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'''Project MKUltra''' (or '''MK-Ultra'''), also called the '''CIA mind control program''', is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, some of which were illegal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/one-shocking-cia-programs-time-project-mkultra/|title=One of the Most Shocking CIA Programs of All Time: Project MKUltra|date=2013-09-23|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/history-of-mk-ultra|title=MK-Ultra|last=Editors|first=History.com|date=2018-08-21|website=History.com|publisher=A&E Television Networks|access-date=2019-01-02|quote=Though Project MK-Ultra lasted from 1953 until about 1973, details of the illicit program didn’t become public until 1975, during a congressional investigation into widespread illegal CIA activities within the U.S. and around the world.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World|last=Valentine|first=Douglas|publisher=Clarity Press|date=2016|isbn=978-0997287011|quote=As Vietnam was winding down, the CIA was beset by Congressional investigations that revealed some of the criminal activities it was involved in, like MKULTRA.}}</ref> Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet4/trnsct04.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713145805/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet4/trnsct04.txt|url-status=dead|title=Advisory on Human Radiation Experiments, July 5, 1994, National Security Archives, retrieved January 16, 2014|archive-date=July 13, 2013}}</ref> Other code names for drug-related experiments were Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/search/site/artichoke|title=FOIA &#124; CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)|website=www.cia.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp83-01042r000800010003-1|title=PROJECT BLUEBIRD &#124; CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)|website=www.cia.gov}}</ref>
{{External article cleanup|date=November 2021}}
'''Project MKUltra''' (or '''MK-Ultra'''), also called the '''CIA mind control program''', is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the [[United States of America|U.S.]] [[Central Intelligence Agency]], some of which were illegal.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/one-shocking-cia-programs-time-project-mkultra/|title=One of the Most Shocking CIA Programs of All Time: Project MKUltra|date=2013-09-23|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/history-of-mk-ultra|title=MK-Ultra|last=Editors|first=History.com|date=2018-08-21|website=History.com|publisher=A&E Television Networks|access-date=2019-01-02|quote=Though Project MK-Ultra lasted from 1953 until about 1973, details of the illicit program didn’t become public until 1975, during a congressional investigation into widespread illegal CIA activities within the U.S. and around the world.}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World|last=Valentine|first=Douglas|publisher=Clarity Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0997287011|quote=As Vietnam was winding down, the CIA was beset by Congressional investigations that revealed some of the criminal activities it was involved in, like MKULTRA.}}</ref> Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet4/trnsct04.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713145805/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet4/trnsct04.txt|url-status=dead|title=Advisory on Human Radiation Experiments, July 5, 1994, National Security Archives, retrieved January 16, 2014|archive-date=July 13, 2013}}</ref> Other code names for drug-related experiments were Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/search/site/artichoke|title=FOIA &#124; CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)|newspaper=www.cia.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp83-01042r000800010003-1|title=PROJECT BLUEBIRD &#124; CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)|newspaper=www.cia.gov}}</ref>


The operation was officially sanctioned in 1953, reduced in scope in 1964 and further curtailed in 1967. It was officially halted in 1973. The program also engaged in illegal activities,<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref>
The operation was officially sanctioned in 1953, reduced in scope in 1964 and further curtailed in 1967. It was officially halted in 1973. The program also engaged in illegal activities,<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Chapter 3: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2012-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331150116/http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=2013-03-31 |url-status=dead }}
{{Web citation|url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Chapter 3: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2012-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331150116/http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=2013-03-31 |url-status=dead }}
</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://publicintelligence.net/ssci-mkultra-1977/|title=U.S. Senate Report on CIA MKULTRA Behavioral Modification Program 1977 |website=publicintelligence.net – Public Intelligence}}</ref> including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as its unwitting test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf|title=Project MKUltra, the Central Intelligence Agency's Program of Research into Behavioral Modification. Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office (copy hosted at the New York Times website)|date=August 8, 1977|access-date=2010-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/ | title = Science, Technology and the CIA: A National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book | last = Richelson | first = JT (ed.) | access-date = 2009-06-12 | date = 2001-09-10 | publisher = [[George Washington University]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html | title = Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals | work = Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report | access-date = 2005-08-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070430101158/http://hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html | archive-date = 2007-04-30 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | publisher = [[United States Congress]] | title = The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence | work = [[Church Committee]] report, no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. | location = [[Washington, D.C.]]. | year = 1976 | url = http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0200b.htm | page = 392}}</ref> MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions. Techniques included the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, electroshocks,<ref name="npr.org">National Public Radio (NPR), 9 Sept. 2019, [https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief'"] (On-air interview with journalist [[Stephen Kinzer]])</ref> hypnosis,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01315R000400250013-0.pdf|title=Dialogue Sought With Professor In CIA Probe|date=1977-08-27|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP99-00498R000300020007-3.pdf|title=Statement of Director of Central Intelligence Before Subcommittee On Health And Scientific Research Senate Committee on Human Resources|date=1977-09-21|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-27}}</ref> sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as other forms of torture.<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond|last=Otterman|first=Michael|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-0522853339|page=24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the [[Cold War]] to the War on Terror|last=McCoy|first=Alfred|publisher=Macmillan|year=2007|isbn=978-1429900683|page=29}}</ref>
</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=http://publicintelligence.net/ssci-mkultra-1977/|title=U.S. Senate Report on CIA MKULTRA Behavioral Modification Program 1977 |website=publicintelligence.net – Public Intelligence}}</ref> including the use of U.S. and [[Canada|Canadian]] citizens as its unwitting test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{Web citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf|title=Project MKUltra, the Central Intelligence Agency's Program of Research into Behavioral Modification. Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session|newspaper=U.S. Government Printing Office (copy hosted at the New York Times website)|date=August 8, 1977|access-date=2010-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/ | title = Science, Technology and the CIA: A National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book | last = Richelson | first = JT (ed.) | access-date = 2009-06-12 | date = 2001-09-10 | publisher = [[George Washington University]]}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation| url = http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html | title = Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals | author = Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report | access-date = 2005-08-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070430101158/http://hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html | archive-date = 2007-04-30 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation| publisher = [[United States Congress]] | title = The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence | author = Church Committee report, no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. | location = [[Washington, D.C.]]. | year = 1976 | url = http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0200b.htm | page = 392}}</ref> MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions. Techniques included the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, electroshocks,<ref name="npr.org">National Public Radio (NPR), 9 Sept. 2019, [https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief'"] (On-air interview with journalist [[Stephen Kinzer]])</ref> hypnosis,<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01315R000400250013-0.pdf|title=Dialogue Sought With Professor In CIA Probe|date=1977-08-27|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-27}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP99-00498R000300020007-3.pdf|title=Statement of Director of Central Intelligence Before Subcommittee On Health And Scientific Research Senate Committee on Human Resources|date=1977-09-21|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-27}}</ref> sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as other forms of torture.<ref>{{Citation|title=American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond|author=Michael Otterman|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-0522853339|page=24}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the [[Cold War]] to the War on Terror|last=McCoy|first=Alfred|publisher=Macmillan|year=2007|isbn=978-1429900683|page=29}}</ref>


The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at more than 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.<ref name="autogenerated6">{{cite news |title=80 Institutions Used in C.I.A. Mind Studies: Admiral Turner Tells Senators of Behavior Control Research Bars Drug Testing Now |last=Horrock |first=Nicholas M. |newspaper=New York Times |date=4 Aug 1977 }}</ref> The CIA operated using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite report |title=Project MKUltra, The CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification |author=United States Senate, 95th Congress, 1st session |work=Joint Hearing Before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources |date=3 August 1977 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf }}</ref>
The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at more than 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.<ref name="autogenerated6">{{Web citation|title=80 Institutions Used in C.I.A. Mind Studies: Admiral Turner Tells Senators of Behavior Control Research Bars Drug Testing Now |last=Horrock |first=Nicholas M. |newspaper=New York Times |date=4 Aug 1977 }}</ref> The CIA operated using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Citation |title=Project MKUltra, The CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification |author=United States Senate, 95th Congress, 1st session |work=Joint Hearing Before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources |date=3 August 1977 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf }}</ref>


Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford's United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States (also known as the Rockefeller Commission).
Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford's United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States (also known as the Rockefeller Commission).


Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA Director Richard Helms's order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms's destruction order.<ref name="Cia">{{cite news | title=An Interview with Richard Helms | date= 2007-05-08| url = https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no4/html/v44i4a07p_0021.htm | publisher = [[Central Intelligence Agency]] | access-date = 2008-03-16 }}</ref> In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKUltra which led to Senate hearings later that year.<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref name="mk1977">{{cite news |title=Private Institutions Used In C.I.A Effort To Control Behavior. 25-Year, $25 Million Program. New Information About Funding and Operations Disclosed by Documents and Interviews Private Institutions Used in C.I.A. Plan |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902EED9113FE334BC4A53DFBE66838C669EDE |quote=Several prominent medical research institutions and Government hospitals in the United States and Canada were involved in a secret, 25-year, $25-million effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to learn how to control the human mind. ... Dr. [[Harris Isbell]], who conducted the research between 1952 and 1963, kept up a secret correspondence with the C.I.A. |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=August 2, 1977 |access-date=2014-07-30 }}</ref> Some surviving information regarding MKUltra was declassified in July 2001. In December 2018, declassified documents included a letter to an unidentified doctor discussing work on six dogs made to run, turn and stop via remote control and brain implants.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/cia-mkultra-documents-files-remote-control-dogs-1250519|title=How the CIA used brain surgery to make six remote control dogs|last=Andrew Whalen On 12/7/18 at 7:24 PM|date=2018-12-07|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=2018-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2018/12/11/cia-once-secretly-implanted-mind-control-devices-in-dogs-brains/|title=CIA once secretly implanted mind-control devices in dogs' brains|last=O'Neill|first=Natalie|date=2018-12-11|website=New York Post|language=en|access-date=2018-12-12}}</ref>
Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA Director Richard Helms's order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms's destruction order.<ref name="Cia">{{Web citation| title=An Interview with Richard Helms | date= 2007-05-08| url = https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no4/html/v44i4a07p_0021.htm | publisher = [[Central Intelligence Agency]] | access-date = 2008-03-16 }}</ref> In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKUltra which led to Senate hearings later that year.<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref name="mk1977">{{Web citation|title=Private Institutions Used In C.I.A Effort To Control Behavior. 25-Year, $25 Million Program. New Information About Funding and Operations Disclosed by Documents and Interviews Private Institutions Used in C.I.A. Plan |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902EED9113FE334BC4A53DFBE66838C669EDE |quote=Several prominent medical research institutions and Government hospitals in the United States and Canada were involved in a secret, 25-year, $25-million effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to learn how to control the human mind. ... Dr. [[Harris Isbell]], who conducted the research between 1952 and 1963, kept up a secret correspondence with the C.I.A. |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=1977-08-02|access-date=2014-07-30}}</ref> Some surviving information regarding MKUltra was declassified in July 2001. In December 2018, declassified documents included a letter to an unidentified doctor discussing work on six dogs made to run, turn and stop via remote control and brain implants.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.newsweek.com/cia-mkultra-documents-files-remote-control-dogs-1250519|title=How the CIA used brain surgery to make six remote control dogs|author=Andrew Whalen|date=2018-12-07T19:24|newspaper=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=2018-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://nypost.com/2018/12/11/cia-once-secretly-implanted-mind-control-devices-in-dogs-brains/|title=CIA once secretly implanted mind-control devices in dogs' brains|author=Natalie O'Neill|date=2018-12-11|website=New York Post|language=en|access-date=2018-12-12}}</ref>


