GOP 'weather control' crackdown fails to quash conspiracy theories

"OPERATION SKYWATCH IGNITED: Trump & Rfk Jr. Launch Global Crackdown On Chemtrails," reads the text in a screenshot shared to Facebook on February 16, 2026.

"Arrests Imminent --- THIS IS NUREMBERG 2.0, AND IT'S HAPPENING NOW," it continues, referencing the trials of Nazi leaders at the end of World War II.

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Screenshot of a Facebook post taken February 26, 2026

Multiple Republican-led states have passed legislation to ban "weather control" -- citing "chemtrails" as a root cause in committee hearings. 

But scientists have said for years that there is no evidence to support the existence of "chemtrails." White trails observed behind aircrafts stem from a simple condensation phenomenon and consist of droplets of water (archived here). The appearance and size of the trails and how long they linger in the sky depends on temperature and pressure in the air.

Despite this, conspiracy believers continue to find scapegoats they say are behind the activity.

Through a keyword search, AFP traced the text about "Operation Skywatch" to an October 23, 2025 article published on the "American Media Group" (AMG) website which promises "uncensored journalism."

The story has been updated several times -- the latest on February 16, 2026 -- and claims the Trump administration will prosecute and arrest people including pilots, scientists and "elite financiers" for "environmental terrorism and crimes against humanity."

The article also included a video from The People's Voice, a website AFP has repeatedly fact-checked for spreading misinformation.

The same claims have been repeated across social media and AFP found references to the purported "Operation Skywatch" as far back as April 2025.

Members of the Trump administration, including Kennedy, have fueled the conspiratorial debate about "chemtrails" (archived here).

The Health and Human Services Secretary also promised his agency would support moves to ban "geoengineering" --  a real scientific field gaining momentum (archived here and here).

But there is no evidence of a current federal task force working to dismantle "chemtrail operations."

Government response

The main US government agencies providing information on contrails are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA (archived here).

The EPA pointed AFP to its website saying the platform provided all that the agency knows of "the latest science, research, and other information regarding condensation trails from airplanes and geoengineering" (archived here).

It discusses legitimate reasons why chemicals are sprayed from aircraft, such as firefighting or farming, and assures this is documented and regulated.

"Unlike some so-called news sites, these online resources only contain factual information and directly address rumors and theories about these issues. This is the kind of radical transparency the public demands and expects, and the Trump EPA is happy to provide it," a spokesperson told AFP in a February 24 email.

HHS did not provide AFP with comment when requested.

Computational stage

Conspiracy adherents misleadingly conflate the appearance of contrails in the sky with geoengineering research.

Scientists have urged for a transparent debate around geoengineering questions, with critics pointing to a potential "dangerous distraction" from current and future environmental challenges alongside the false illusion of a "quick fix" to climate change (archived here).

Michael Thompson at the Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering (archived here) told AFP on February 24: "It's worth saying clearly: public unease about powerful actors making decisions about the atmosphere without consent is not irrational."

But he warned that if "conspiracy theories drive policy, the result isn't protection -- it's ignorance by design."

Most geoengineering work remains at a computational stage and focuses on climate modeling, scenario analysis, and risk assessment, experts said.

But, according to Thompson, a growing set of laboratory and small-scale outdoor studies are examining specific mechanisms, particularly around marine cloud brightening and stratospheric aerosol processes (archived here and here).

A 2025 scientific paper, for instance, suggests that commercial airplanes, not just the specialized high-altitude aircraft currently used, could carry the planet-cooling technology known as solar radiation management (archived here and here).

Thompson said researchers must work with governance experts to create transparent channels to explain experiments and their oversight but dismissed narratives about "secret spraying" as "unfounded."

AFP previously debunked misinformation about "chemtrails" and weather control.