 1967, Air Force aircraft seeded clouds over Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam with silver iodide, hoping to turn the Ho Chi Minh trail to mud. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird denied it to Congress, then admitted the lie in a letter leaked in 1974.
• The 1996 paper: Air War College students wrote "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025." It labels its scenarios as fiction, and the Air Force says it is not policy.
• Seeding today: A 2024 federal count found active programs across the West and the Plains. Utah, the largest, added 190 remote-controlled generators in 2025.
• Rainmaker: In early July 2025 the drone startup seeded two clouds over south-central Texas with 70 grams of silver iodide. Deadly floods days later sparked a national argument.
• Oversight: The only federal requirement, the article says, is a 1972 law making operators report to NOAA, which does no regulating.

Quick take

Gilmour argues that Washington's past denials over Popeye justify doubt about its current assurances, and that statehouses now decide whether seeding is legal. On safety, the article says measured silver iodide in rain is generally far below levels that concern doctors, though long-term studies on repeated seeding are limited.

Read the full story at Ask a Prepper.