This covert action plan was known as "Operation Mongoose" (Garthoff 1989). There was even a plot to kill the Cuban leader Fidel Castro (Garthoff 1989). In addition a declassified Mongoose planning document dated February 20, 1962, presented an agenda and timetable culminating in a wide popular revolt in Cuba, a development that in turn was expected both to require and to justify American military intervention, in October 1962 (Hilsman, 1996).

             Ultimately, the soviet Union got permission from Fidel Castro to place the missiles in Cuba, after being granted permission the Soviet Union worked quickly and discreetly to develop missile installations in Cuba (Cold War:Cuban Missile Crisis). It wasn't until October 16, that President Kennedy was made aware of the missiles when he was shown reconnaissance photographs of the missile installations being constructed in the nation of Cuba (Cold War:Cuban Missile Crisis). After nearly a week intense debate in the Kennedy administration, during which Soviet diplomats claimed that the installations were not being built in Cuba for offensive missiles, the President addressed the nation on October 22 and told of the discovery of the installations and asserted that any nuclear missile that struck the United States from Cuba would be treated as an attack by the Soviet Union and would be countered accordingly (Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis). The president also placed a naval quarantine on Cuba to prohibit Soviet shipments of offensive military weapons from arriving in the country (Cold War:Cuban Missile Crisis).

             A book entitled Reflections on the Cuban Missile Crisis asserts that President Kennedy directed the Majority of his attention toward Moscow and ignored the role that Castro and Cuba played in the Crisis. In addition the author reports that the president was prompt in his resolve to get support from international organizations. This support included the Organization of American States (OAS).