==Background==
==Background==
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===Aims and leadership===
===Aims and leadership===
The project was headed by Sidney Gottlieb but began on the order of CIA director Allen Dulles on April 13, 1953.<ref>Church Committee; [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0199b.htm p. 390] "MKUltra was approved by the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] on April 13, 1953"</ref> Its aim was to develop mind-controlling drugs for use against the Soviet bloc in response to alleged [[Soviet Union|Soviet]], [[China|Chinese]], and [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|North Korean]] use of mind control techniques on U.S. prisoners of war during the [[Korean War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals |work=Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report |access-date=August 24, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041109061412/http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=November 9, 2004 }} "MKUltra, began in 1950 and was motivated largely in response to alleged Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean uses of mind-control techniques on U.S. prisoners of war in Korea."</ref> The CIA wanted to use similar methods on their own captives, and was interested in manipulating foreign leaders with such techniques,<ref>Church Committee; [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0200a.htm p. 391] "A special procedure, designated MKDELTA, was established to govern the use of MKUltra materials abroad. Such materials were used on a number of occasions."</ref> devising several schemes to drug [[Fidel Castro]]. It often conducted experiments without the subjects' knowledge or consent.<ref>Church Committee; "The congressional committee investigating the CIA research, chaired by Senator [[Frank Church]], concluded that '[p]rior consent was obviously not obtained from any of the subjects.'"</ref> In some cases, academic researchers were funded through grants from CIA front organizations but were unaware that the CIA was using their work for these purposes.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Price | first = David | title = Buying a Piece of Anthropology: Human Ecology and unwitting anthropological research for the CIA | journal = Anthropology Today | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 3–13 |date=June 2007 | url = http://file.wikileaks.org/file/AT-june07-Price-PT1.pdf | access-date = 2008-04-13 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-8322.2007.00510.x}}</ref>
The project was headed by Sidney Gottlieb but began on the order of CIA director Allen Dulles on April 13, 1953.<ref>Church Committee; [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0199b.htm p. 390] "MKUltra was approved by the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] on April 13, 1953"</ref> Its aim was to develop mind-controlling drugs for use against the Soviet bloc in response to alleged [[Soviet Union|Soviet]], [[China|Chinese]], and [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|North Korean]] use of mind control techniques on U.S. prisoners of war during the [[Korean War]].<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals |author=Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report |access-date=August 24, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041109061412/http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=November 9, 2004 }} "MKUltra, began in 1950 and was motivated largely in response to alleged Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean uses of mind-control techniques on U.S. prisoners of war in Korea."</ref> The CIA wanted to use similar methods on their own captives, and was interested in manipulating foreign leaders with such techniques,<ref>Church Committee; [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0200a.htm p. 391] "A special procedure, designated MKDELTA, was established to govern the use of MKUltra materials abroad. Such materials were used on a number of occasions."</ref> devising several schemes to drug [[Fidel Castro]]. It often conducted experiments without the subjects' knowledge or consent.<ref>Church Committee; "The congressional committee investigating the CIA research, chaired by Senator [[Frank Church]], concluded that '[p]rior consent was obviously not obtained from any of the subjects.'"</ref> In some cases, academic researchers were funded through grants from CIA front organizations but were unaware that the CIA was using their work for these purposes.<ref>{{Citation|author=David Price|title = Buying a Piece of Anthropology: Human Ecology and unwitting anthropological research for the CIA | publisher = Anthropology Today | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 3–13 |year=June 2007 | url = http://file.wikileaks.org/file/AT-june07-Price-PT1.pdf | access-date = 2008-04-13 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-8322.2007.00510.x}}</ref>


The project attempted to produce a perfect truth drug for interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the [[Cold War]], and to explore other possibilities of mind control. Subproject 54 was the Navy's top-secret "Perfect Concussion" program, which was supposed to use sub-aural frequency blasts to erase memory; the program was never carried out.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/e1950/mkultra/Hearing05.htm |title=Retrieved 25 April 2008 |publisher=Druglibrary.org |access-date=2010-03-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620105003/http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/Hearing05.htm |archive-date=20 June 2010 }}</ref>
The project attempted to produce a perfect truth drug for interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the [[Cold War]], and to explore other possibilities of mind control. Subproject 54 was the Navy's top-secret "Perfect Concussion" program, which was supposed to use sub-aural frequency blasts to erase memory; the program was never carried out.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/e1950/mkultra/Hearing05.htm |title=Retrieved 25 April 2008 |newspaper=Druglibrary.org |access-date=2010-03-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620105003/http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/Hearing05.htm |archive-date=20 June 2010 }}</ref>


Most MKUltra records were destroyed in 1973 by order of CIA director Richard Helms, so it has been difficult for investigators to gain a complete understanding of the more than 150 funded research subprojects sponsored by MKUltra and related CIA programs.<ref name="Supremecourt">{{cite web|url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals |work=Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report |access-date=April 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331150116/http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=March 31, 2013 }} (identical sentence) "Because most of the MK-ULTRA records were deliberately destroyed in 1973 ... MK-ULTRA and the related CIA programs."</ref>
Most MKUltra records were destroyed in 1973 by order of CIA director Richard Helms, so it has been difficult for investigators to gain a complete understanding of the more than 150 funded research subprojects sponsored by MKUltra and related CIA programs.<ref name="Supremecourt">{{Web citation|url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals|author=Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report |access-date=April 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331150116/http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=March 31, 2013 }} (identical sentence) "Because most of the MK-ULTRA records were deliberately destroyed in 1973 ... MK-ULTRA and the related CIA programs."</ref>


The project began during a period of what Rupert Cornwell described as "paranoia" at the CIA, when the U.S. had lost its nuclear monopoly and fear of communism was at its height.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news |title=Obituary: Sidney Gottlieb |author=Rupert Cornwell |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-sidney-gottlieb-1080920.html |newspaper=The Independent (London) |date=March 16, 1999 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton believed that a mole had penetrated the organization at the highest levels.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> The agency poured millions of dollars into studies examining ways to influence and control the mind and to enhance its ability to extract information from resistant subjects during interrogation.<ref name="question-torture">{{cite book|last=McCoy|first=Alfred|title=A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror|publisher=Metropolitan Books|location=New York|year=2006|pages=8, 22, 30 |isbn=0805080414}}</ref><ref name="shock-doctrine">{{cite book| last=Klein| first=Naomi | title=The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism | publisher = Picador | location = New York | year = 2007 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/shockdoctriner00unse/page/47 47]–49| url=https://archive.org/details/shockdoctriner00unse| url-access=registration| isbn = 978-0312427993| author-link = Naomi Klein}}</ref> Some historians assert that one goal of MKUltra and related CIA projects was to create a "Manchurian Candidate"-style subject.<ref>{{cite book | last = Ranelagh | first = John | title = The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA | publisher = Sceptre |date=March 1988 | pages = 208–210 | isbn = 0340412305}}</ref> Alfred McCoy has claimed that the CIA attempted to focus media attention on these sorts of "ridiculous" programs so that the public would not look at the research's primary goal, which was effective methods of interrogation.<ref name="question-torture" />
The project began during a period of what Rupert Cornwell described as "paranoia" at the CIA, when the U.S. had lost its nuclear monopoly and fear of communism was at its height.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{Web citation|title=Obituary: Sidney Gottlieb |author=Rupert Cornwell |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-sidney-gottlieb-1080920.html |newspaper=The Independent (London) |date=March 16, 1999 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton believed that a mole had penetrated the organization at the highest levels.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> The agency poured millions of dollars into studies examining ways to influence and control the mind and to enhance its ability to extract information from resistant subjects during interrogation.<ref name="question-torture">{{Citation|last=McCoy|first=Alfred|title=A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror|publisher=Metropolitan Books|location=New York|year=2006|pages=8, 22, 30 |isbn=0805080414}}</ref><ref name="shock-doctrine">{{Citation|author=Naomi Klein|title=The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism | publisher = Picador | city = New York | year = 2007 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/shockdoctriner00unse/page/47 47]–49| url=https://archive.org/details/shockdoctriner00unse| url-access=registration| isbn = 978-0312427993| author-link = Naomi Klein}}</ref> Some historians assert that one goal of MKUltra and related CIA projects was to create a "Manchurian Candidate"-style subject.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ranelagh John|title = The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA | publisher = Sceptre |year=1988|pages = 208–210|isbn = 0340412305}}</ref> Alfred McCoy has claimed that the CIA attempted to focus media attention on these sorts of "ridiculous" programs so that the public would not look at the research's primary goal, which was effective methods of interrogation.<ref name="question-torture" />


