Nanda Devi Operation Left Nuclear Spy Device Missing in the Himalayas

In 1965, U.S. and Indian intelligence services placed a listening device powered by a nuclear source on Nanda Devi in the Himalayas to track China’s nuclear and missile tests. The mission failed when a severe snowstorm forced the team to abandon the device, which they later could not recover. The device contained plutonium, raising the risk of an environmental hazard as the ice melts. The operation remained secret for decades before the release of documents reignited debate in India and the United States. The case has drawn renewed attention to how far intelligence operations in the Cold War era were willing to ignore natural conditions and environmental risks. It also underscored the hidden cost of covert surveillance efforts conducted in extreme terrain.