Operation Rusty, also referred to as Project Rusty, was an American top-secret airborne reconnaissance program carried out over North Africa and the Middle East during the spring of 1942. It is notable for many reasons, but especially because the driving force in the operation was Major Elliott Roosevelt, who acted in direct consultation with his father, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Chief of Staff of the Army, George Marshall, and the Air Forces commander, General Henry “Hap” Arnold.