===Scale of project===
===Scale of project===
One 1955 MKUltra document gives an indication of the size and range of the effort. It refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances described as follows:<ref name="arts.rpi.edu">{{cite web | url = http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~pellr/lansberry/mkultra.pdf | publisher = Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Committee on Human Resources | date = August 3, 1977 | title = Senate MKUltra Hearing: Appendix C – Documents Referring to Subprojects, (p. 167, in PDF document page numbering). |access-date = 2007-08-22 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071128230208/http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~pellr/lansberry/mkultra.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-11-28}}</ref>
One 1955 MKUltra document gives an indication of the size and range of the effort. It refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances described as follows:<ref name="arts.rpi.edu">{{Web citation| url = http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~pellr/lansberry/mkultra.pdf | publisher = Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Committee on Human Resources | date =1977-08-03| title = Senate MKUltra Hearing: Appendix C – Documents Referring to Subprojects, (p. 167, in PDF document page numbering). |access-date = 2007-08-22 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071128230208/http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~pellr/lansberry/mkultra.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-11-28}}</ref>


===Applications===
===Applications===
The 1976 Church Committee report found that, in the MKDELTA program, "Drugs were used primarily as an aid to interrogations, but MKULTRA/MKDELTA materials were also used for harassment, discrediting or disabling purposes."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/finalreportofsel01unit#page/390/mode/2up |title=Book 1: Final report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate : together with additional, supplemental, and separate views|page=391|publisher=United States Government Printing Office |date= April 26, 1976}}</ref><ref name="Scheflin1978">{{cite book|last1=Scheflin, Jr|first1=Alan W.|last2=Opton|first2=Edward M.|title=The mind manipulators : a non-fiction account|date=1978|publisher=Paddington Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0448229775|page=158}}</ref><ref name="Thomas1989">{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Gordon|title=Journey into madness : the true story of secret CIA mind control and medical abuse|date=1989|publisher=Bantam Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0553053579|page=123}}</ref>
The 1976 Church Committee report found that, in the MKDELTA program, "Drugs were used primarily as an aid to interrogations, but MKULTRA/MKDELTA materials were also used for harassment, discrediting or disabling purposes."<ref>{{Citation|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/finalreportofsel01unit#page/390/mode/2up |title=Book 1: Final report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate : together with additional, supplemental, and separate views|page=391|publisher=United States Government Printing Office |date= April 26, 1976}}</ref><ref name="Scheflin1978">{{Citation|author=Alan W. Scheflin, Jr, Edward M. Opton|title=The mind manipulators : a non-fiction account|date=1978|publisher=Paddington Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0448229775|page=158}}</ref><ref name="Thomas1989">{{Citation|author=Gordon Opton|title=Journey into madness : the true story of secret CIA mind control and medical abuse|date=1989|publisher=Bantam Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0553053579|page=123}}</ref>


===Other related projects===
===Other related projects===
In 1964, MKSEARCH was the name given to the continuation of the MKULTRA program. The MKSEARCH program was divided into two projects dubbed MKOFTEN/CHICKWIT. Funding for MKSEARCH commenced in 1965, and ended in 1971.<ref name="1977Senate" /> The project was a joint project between The U.S. Army Chemical Corps and the CIA's Office of Research and Development to find new offensive-use agents, with a focus on incapacitating agents. Its purpose was to develop, test, and evaluate capabilities in the covert use of biological, chemical, and radioactive material systems and techniques of producing predictable human behavioral and/or physiological changes in support of highly sensitive operational requirements.<ref name="1977Senate" />
In 1964, MKSEARCH was the name given to the continuation of the MKULTRA program. The MKSEARCH program was divided into two projects dubbed MKOFTEN/CHICKWIT. Funding for MKSEARCH commenced in 1965, and ended in 1971.<ref name="1977Senate" /> The project was a joint project between The U.S. Army Chemical Corps and the CIA's Office of Research and Development to find new offensive-use agents, with a focus on incapacitating agents. Its purpose was to develop, test, and evaluate capabilities in the covert use of biological, chemical, and radioactive material systems and techniques of producing predictable human behavioral and/or physiological changes in support of highly sensitive operational requirements.<ref name="1977Senate" />


By March 1971 over 26,000 potential agents had been acquired for future screening.<ref name="LeeShlain2007">{{cite book|author1=Martin A. Lee|author2=Bruce Shlain|title=Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oq8djFLFL0C&pg=PT373|year=2007|publisher=Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0802196064|pages=373–}}</ref> The CIA was interested in bird migration patterns for chemical & biological warfare (CBW) research; subproject 139 designated "Bird Disease Studies" at Penn State.<ref>{{cite news |first=Bill |last=Richards |title= Data shows 50s projects: Germ Testing by the CIA|work=Washington Post |page=A1 |date=June 17, 1977 |access-date= January 20, 2014 |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CIA%20CBW/Item%2001.pdf }}</ref>
By March 1971 over 26,000 potential agents had been acquired for future screening.<ref name="LeeShlain2007">{{Citation|author=Martin A. Lee, Bruce Shlain|title=Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oq8djFLFL0C&pg=PT373|year=2007|publisher=Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0802196064|pages=373–}}</ref> The CIA was interested in bird migration patterns for chemical & biological warfare (CBW) research; subproject 139 designated "Bird Disease Studies" at Penn State.<ref>{{Web citation |first=Bill |last=Richards |title= Data shows 50s projects: Germ Testing by the CIA|work=Washington Post |page=A1 |date=1977-06-17|access-date=January 20, 2014 |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CIA%20CBW/Item%2001.pdf}}</ref>


MKOFTEN was to deal with testing and toxicological transmissivity and behavioral effects of drugs in animals and, ultimately, humans.<ref name="1977Senate">1977 Senate MKULTRA Hearing: Appendix C – Documents Referring to subprojects</ref>
MKOFTEN was to deal with testing and toxicological transmissivity and behavioral effects of drugs in animals and, ultimately, humans.<ref name="1977Senate">1977 Senate MKULTRA Hearing: Appendix C – Documents Referring to subprojects</ref>
Line 43: Line 44:


==Experiments on Americans==
==Experiments on Americans==
CIA documents suggest that they investigated "chemical, biological, and radiological" methods of mind control as part of MKUltra.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c010.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020131080119/http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c010.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-01-31 |title=Declassified |publisher=Michael-robinett.com |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref> They spent an estimated $10 million or more, roughly $87.5 million adjusted for inflation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.namebase.org/news12.html |title=Mind Control and the Secret State |first=Daniel |last=Brandt |date=1996-01-03 |work=[[NameBase]] NewsLine |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804222524/http://www.namebase.org/news12.html |archive-date=2012-08-04 |url-status=dead |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref>
CIA documents suggest that they investigated "chemical, biological, and radiological" methods of mind control as part of MKUltra.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c010.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020131080119/http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c010.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-01-31 |title=Declassified |publisher=Michael-robinett.com |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref> They spent an estimated $10 million or more, roughly $87.5 million adjusted for inflation.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.namebase.org/news12.html |title=Mind Control and the Secret State |first=Daniel |last=Brandt |date=1996-01-03 |work=[[NameBase]] NewsLine |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804222524/http://www.namebase.org/news12.html |archive-date=2012-08-04 |url-status=dead |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref>


===LSD===
===LSD===
Early CIA efforts focused on LSD-25, which later came to dominate many of MKUltra's programs.<ref name="auto4">
Early CIA efforts focused on LSD-25, which later came to dominate many of MKUltra's programs.<ref name="auto4">
{{Cite web |url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Hss.doe.gov |access-date=2012-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331150116/http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=2013-03-31 |url-status=dead }}
{{Web citation |url=http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |title=Hss.doe.gov |access-date=2012-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331150116/http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html |archive-date=2013-03-31 |url-status=dead }}
</ref> The CIA wanted to know if they could make Soviet spies defect against their will and whether the Soviets could do the same to the CIA's own operatives.<ref name="autogenerated5">{{cite web|url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks4.htm|title=The Search for the Manchurian Candidate – Chapter 4|first=John|last=Marks|website=www.druglibrary.org}}</ref>
</ref> The CIA wanted to know if they could make Soviet spies defect against their will and whether the Soviets could do the same to the CIA's own operatives.<ref name="autogenerated5">{{Web citation|url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks4.htm|title=The Search for the Manchurian Candidate – Chapter 4|first=John|last=Marks|website=www.druglibrary.org}}</ref>


Once Project MKUltra got underway in April 1953, experiments included administering LSD to mental patients, prisoners, drug addicts, and sex workers&nbsp;– "people who could not fight back," as one agency officer put it.<ref name="autogenerated7">{{cite news |title=Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies; Took LSD to C.I.A. |author=Tim Weiner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/10/us/sidney-gottlieb-80-dies-took-lsd-to-cia.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=10 Mar 1999 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> In one case, they administered LSD to a mental patient in Kentucky for 174 days.<ref name="autogenerated7" /> They also administered LSD to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, and members of the general public to study their reactions. LSD and other drugs were often administered without the subject's knowledge or informed consent, a violation of the Nuremberg Code the U.S. had agreed to follow after World War II. The aim of this was to find drugs which would bring out deep confessions or wipe a subject's mind clean and program them as "a robot agent."<ref name="rappoport">Rappoport, J. (1995). "CIA Experiments With Mind Control on Children". ''Perceptions Magazine'', p. 56.</ref>
Once Project MKUltra got underway in April 1953, experiments included administering LSD to mental patients, prisoners, drug addicts, and sex workers&nbsp;– "people who could not fight back," as one agency officer put it.<ref name="autogenerated7">{{Web citation |title=Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies; Took LSD to C.I.A. |author=Tim Weiner |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/10/us/sidney-gottlieb-80-dies-took-lsd-to-cia.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=10 Mar 1999 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> In one case, they administered LSD to a mental patient in Kentucky for 174 days.<ref name="autogenerated7" /> They also administered LSD to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, and members of the general public to study their reactions. LSD and other drugs were often administered without the subject's knowledge or informed consent, a violation of the Nuremberg Code the U.S. had agreed to follow after World War II. The aim of this was to find drugs which would bring out deep confessions or wipe a subject's mind clean and program them as "a robot agent."<ref name="rappoport">Rappoport, J. (1995). "CIA Experiments With Mind Control on Children". ''Perceptions Magazine'', p. 56.</ref>


