US climate scientist left cold by CIA query

A leading American climate scientist has said he felt “scared” when a shadowy organisation claiming to represent the CIA asked him about the possibility of weaponised weather.

Professor Alan Robock received a call three years ago from two men wanting to know if experts would be able to spot a hostile force’s attempts to upset the US climate. But he suspected the real intention was to find out how feasible it might be to secretly interfere with the climate of another country.

Prof Robock, from the Department of Environmental Sciences at New Jersey’s Rutgers University, has investigated the potential risks and benefits of using strato-spheric particles to simulate the climate-changing effects of volcanic eruptions.