The Central Intelligence Agency is investigating ways to master the environment in a bid to control the effects of climate change.
To that end, the agency is backing financially a study on geo-engineering, reported Mother Jones.
The study, which counts with other sponsors beside CIA, is reportedly running on a budget of $650,000. Commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit group of scientific advisors to the government, the project was designed to span for a period of 21 months. Its final report is scheduled to be published in the fall of 2014.
The project will seek to explore especially two geo-engineering techniques: solar radiation management (SRM) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). The former is associated with launching material into Earth's atmosphere to try and block the Sun's infrared radiation, limiting global temperature rise. The latter refers to taking carbon dioxide emissions out of the climate, which scientists have proposed doing through a variety of means, from structures that eat air pollution to capturing carbon emissions as they come out of smokestacks.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, "This study is intended to provide a careful, clear scientific foundation that informs ethical, legal, and political discussions surrounding geo-engineering."
It's unclear though the specific nature of knowledge or applications that the Langley envisions to get out of the study.
But one thing stands to known. This is not the first time the agency is involved with environmental issues. In the 50s, Langley allegedly dosed a French village with LSD via airborne spray and through food products.
In a variety of occasions, the US military attempted to modify local Vietnam weather in a bid to favor their war efforts during the Vietnam War. For the end of gain combat advantages and security, the US military has tried to create rain clouds during that would turn a trail into mud, and experimenting with silver iodide's effects on hurricanes.