In Operation Midnight Climax, the CIA set up several brothels within agency safehouses in San Francisco to obtain a selection of men who would be too embarrassed to talk about the events. The men were dosed with LSD, the brothels were equipped with one-way mirrors, and the sessions were filmed for later viewing and study.<ref>{{cite book | last = Marks | first = John | title = The Search for the Manchurian Candidate | publisher = Times Books | year = 1979 | location = New York | isbn = 0812907736 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/106 106–107] | url = https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/106 }}</ref> In other experiments where people were given LSD without their knowledge, they were interrogated under bright lights with doctors in the background taking notes. They told subjects they would extend their "trips" if they refused to reveal their secrets. The people under this interrogation were CIA employees, U.S. military personnel, and agents suspected of working for the other side in the Cold War. Long-term debilitation and several deaths resulted from this.<ref name="rappoport" /> Heroin addicts were bribed into taking LSD with offers of more heroin.<ref name="ReferenceA" />
In Operation Midnight Climax, the CIA set up several brothels within agency safehouses in San Francisco to obtain a selection of men who would be too embarrassed to talk about the events. The men were dosed with LSD, the brothels were equipped with one-way mirrors, and the sessions were filmed for later viewing and study.<ref>{{Citation | last = Marks | first = John | title = The Search for the Manchurian Candidate | publisher = Times Books | year = 1979 | location = New York | isbn = 0812907736 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/106 106–107] | url = https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/106 }}</ref> In other experiments where people were given LSD without their knowledge, they were interrogated under bright lights with doctors in the background taking notes. They told subjects they would extend their "trips" if they refused to reveal their secrets. The people under this interrogation were CIA employees, U.S. military personnel, and agents suspected of working for the other side in the Cold War. Long-term debilitation and several deaths resulted from this.<ref name="rappoport" /> Heroin addicts were bribed into taking LSD with offers of more heroin.<ref name="ReferenceA" />


At the invitation of Stanford psychology graduate student Vik Lovell, an acquaintance of Richard Alpert and Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey volunteered to take part in what turned out to be a CIA-financed study under the aegis of MKUltra,<ref name="Szalavitz">{{cite journal|url=http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/23/the-legacy-of-the-cias-secret-lsd-experiments-on-america/|title=The Legacy of the CIA's Secret LSD Experiments on America|journal=Time|first=Maia|last=Szalavitz|via=healthland.time.com}}</ref> at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paloalto.va.gov/locations/menlopark.asp|title=Menlo Park Division |author=VA Palo Alto Health Care System|work=va.gov|access-date=2014-12-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thefix.com/cloak-and-dropper-twisted-history-cia-and-lsd?page=all|title=Cloak and Dropper&nbsp;– The Twisted History of the CIA and LSD |publisher=The Fix|date=2015-09-18}}</ref> where he worked as a night aide.<ref>Reilly, Edward C. "Ken Kesey." Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Second Revised Edition (2000): EBSCO. Web. Nov 10. 2010.</ref> The project studied the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT and DMT on people.<ref name="oregonianobit" />
At the invitation of Stanford psychology graduate student Vik Lovell, an acquaintance of Richard Alpert and Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey volunteered to take part in what turned out to be a CIA-financed study under the aegis of MKUltra,<ref name="Szalavitz">{{Citation|url=http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/23/the-legacy-of-the-cias-secret-lsd-experiments-on-america/|title=The Legacy of the CIA's Secret LSD Experiments on America|journal=Time|first=Maia|last=Szalavitz|via=healthland.time.com}}</ref> at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.paloalto.va.gov/locations/menlopark.asp|title=Menlo Park Division |author=VA Palo Alto Health Care System|work=va.gov|access-date=2014-12-14}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.thefix.com/cloak-and-dropper-twisted-history-cia-and-lsd?page=all|title=Cloak and Dropper&nbsp;– The Twisted History of the CIA and LSD |publisher=The Fix|date=2015-09-18}}</ref> where he worked as a night aide.<ref>Reilly, Edward C. "Ken Kesey." Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Second Revised Edition (2000): EBSCO. Web. Nov 10. 2010.</ref> The project studied the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT and DMT on people.


The Office of Security used LSD in interrogations, but Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, the chemist who directed MKUltra, had other ideas: he thought it could be used in covert operations. Since its effects were temporary, he believed it could be given to high-ranking officials and in this way affect the course of important meetings, speeches, etc. Since he realized there was a difference in testing the drug in a laboratory and using it in clandestine operations, he initiated a series of experiments where LSD was given to people in "normal" settings without warning. At first, everyone in Technical Services tried it; a typical experiment involved two people in a room where they observed each other for hours and took notes. As the experimentation progressed, a point arrived where outsiders were drugged with no explanation whatsoever and surprise acid trips became something of an occupational hazard among CIA operatives. Adverse reactions often occurred, such as an operative who received the drug in his morning coffee, became psychotic and ran across Washington, seeing a monster in every car passing him. The experiments continued even after Frank Olson, an army chemist who had never taken LSD, was covertly dosed by his CIA supervisor and nine days later plunged to his death from the window of a 13th-story New York City hotel room, supposedly as a result of deep depression induced by the drug.<ref name="lee">Lee, M. A., Shlain, B. (1985). ''Acid Dreams, the Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond''. Grove Press.</ref> According to Stephen Kinzer, Olson had approached his superiors some time earlier, doubting the morality of the project, and asked to resign from the CIA.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/literature/.premium-1.8251405 |title=המדען היהודי שהיה "הדבר הכי קרוב למנגלה בהיסטוריה של ארה"ב" |last=יוקד |first=צח |date=2019-12-09 |work=הארץ |access-date=2019-12-11 |language=he}}</ref>
The Office of Security used LSD in interrogations, but Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, the chemist who directed MKUltra, had other ideas: he thought it could be used in covert operations. Since its effects were temporary, he believed it could be given to high-ranking officials and in this way affect the course of important meetings, speeches, etc. Since he realized there was a difference in testing the drug in a laboratory and using it in clandestine operations, he initiated a series of experiments where LSD was given to people in "normal" settings without warning. At first, everyone in Technical Services tried it; a typical experiment involved two people in a room where they observed each other for hours and took notes. As the experimentation progressed, a point arrived where outsiders were drugged with no explanation whatsoever and surprise acid trips became something of an occupational hazard among CIA operatives. Adverse reactions often occurred, such as an operative who received the drug in his morning coffee, became psychotic and ran across Washington, seeing a monster in every car passing him. The experiments continued even after Frank Olson, an army chemist who had never taken LSD, was covertly dosed by his CIA supervisor and nine days later plunged to his death from the window of a 13th-story New York City hotel room, supposedly as a result of deep depression induced by the drug.<ref name="lee">Lee, M. A., Shlain, B. (1985). ''Acid Dreams, the Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond''. Grove Press.</ref> According to Stephen Kinzer, Olson had approached his superiors some time earlier, doubting the morality of the project, and asked to resign from the CIA.<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/literature/.premium-1.8251405 |title=המדען היהודי שהיה "הדבר הכי קרוב למנגלה בהיסטוריה של ארה"ב" |last=יוקד |first=צח |date=2019-12-09 |work=הארץ |access-date=2019-12-11 |language=he}}</ref>


Some subjects' participation was consensual, and in these cases they appeared to be singled out for even more extreme experiments. In one case, seven volunteers in Kentucky were given LSD for seventy-seven consecutive days.<ref>NPR Fresh Air. June 28, 2007 and Tim Weiner, ''The Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA''.</ref>
Some subjects' participation was consensual, and in these cases they appeared to be singled out for even more extreme experiments. In one case, seven volunteers in Kentucky were given LSD for seventy-seven consecutive days.<ref>NPR Fresh Air. June 28, 2007 and Tim Weiner, ''The Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA''.</ref>


MKUltra's researchers later dismissed LSD as too unpredictable in its results.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c011.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020131081305/http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c011.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-01-31 |title=Declassified |publisher=Michael-robinett.com |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref> They gave up on the notion that LSD was "the secret that was going to unlock the universe," but it still had a place in the cloak-and-dagger arsenal. However, by 1962 the CIA and the army developed a series of super-hallucinogens such as the highly touted BZ, which was thought to hold greater promise as a mind control weapon. This resulted in the withdrawal of support by many academics and private researchers, and LSD research became less of a priority altogether.<ref name="lee" />
MKUltra's researchers later dismissed LSD as too unpredictable in its results.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c011.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020131081305/http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c011.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-01-31 |title=Declassified |publisher=Michael-robinett.com |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref> They gave up on the notion that LSD was "the secret that was going to unlock the universe," but it still had a place in the cloak-and-dagger arsenal. However, by 1962 the CIA and the army developed a series of super-hallucinogens such as the highly touted BZ, which was thought to hold greater promise as a mind control weapon. This resulted in the withdrawal of support by many academics and private researchers, and LSD research became less of a priority altogether.<ref name="lee" />


===Other drugs===
===Other drugs===
Another technique investigated was the intravenous administration of a barbiturate into one arm and an amphetamine into the other.<ref>{{cite book | last = Marks | first = John | title = The Search for the Manchurian Candidate | publisher = Times Books | year = 1979 | location = New York | isbn = 0812907736 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/40 40–42] | url = https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/40 }}</ref> The barbiturates were released into the person first, and as soon as the person began to fall asleep, the amphetamines were released. The person would begin babbling incoherently, and it was sometimes possible to ask questions and get useful answers.
Another technique investigated was the intravenous administration of a barbiturate into one arm and an amphetamine into the other.<ref>{{Citation | last = Marks | first = John | title = The Search for the Manchurian Candidate | publisher = Times Books | year = 1979 | location = New York | isbn = 0812907736 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/40 40–42] | url = https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/40 }}</ref> The barbiturates were released into the person first, and as soon as the person began to fall asleep, the amphetamines were released. The person would begin babbling incoherently, and it was sometimes possible to ask questions and get useful answers.


