In the early 1960s, the specter of nuclear warfare loomed large over the United States, as the Cold War cast a long shadow over national security policy. Against this backdrop of escalating tensions, a clandestine initiative began to take shape within the upper echelons of military power—Project SHAD, an acronym for Shipboard Hazard and Defense. Officially sanctioned by the Department of Defense, this operation aimed at testing the limits of biological warfare defense would ultimately involve thousands of service members subjected to potentially harmful substances without their informed consent.