Geoengineering

Did former CIA Director John Brennan reveal that the U.S. government uses Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, a hypothetical geoengineering technology, to control the weather? No, that's not true: A full video of his 2016 speech shows that Brennan said no such thing. He was discussing his interest in technologies that could potentially reverse climate change; he did not say that these…

Was Hurricane Helene pushed "up the east coast" with purported weather modification systems such as NEXRAD, Doppler and HAARP? No, that's not true: An expert at the government's Air Resources Laboratory told Lead Stories that neither HAARP nor NEXRAD -- a network of high-resolution Doppler weather radars -- can "create, destroy, modify, intensify, or steer hurricanes in any way, shape,…

Can the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, or EISCAT Scientific Association, use its technologies for mind control, as a video on social media claims? No, that's not true: EISCAT Scientific Association Director Axel Steuwer told Lead Stories that there is "absolutely no mind control possible" with the program's systems, which primarily measure physical elements of the upper atmosphere using the…

Did NASA announce it is planning to inject millions of tons of ice into the atmosphere? No, that's not true: NASA has no plans to carry out such a large-scale intervention in the atmosphere. This claim is a misinterpretation of a proposed geoengineering concept, which suggests using ice particles to reflect sunlight and potentially moderate the effects of climate change.…

Can "unnatural chemtrails" be differentiated from an airplane's "normal condensation trails" because "contrails never last more than a minute" as asserted by a former pilot in a video? No, that's not true: The amount of time a plane's contrail is visible is dependent on the atmospheric conditions present where the plane is flying, the temperature and the humidity at that…

Did the head of the CIA acknowledge in a speech that "chemtrails" are real? No, that's not true: In a 2016 speech then-CIA Director John Brennan was discussing a controversial and untested solar geoengineering method called Stratospheric Aerosol Injection technology. "Chemtrails" are not the same thing as Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, which aims to potentially reverse global warming by reflecting a…

Do "chemtrails" contain the chemicals aluminum, barium, strontium and ethylene to cause a number of negative health impacts, including migraines, runny noses, depression, lethargy and anxiety? No, that's not true: Experts largely agree that "chemtrails" are a conspiracy theory not proven by science. Contrails, white lines of condensation released by aircraft primarily made of water vapor, are commonly confused for…

Does a number code printed on a streetlight match that of a ribosomal protein and does this show that mRNA from the COVID-19 vaccines can be activated using optogenetic technology if a vaccinated person is exposed to the light from the street lamp? No, that's not true: The L17 marking on the LED street lamp appears to be a product…

Does a video shared to social media in April 2023 authentically show a "cloud factory" in Chicago that makes rain to "control the climate"? No, that's not true: The video was posted to TikTok on April 1, 2023 -- April Fools' Day -- and features a man wearing a helmet with the logo of a Chicago-based sweetener manufacturing company. The…

Did the U.S. Air Force say, on the record, that the military branch wants to control the weather by 2025? No, that's not true: The Air Force public affairs team told Lead Stories that it is not Air Force policy to control the weather by 2025. The claim apparently traces back to a 1996 Air University research paper titled, "Weather…