Other experiments involved heroin, morphine, temazepam (used under code name MKSEARCH), mescaline, psilocybin, scopolamine, alcohol and sodium pentothal.<ref>{{cite book | last = Marks | first = John | title = The Search for the Manchurian Candidate | publisher = Times Books. chapters 3 and 7 | year = 1979 | location = New York | isbn = 0812907736 | url = https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john }}</ref>
Other experiments involved heroin, morphine, temazepam (used under code name MKSEARCH), mescaline, psilocybin, scopolamine, alcohol and sodium pentothal.<ref>{{Citation | last = Marks | first = John | title = The Search for the Manchurian Candidate | publisher = Times Books. chapters 3 and 7 | year = 1979 | location = New York | isbn = 0812907736 | url = https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john }}</ref>


===Hypnosis===
===Hypnosis===
Declassified MKUltra documents indicate they studied hypnosis in the early 1950s. Experimental goals included the creation of "hypnotically induced anxieties," "hypnotically increasing ability to learn and recall complex written matter," studying hypnosis and polygraph examinations, "hypnotically increasing ability to observe and recall complex arrangements of physical objects" and studying "relationship of personality to susceptibility to hypnosis."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c078.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020428104652/http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c078.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-04-28 |title=Declassified |publisher=Michael-robinett.com |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref> They conducted experiments with drug-induced hypnosis and with anterograde and retrograde amnesia while under the influence of such drugs.
Declassified MKUltra documents indicate they studied hypnosis in the early 1950s. Experimental goals included the creation of "hypnotically induced anxieties," "hypnotically increasing ability to learn and recall complex written matter," studying hypnosis and polygraph examinations, "hypnotically increasing ability to observe and recall complex arrangements of physical objects" and studying "relationship of personality to susceptibility to hypnosis."<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c078.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020428104652/http://www.michael-robinett.com/declass/c078.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-04-28 |title=Declassified |publisher=Michael-robinett.com |access-date=2010-03-26 }}</ref> They conducted experiments with drug-induced hypnosis and with anterograde and retrograde amnesia while under the influence of such drugs.


==Experiments on Canadians==
==Experiments on Canadians==
The CIA exported experiments to Canada when they recruited British psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, creator of the "psychic driving" concept, which the CIA found interesting. Cameron had been hoping to correct schizophrenia by erasing existing memories and reprogramming the psyche. He commuted from Albany, New York to Montreal every week to work at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University, and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 (which would be US$558,915 in 2018, adjusting for inflation) to carry out MKUltra experiments there, the Montreal experiments. These research funds were sent to Cameron by a CIA front organization, the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, and as shown in internal CIA documents, Cameron did not know the money came from the CIA.<ref name="Marks1979">{{cite book |last=Marks |first=John |year=1979 |title=The Search for the Manchurian Candidate |pages=140–150 |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |isbn=0812907736 |url=https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/141}}</ref>
The CIA exported experiments to Canada when they recruited British psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, creator of the "psychic driving" concept, which the CIA found interesting. Cameron had been hoping to correct schizophrenia by erasing existing memories and reprogramming the psyche. He commuted from Albany, New York to Montreal every week to work at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University, and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 (which would be US$558,915 in 2018, adjusting for inflation) to carry out MKUltra experiments there, the Montreal experiments. These research funds were sent to Cameron by a CIA front organization, the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, and as shown in internal CIA documents, Cameron did not know the money came from the CIA.<ref name="Marks1979">{{Citation |last=Marks |first=John |year=1979 |title=The Search for the Manchurian Candidate |pages=140–150 |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |isbn=0812907736 |url=https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john/page/141}}</ref>


In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs as well as electroconvulsive therapy at thirty to forty times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced comas for weeks at a time (up to three months in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were often carried out on patients who entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postpartum depression, many of whom suffered permanent effects from his actions.<ref name="Marks1979" /> His treatments resulted in victims' incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to talk, forgetting their parents and thinking their interrogators were their parents.<ref>{{cite web |last=Turbide |first=Diane |date=1997-04-21 |title=Dr.&nbsp;Cameron's casualties |url=http://www.ect.org/dr-camerons-casualties/ |website=ect.org |access-date=2007-09-09}}</ref>
In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs as well as electroconvulsive therapy at thirty to forty times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced comas for weeks at a time (up to three months in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were often carried out on patients who entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postpartum depression, many of whom suffered permanent effects from his actions.<ref name="Marks1979" /> His treatments resulted in victims' incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to talk, forgetting their parents and thinking their interrogators were their parents.<ref>{{Web citation |last=Turbide |first=Diane |date=1997-04-21 |title=Dr.&nbsp;Cameron's casualties |url=http://www.ect.org/dr-camerons-casualties/ |website=ect.org |access-date=2007-09-09}}</ref>


During this era, Cameron became known worldwide as the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association as well as president of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. Cameron was also a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal in 1946–1947.<ref name="Marks1979" />
During this era, Cameron became known worldwide as the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association as well as president of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. Cameron was also a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal in 1946–1947.<ref name="Marks1979" />


===Motivation and assessments===
===Motivation and assessments===
His work was inspired and paralleled by the British psychiatrist William Sargant at St Thomas' Hospital, London, and Belmont Hospital, Surrey, who was also involved in the Intelligence Services and who experimented on his patients without their consent, causing similar long-term damage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Anne |orig-year=1988 |year=1998 |title=In the Sleep Room: The story of CIA brainwashing experiments in Canada |publisher=Key Porter Books |location=Toronto |pages=39, 42–43, 133 |isbn=1550139320}}</ref>
His work was inspired and paralleled by the British psychiatrist William Sargant at St Thomas' Hospital, London, and Belmont Hospital, Surrey, who was also involved in the Intelligence Services and who experimented on his patients without their consent, causing similar long-term damage.<ref>{{Citation |last=Collins |first=Anne |orig-year=1988 |year=1998 |title=In the Sleep Room: The story of CIA brainwashing experiments in Canada |publisher=Key Porter Books |location=Toronto |pages=39, 42–43, 133 |isbn=1550139320}}</ref>


In the 1980s, several of Cameron's former patients sued the CIA for damages, which the Canadian news program ''The Fifth Estate'' documented.<ref>{{cite web |title=MK Ultra episodes |series=40&nbsp;years of ''The Fifth Estate'' |website=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) |url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/40-years-of-the-fifth-estate/mk-ultra}}</ref> Their experiences and lawsuit was made into a 1998 television miniseries called ''The Sleep Room''.<ref name="The Sleep Room at IMDB">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138104/ |title=The Sleep Room |date=31 March 1998 |website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>
In the 1980s, several of Cameron's former patients sued the CIA for damages, which the Canadian news program ''The Fifth Estate'' documented.<ref>{{Web citation |title=MK Ultra episodes |series=40&nbsp;years of ''The Fifth Estate'' |website=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) |url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/40-years-of-the-fifth-estate/mk-ultra}}</ref> Their experiences and lawsuit was made into a 1998 television miniseries called ''The Sleep Room''.<ref name="The Sleep Room at IMDB">{{Web citation |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138104/ |title=The Sleep Room |date=31 March 1998 |website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>


Naomi Klein argues in her book ''The Shock Doctrine'' that Cameron's research and his contribution to the MKUltra project was not about mind control and brainwashing, but about designing "a scientifically based system for extracting information from 'resistant sources'. In other words, torture."<ref name="Shock">{{cite book |last=Klein |first=N. |author-link=Naomi Klein |year=2007 |title=The Shock Doctrine |publisher=Metropolitan Books |isbn=978-0676978018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0KIy92V58wC&pg=PA37 |via=Google Books |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=C0KIy92V58wC&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false 39–41]}}</ref>
Naomi Klein argues in her book ''The Shock Doctrine'' that Cameron's research and his contribution to the MKUltra project was not about mind control and brainwashing, but about designing "a scientifically based system for extracting information from 'resistant sources'. In other words, torture."<ref name="Shock">{{Citation |last=Klein |first=N. |author-link=Naomi Klein |year=2007 |title=The Shock Doctrine |publisher=Metropolitan Books |isbn=978-0676978018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0KIy92V58wC&pg=PA37 |via=Google Books |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=C0KIy92V58wC&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false 39–41]}}</ref>


Alfred W. McCoy writes, "Stripped of its bizarre excesses, Dr. Cameron's experiments, building upon Donald O. Hebb's earlier breakthrough, laid the scientific foundation for the CIA's two-stage psychological torture method",<ref name="McCoy2006" /> referring to first creating a state of disorientation in the subject, and then creating a situation of "self-inflicted" discomfort in which the disoriented subject can alleviate their pain by capitulating.<ref name="McCoy2006">{{cite journal |last=McCoy |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred W. McCoy |year=2006 |title=Cruel science: CIA torture and U.S. foreign policy |journal=Sticks and Stones <!-- : Living with uncertain wars, by Padraig O'Malley et al., eds. --> |pages=172–174 |isbn=1558495355 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbGDjfx0XxcC&pg=PA173 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
Alfred W. McCoy writes, "Stripped of its bizarre excesses, Dr. Cameron's experiments, building upon Donald O. Hebb's earlier breakthrough, laid the scientific foundation for the CIA's two-stage psychological torture method",<ref name="McCoy2006" /> referring to first creating a state of disorientation in the subject, and then creating a situation of "self-inflicted" discomfort in which the disoriented subject can alleviate their pain by capitulating.<ref name="McCoy2006">{{Citation |last=McCoy |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred W. McCoy |year=2006 |title=Cruel science: CIA torture and U.S. foreign policy |journal=Sticks and Stones <!-- : Living with uncertain wars, by Padraig O'Malley et al., eds. --> |pages=172–174 |isbn=1558495355 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbGDjfx0XxcC&pg=PA173 |via=Google Books}}</ref>


==Secret detention camps==
==Secret detention camps==
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==Revelation==
==Revelation==
In 1973, amid a government-wide panic caused by Watergate, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed.<ref name="autogenerated4">{{cite news |title=Mind Control: My Mother, the CIA and LSD |author=Elizabeth Nickson |newspaper=The Observer |date=October 16, 1994 }}</ref> Pursuant to this order, most CIA documents regarding the project were destroyed, making a full investigation of MKUltra impossible. A cache of some 20,000 documents survived Helms' purge, as they had been incorrectly stored in a financial records building and were discovered following a FOIA request in 1977. These documents were fully investigated during the Senate Hearings of 1977.<ref name="nytimes.com" />
In 1973, amid a government-wide panic caused by Watergate, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed.<ref name="autogenerated4">{{Web citation |title=Mind Control: My Mother, the CIA and LSD |author=Elizabeth Nickson |newspaper=The Observer |date=October 16, 1994 }}</ref> Pursuant to this order, most CIA documents regarding the project were destroyed, making a full investigation of MKUltra impossible. A cache of some 20,000 documents survived Helms' purge, as they had been incorrectly stored in a financial records building and were discovered following a FOIA request in 1977. These documents were fully investigated during the Senate Hearings of 1977.<ref name="nytimes.com" />


In December 1974, ''The New York Times'' alleged that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/22/archives/huge-cia-operation-reported-in-u-s-against-antiwar-forces-other.html|title=Huge C.i.a. Operation Reported in U.s. Against Antiwar Forces, Other Dissidents in Nixon Years|last=Hersh|first=Seymour M.|date=1974-12-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-12-12|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> That report prompted investigations by the United States Congress, in the form of the Church Committee, and by a commission known as the Rockefeller Commission that looked into the illegal domestic activities of the CIA, the FBI and intelligence-related agencies of the military.
In December 1974, ''The New York Times'' alleged that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/22/archives/huge-cia-operation-reported-in-u-s-against-antiwar-forces-other.html|title=Huge C.i.a. Operation Reported in U.s. Against Antiwar Forces, Other Dissidents in Nixon Years|last=Hersh|first=Seymour M.|date=1974-12-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-12-12|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> That report prompted investigations by the United States Congress, in the form of the Church Committee, and by a commission known as the Rockefeller Commission that looked into the illegal domestic activities of the CIA, the FBI and intelligence-related agencies of the military.


In the summer of 1975, congressional Church Committee reports and the presidential Rockefeller Commission report revealed to the public for the first time that the CIA and the Department of Defense had conducted experiments on both unwitting and cognizant human subjects as part of an extensive program to find out how to influence and control human behavior through the use of psychoactive drugs such as LSD and mescaline and other chemical, biological, and psychological means. They also revealed that at least one subject, Frank Olson had died after administration of LSD. Much of what the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission learned about MKUltra was contained in a report, prepared by the Inspector General's office in 1963, that had survived the destruction of records ordered in 1973.<ref name="parascope.com">
In the summer of 1975, congressional Church Committee reports and the presidential Rockefeller Commission report revealed to the public for the first time that the CIA and the Department of Defense had conducted experiments on both unwitting and cognizant human subjects as part of an extensive program to find out how to influence and control human behavior through the use of psychoactive drugs such as LSD and mescaline and other chemical, biological, and psychological means. They also revealed that at least one subject, Frank Olson had died after administration of LSD. Much of what the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission learned about MKUltra was contained in a report, prepared by the Inspector General's office in 1963, that had survived the destruction of records ordered in 1973.<ref name="parascope.com">
Line 102: Line 103:
Following the recommendations of the Church Committee, President Gerald Ford in 1976 issued the first Executive Order on Intelligence Activities which, among other things, prohibited "experimentation with drugs on human subjects, except with the informed consent, in writing and witnessed by a disinterested party, of each such human subject" and in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Commission. Subsequent orders by Presidents Carter and Reagan expanded the directive to apply to any human experimentation.
Following the recommendations of the Church Committee, President Gerald Ford in 1976 issued the first Executive Order on Intelligence Activities which, among other things, prohibited "experimentation with drugs on human subjects, except with the informed consent, in writing and witnessed by a disinterested party, of each such human subject" and in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Commission. Subsequent orders by Presidents Carter and Reagan expanded the directive to apply to any human experimentation.


In 1977, during a hearing held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, to look further into MKUltra, Admiral Stansfield Turner, then Director of Central Intelligence, revealed that the CIA had found a set of records, consisting of about 20,000 pages,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://todayinclh.com/?event=cia-director-admits-documents-on-drug-experiments-destroyed|title=CIA Director Admits Documents on Secret Drug Experiments Destroyed|last=Tourek|first=Mary|date=2013-08-02|website=Today in Civil Liberties History|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-13}}</ref> that had survived the 1973 destruction orders because they had been incorrectly stored at a records center not usually used for such documents.<ref name="parascope.com" /> These files dealt with the financing of MKUltra projects and contained few project details, but much more was learned from them than from the Inspector General's 1963 report.
In 1977, during a hearing held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, to look further into MKUltra, Admiral Stansfield Turner, then Director of Central Intelligence, revealed that the CIA had found a set of records, consisting of about 20,000 pages,<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://todayinclh.com/?event=cia-director-admits-documents-on-drug-experiments-destroyed|title=CIA Director Admits Documents on Secret Drug Experiments Destroyed|last=Tourek|first=Mary|date=2013-08-02|website=Today in Civil Liberties History|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-13}}</ref> that had survived the 1973 destruction orders because they had been incorrectly stored at a records center not usually used for such documents.<ref name="parascope.com" /> These files dealt with the financing of MKUltra projects and contained few project details, but much more was learned from them than from the Inspector General's 1963 report.


On the Senate floor in 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said:
On the Senate floor in 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said:
Line 108: Line 109:
<blockquote>The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations.</blockquote>


At least one death, the result of the defenestration of Dr. Frank Olson, was attributed to Olson's being subjected, unaware, to such experimentation, nine days before his death. The CIA itself subsequently acknowledged that these tests had little scientific rationale. The agents conducting the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/Hearing01.htm | title = Opening Remarks by Senator Ted Kennedy | date = 1977-08-03 | work = U.S. Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, and Subcommittee On Health And Scientific Research of the Committee On Human Resources}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=What did the C.I.A. do to Eric Olson's father?|date=April 1, 2001|author=Ignatieff, Michael|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/01OLSON.html|work=The New York Times Magazine|access-date=13 January 2017|author-link=Michael Ignatieff}}</ref>
At least one death, the result of the defenestration of Dr. Frank Olson, was attributed to Olson's being subjected, unaware, to such experimentation, nine days before his death. The CIA itself subsequently acknowledged that these tests had little scientific rationale. The agents conducting the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers.<ref>{{Web citation | url = http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/Hearing01.htm | title = Opening Remarks by Senator Ted Kennedy | date = 1977-08-03 | work = U.S. Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, and Subcommittee On Health And Scientific Research of the Committee On Human Resources}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|title=What did the C.I.A. do to Eric Olson's father?|date=April 1, 2001|author=Ignatieff, Michael|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/magazine/01OLSON.html|work=The New York Times Magazine|access-date=13 January 2017|author-link=Michael Ignatieff}}</ref>


In Canada, the issue took much longer to surface, becoming widely known in 1984 on a CBC news show, ''The Fifth Estate''. It was learned that not only had the CIA funded Dr. Cameron's efforts, but also that the Canadian government was fully aware of this, and had later provided another $500,000 in funding to continue the experiments. This revelation largely derailed efforts by the victims to sue the CIA as their U.S. counterparts had, and the Canadian government eventually settled out of court for $100,000 to each of the 127 victims. Dr. Cameron died on September 8, 1967, after suffering a heart attack while he and his son were mountain climbing. None of Cameron's personal records of his involvement with MKUltra survived, since his family destroyed them after his death.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historyonair.com/?s=mkultra |title=Podcast 98 – MKUltra |publisher=HistoryOnAir.com |date=2005-06-16 |access-date=2013-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610221320/http://historyonair.com/?s=mkultra |archive-date=2015-06-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/stunning-tale-of-brainwashing-the-cia-and-an-unsuspecting-scots-researcher-1-466144 Stunning tale of brainwashing, the CIA and an unsuspecting Scots researcher], ''[[The Scotsman]]'', January 5, 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2017.</ref>
In Canada, the issue took much longer to surface, becoming widely known in 1984 on a CBC news show, ''The Fifth Estate''. It was learned that not only had the CIA funded Dr. Cameron's efforts, but also that the Canadian government was fully aware of this, and had later provided another $500,000 in funding to continue the experiments. This revelation largely derailed efforts by the victims to sue the CIA as their U.S. counterparts had, and the Canadian government eventually settled out of court for $100,000 to each of the 127 victims. Dr. Cameron died on September 8, 1967, after suffering a heart attack while he and his son were mountain climbing. None of Cameron's personal records of his involvement with MKUltra survived, since his family destroyed them after his death.<ref>{{Web citation |url=http://historyonair.com/?s=mkultra |title=Podcast 98 – MKUltra |publisher=HistoryOnAir.com |date=2005-06-16 |access-date=2013-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610221320/http://historyonair.com/?s=mkultra |archive-date=2015-06-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/stunning-tale-of-brainwashing-the-cia-and-an-unsuspecting-scots-researcher-1-466144 Stunning tale of brainwashing, the CIA and an unsuspecting Scots researcher], ''[[The Scotsman]]'', January 5, 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2017.</ref>


===1994 U.S. General Accounting Office report===
===1994 U.S. General Accounting Office report===
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==Deaths==
==Deaths==
Given the CIA's purposeful destruction of most records, its failure to follow informed consent protocols with thousands of participants, the uncontrolled nature of the experiments, and the lack of follow-up data, the full impact of MKUltra experiments, including deaths, may never be known.<ref name="Supremecourt" /><ref name="arts.rpi.edu" /><ref name="many other unofficial sites" /><ref name="albarelli">{{cite book |author=H. P. Albarelli |title=A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments |publisher=Trine Day |year=2009 |isbn=978-0977795376 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/terriblemistake00hpal/page/350 350–58, 490, 581–83, 686–92] |url=https://archive.org/details/terriblemistake00hpal/page/350 }}</ref>
Given the CIA's purposeful destruction of most records, its failure to follow informed consent protocols with thousands of participants, the uncontrolled nature of the experiments, and the lack of follow-up data, the full impact of MKUltra experiments, including deaths, may never be known.<ref name="Supremecourt" /><ref name="arts.rpi.edu" /><ref name="many other unofficial sites" /><ref name="albarelli">{{Citation |author=H. P. Albarelli |title=A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments |publisher=Trine Day |year=2009 |isbn=978-0977795376 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/terriblemistake00hpal/page/350 350–58, 490, 581–83, 686–92] |url=https://archive.org/details/terriblemistake00hpal/page/350 }}</ref>


Several known deaths have been associated with Project MKUltra, most notably that of Frank Olson. Olson, a United States Army biochemist and biological weapons researcher, was given LSD without his knowledge or consent in November 1953, as part of a CIA experiment and died by suicide by jumping out of a window a week later. A CIA doctor assigned to monitor Olson claimed to have been asleep in another bed in a New York City hotel room when Olson exited the window and fell thirteen stories to his death. In 1953, Olson's death was described as a suicide that had occurred during a severe psychotic episode. The CIA's own internal investigation concluded that the head of MKUltra, CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb, had conducted the LSD experiment with Olson's prior knowledge, although neither Olson nor the other men taking part in the experiment were informed as to the exact nature of the drug until some 20 minutes after its ingestion. The report further suggested that Gottlieb was nonetheless due a reprimand, as he had failed to take into account Olson's already-diagnosed suicidal tendencies, which might have been exacerbated by the LSD.<ref name="olson" />
Several known deaths have been associated with Project MKUltra, most notably that of Frank Olson. Olson, a United States Army biochemist and biological weapons researcher, was given LSD without his knowledge or consent in November 1953, as part of a CIA experiment and died by suicide by jumping out of a window a week later. A CIA doctor assigned to monitor Olson claimed to have been asleep in another bed in a New York City hotel room when Olson exited the window and fell thirteen stories to his death. In 1953, Olson's death was described as a suicide that had occurred during a severe psychotic episode. The CIA's own internal investigation concluded that the head of MKUltra, CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb, had conducted the LSD experiment with Olson's prior knowledge, although neither Olson nor the other men taking part in the experiment were informed as to the exact nature of the drug until some 20 minutes after its ingestion. The report further suggested that Gottlieb was nonetheless due a reprimand, as he had failed to take into account Olson's already-diagnosed suicidal tendencies, which might have been exacerbated by the LSD.<ref name="olson" />


The Olson family disputes the official version of events. They maintain that Frank Olson was murdered because, especially in the aftermath of his LSD experience, he had become a security risk who might divulge state secrets associated with highly classified CIA programs, about many of which he had direct personal knowledge.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articles/LondonMail.html |title=The Olson File |publisher=Frankolsonproject.org |access-date=2012-12-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010804055955/http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articles/LondonMail.html |archive-date=2001-08-04 }}</ref> A few days before his death, Frank Olson quit his position as acting chief of the Special Operations Division at Detrick, Maryland (later Fort Detrick) because of a severe moral crisis concerning the nature of his biological weapons research. Among Olson's concerns were the development of assassination materials used by the CIA, the CIA's use of biological warfare materials in covert operations, experimentation with biological weapons in populated areas, collaboration with former scientists under [[Operation Paperclip]], LSD mind-control research, and the use of psychoactive drugs during "terminal" interrogations under a program code-named [[Project ARTICHOKE]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Statements/FamilyStatement2002.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030211052410/http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Statements/FamilyStatement2002.html | url-status=dead | archive-date = 2003-02-11 | last = Olson | first = E | title = Family Statement on the Murder of Frank Olson | access-date = 2008-10-16 | date = 2002-08-22 }}</ref> Later forensic evidence conflicted with the official version of events; when Olson's body was exhumed in 1994, cranial injuries indicated that Olson had been knocked unconscious before he exited the window.<ref name="olson">Marks 1979: chapter 5.</ref> The medical examiner termed Olson's death a "homicide".<ref>{{cite book | last = Ronson | first = Jon | title = The Men Who Stare at Goats | publisher = [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]] | year = 2004 | location = New York | isbn = 0330375482 | url = https://archive.org/details/menwhostareatgoa00rons_1 }}</ref> In 1975, Olson's family received a $750,000 settlement from the U.S. government and formal apologies from President Gerald Ford and CIA Director William Colby, though their apologies were limited to informed consent issues concerning Olson's ingestion of LSD.<ref name="albarelli" /> On 28 November 2012, the Olson family filed suit against the U.S. federal government for the wrongful death of Frank Olson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCIENTISTS_DEATH_LAWSUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-28-16-47-42|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201232401/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCIENTISTS_DEATH_LAWSUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-28-16-47-42|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-12-01|title=News from The Associated Press}}</ref> The case was dismissed in July 2013, due in part to the 1976 settlement between the family and government.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gaines |first=Danielle |title=Lawsuit by family of drugged Detrick employee dismissed |url=http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/crime_and_justice/article_8705f623-edfd-59b0-9e04-548b15a2c423.html?TNNoMobile |access-date=October 20, 2013 |newspaper=[[Frederick News-Post]] |date=July 18, 2013}}</ref> In the decision dismissing the suit, [[U.S. District Judge]] [[James Boasberg]] wrote, "While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family's suit], farfetched as they may sound."<ref>{{cite web |last=Schoenberg |first=Tom |title=CIA Cover-Up Suit Over Scientist's Fatal Fall Dismissed |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/cia-cover-up-suit-over-scientist-s-fatal-fall-dismissed.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |website=Bloomberg News |date=July 17, 2013}}</ref>
The Olson family disputes the official version of events. They maintain that Frank Olson was murdered because, especially in the aftermath of his LSD experience, he had become a security risk who might divulge state secrets associated with highly classified CIA programs, about many of which he had direct personal knowledge.<ref>{{Web citation |url=http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articles/LondonMail.html |title=The Olson File |publisher=Frankolsonproject.org |access-date=2012-12-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010804055955/http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articles/LondonMail.html |archive-date=2001-08-04 }}</ref> A few days before his death, Frank Olson quit his position as acting chief of the Special Operations Division at Detrick, Maryland (later Fort Detrick) because of a severe moral crisis concerning the nature of his biological weapons research. Among Olson's concerns were the development of assassination materials used by the CIA, the CIA's use of biological warfare materials in covert operations, experimentation with biological weapons in populated areas, collaboration with former scientists under [[Operation Paperclip]], LSD mind-control research, and the use of psychoactive drugs during "terminal" interrogations under a program code-named [[Project ARTICHOKE]].<ref>{{Web citation | url = http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Statements/FamilyStatement2002.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030211052410/http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Statements/FamilyStatement2002.html | url-status=dead | archive-date = 2003-02-11 | last = Olson | first = E | title = Family Statement on the Murder of Frank Olson | access-date = 2008-10-16 | date = 2002-08-22 }}</ref> Later forensic evidence conflicted with the official version of events; when Olson's body was exhumed in 1994, cranial injuries indicated that Olson had been knocked unconscious before he exited the window.<ref name="olson">Marks 1979: chapter 5.</ref> The medical examiner termed Olson's death a "homicide".<ref>{{Citation | last = Ronson | first = Jon | title = The Men Who Stare at Goats | publisher = [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]] | year = 2004 | location = New York | isbn = 0330375482 | url = https://archive.org/details/menwhostareatgoa00rons_1 }}</ref> In 1975, Olson's family received a $750,000 settlement from the U.S. government and formal apologies from President Gerald Ford and CIA Director William Colby, though their apologies were limited to informed consent issues concerning Olson's ingestion of LSD.<ref name="albarelli" /> On 28 November 2012, the Olson family filed suit against the U.S. federal government for the wrongful death of Frank Olson.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCIENTISTS_DEATH_LAWSUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-28-16-47-42|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201232401/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCIENTISTS_DEATH_LAWSUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-28-16-47-42|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-12-01|title=News from The Associated Press}}</ref> The case was dismissed in July 2013, due in part to the 1976 settlement between the family and government.<ref>{{Web citation |last=Gaines |first=Danielle |title=Lawsuit by family of drugged Detrick employee dismissed |url=http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/crime_and_justice/article_8705f623-edfd-59b0-9e04-548b15a2c423.html?TNNoMobile |access-date=October 20, 2013 |newspaper=[[Frederick News-Post]] |date=July 18, 2013}}</ref> In the decision dismissing the suit, [[U.S. District Judge]] [[James Boasberg]] wrote, "While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family's suit], farfetched as they may sound."<ref>{{Web citation |last=Schoenberg |first=Tom |title=CIA Cover-Up Suit Over Scientist's Fatal Fall Dismissed |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/cia-cover-up-suit-over-scientist-s-fatal-fall-dismissed.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |website=Bloomberg News |date=July 17, 2013}}</ref>


A 2010 book by H. P. Albarelli Jr. alleged that the 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning was part of MKDELTA, that Olson was involved in that event, and that he was eventually murdered by the CIA.<ref name="BBC2010">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-10996838 |title=Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD?|last1= Thomson |first1= Mike|date=23 August 2010 |website=BBC.com |publisher=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="ABC2010">{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/International/book-claims-cia-lsd-experiment-made-french-town/story?id=10171002 |title=Did CIA Experiment LSD on French Town? |last1=Schpolianksy |first1=Christophe |date=23 March 2010 |website=ABCnews.com |publisher=ABC News}}</ref> However, academic sources attribute the incident to ergot poisoning through a local bakery.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.4732.650|author=Gabbai, Lisbonne and Pourquier|date=15 September 1951|title=Ergot Poisoning at Pont St. Esprit|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|volume=2|issue=4732|pages=650–51|pmc=2069953|pmid=14869677}}</ref><ref name="Finger2001">{{cite book|first=Stanley|last=Finger|title=Origins of Neuroscience: A History of Explorations Into Brain Function|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GMeW9E1IB4C&pg=PA221|access-date=24 February 2013|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195146943|pages=221–}}</ref><ref name="PommervilleAlcamo2012">{{cite book|author1=Jeffrey C. Pommerville|author2=I. Edward Alcamo|title=Alcamo's Fundamentals of Microbiology: Body Systems Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf_Hl3Exti8C&pg=PA734|access-date=24 February 2013|year=2012|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|isbn=978-1449605940|pages=734–}}</ref>
A 2010 book by H. P. Albarelli Jr. alleged that the 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning was part of MKDELTA, that Olson was involved in that event, and that he was eventually murdered by the CIA.<ref name="BBC2010">{{Web citation |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-10996838 |title=Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD?|last1= Thomson |first1= Mike|date=23 August 2010 |website=BBC.com |publisher=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="ABC2010">{{Web citation |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/International/book-claims-cia-lsd-experiment-made-french-town/story?id=10171002 |title=Did CIA Experiment LSD on French Town? |last1=Schpolianksy |first1=Christophe |date=23 March 2010 |website=ABCnews.com |publisher=ABC News}}</ref> However, academic sources attribute the incident to ergot poisoning through a local bakery.<ref>{{Citation|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.4732.650|author=Gabbai, Lisbonne and Pourquier|date=15 September 1951|title=Ergot Poisoning at Pont St. Esprit|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|volume=2|issue=4732|pages=650–51|pmc=2069953|pmid=14869677}}</ref><ref name="Finger2001">{{Citation|first=Stanley|last=Finger|title=Origins of Neuroscience: A History of Explorations Into Brain Function|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GMeW9E1IB4C&pg=PA221|access-date=24 February 2013|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195146943|pages=221–}}</ref><ref name="PommervilleAlcamo2012">{{Citation|author1=Jeffrey C. Pommerville|author2=I. Edward Alcamo|title=Alcamo's Fundamentals of Microbiology: Body Systems Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf_Hl3Exti8C&pg=PA734|access-date=24 February 2013|year=2012|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|isbn=978-1449605940|pages=734–}}</ref>


==Legal issues involving informed consent==
==Legal issues involving informed consent==
Line 143: Line 144:
<blockquote>No judicially crafted rule should insulate from liability the involuntary and unknowing human experimentation alleged to have occurred in this case. Indeed, as Justice Brennan observes, the United States played an instrumental role in the criminal prosecution of Nazi officials who experimented with human subjects during the Second World War, and the standards that the Nuremberg Military Tribunals developed to judge the behavior of the defendants stated that the 'voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential ... to satisfy moral, ethical, and legal concepts.' If this principle is violated, the very least that society can do is to see that the victims are compensated, as best they can be, by the perpetrators.</blockquote>
<blockquote>No judicially crafted rule should insulate from liability the involuntary and unknowing human experimentation alleged to have occurred in this case. Indeed, as Justice Brennan observes, the United States played an instrumental role in the criminal prosecution of Nazi officials who experimented with human subjects during the Second World War, and the standards that the Nuremberg Military Tribunals developed to judge the behavior of the defendants stated that the 'voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential ... to satisfy moral, ethical, and legal concepts.' If this principle is violated, the very least that society can do is to see that the victims are compensated, as best they can be, by the perpetrators.</blockquote>


In another lawsuit, Wayne Ritchie, a former United States Marshal, after hearing about the project's existence in 1990, alleged the CIA laced his food or drink with LSD at a 1957 Christmas party which resulted in his attempting to commit a robbery at a bar and his subsequent arrest. While the government admitted it was, at that time, drugging people without their consent, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel found Ritchie could not prove he was one of the victims of MKUltra or that LSD caused his robbery attempt and dismissed the case in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/commons/5c/Ritchie.pdf |title=Ritchie v. United States of America: United States District Court, Northern District of California No. C 00-3940 MHP. Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law Re: Motion for Judgment on Partial Findings |access-date=2008-10-16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Egelko |first1=Bob |title=Bid to sue over LSD rejected |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Bid-to-sue-over-LSD-rejected-2687007.php |website=SFGate |publisher=Hearst Communications |access-date=28 September 2019 |date=13 April 2005}}</ref>
In another lawsuit, Wayne Ritchie, a former United States Marshal, after hearing about the project's existence in 1990, alleged the CIA laced his food or drink with LSD at a 1957 Christmas party which resulted in his attempting to commit a robbery at a bar and his subsequent arrest. While the government admitted it was, at that time, drugging people without their consent, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel found Ritchie could not prove he was one of the victims of MKUltra or that LSD caused his robbery attempt and dismissed the case in 2007.<ref>{{Web citation|url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/commons/5c/Ritchie.pdf |title=Ritchie v. United States of America: United States District Court, Northern District of California No. C 00-3940 MHP. Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law Re: Motion for Judgment on Partial Findings |access-date=2008-10-16 }}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |last1=Egelko |first1=Bob |title=Bid to sue over LSD rejected |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Bid-to-sue-over-LSD-rejected-2687007.php |website=SFGate |publisher=Hearst Communications |access-date=28 September 2019 |date=13 April 2005}}</ref>
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
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*''The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments'', by Stephen Kinzer, Politico, 2019.
*''The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments'', by Stephen Kinzer, Politico, 2019.
*
*
{{cite book |title= Drugs as Weapons Against Us. |first1= John L. |last1= Potash |publisher= Trine Day LLC. |date= 2015 |isbn= 978-1937584924}}
{{Citation |title= Drugs as Weapons Against Us. |first1= John L. |last1= Potash |publisher= Trine Day LLC. |date= 2015 |isbn= 978-1937584924}}
*{{cite web | url = http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/contents.htm | title = U.S. Congress: The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence (Church Committee report), report no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1976), 394 }}
*{{Web citation | url = http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/contents.htm | title = U.S. Congress: The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence (Church Committee report), report no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1976), 394 }}
*{{cite web | url = http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/index.htm | title = U.S. Senate: Joint Hearing before The Select Committee on Intelligence and The Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. August 3, 1977 }}
*{{Web citation | url = http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/index.htm | title = U.S. Senate: Joint Hearing before The Select Committee on Intelligence and The Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. August 3, 1977 }}
*{{cite web | url = http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks.htm | title = The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate": The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences}}
*{{Web citation | url = http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks.htm | title = The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate": The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences}}
*''Acid: The Secret History of LSD'', by David Black, London: Vision, 1998, . Later edition exists.
*''Acid: The Secret History of LSD'', by David Black, London: Vision, 1998, . Later edition exists.
*''Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond'' by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain, New York: Grove Press, 1985,  
*''Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond'' by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain, New York: Grove Press, 1985,  
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090307031543/http://www.nemasys.com/rahome/library/programming/mkultra.shtml List of MKULTRA Unclassified Documents including subprojects]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090307031543/http://www.nemasys.com/rahome/library/programming/mkultra.shtml List of MKULTRA Unclassified Documents including subprojects]
*[http://www.commissiononassisteddying.co.uk/mk-ultra-project/ MK Ultra Project]
*[http://www.commissiononassisteddying.co.uk/mk-ultra-project/ MK Ultra Project]
[[Category:CIA operations]]
[[Category:History of the USA]]

Latest revision as of 12:51, 21 October 2024

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Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra), also called the CIA mind control program, is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, some of which were illegal.[1][2][3] Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.[4] Other code names for drug-related experiments were Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke.[5][6]

The operation was officially sanctioned in 1953, reduced in scope in 1964 and further curtailed in 1967. It was officially halted in 1973. The program also engaged in illegal activities,[7][8][9] including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as its unwitting test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.[7][10][11][12] MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions. Techniques included the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, electroshocks,[13] hypnosis,[14][15] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as other forms of torture.[16][17]

The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at more than 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.[18] The CIA operated using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.[19]

Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford's United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States (also known as the Rockefeller Commission).

Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA Director Richard Helms's order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms's destruction order.[20] In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKUltra which led to Senate hearings later that year.[7][21] Some surviving information regarding MKUltra was declassified in July 2001. In December 2018, declassified documents included a letter to an unidentified doctor discussing work on six dogs made to run, turn and stop via remote control and brain implants.[22][23]

Background[edit | edit source]

Origin of cryptonym[edit | edit source]

The project's intentionally obscure CIA cryptonym is made up of the digraph MK, meaning that the project was sponsored by the agency's Technical Services Staff (TSS), followed by the word Ultra which had previously been used to designate the most secret classification of World War II intelligence. Other related cryptonyms include Project MKNAOMI and Project MKDELTA.

Origin of project[edit | edit source]

According to author Stephen Kinzer, the CIA project “was a continuation of the work begun in WWII-era Japanese facilities and Nazi concentration camps on subduing and controlling human minds”. Kinzer wrote that MKUltra's use of mescaline on unwitting subjects was a practice that Nazi doctors had begun in the Dachau concentration camp. Kinzer proposes evidence of the continuation of a Nazi agenda, citing the CIA's secret recruitment of Nazi torturers and vivisectionists to continue the experimentation on thousands of subjects, and Nazis brought to Fort Detrick, Maryland, to instruct CIA officers on the lethal uses of sarin gas.[13]

Aims and leadership[edit | edit source]

The project was headed by Sidney Gottlieb but began on the order of CIA director Allen Dulles on April 13, 1953.[24] Its aim was to develop mind-controlling drugs for use against the Soviet bloc in response to alleged Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean use of mind control techniques on U.S. prisoners of war during the Korean War.[25] The CIA wanted to use similar methods on their own captives, and was interested in manipulating foreign leaders with such techniques,[26] devising several schemes to drug Fidel Castro. It often conducted experiments without the subjects' knowledge or consent.[27] In some cases, academic researchers were funded through grants from CIA front organizations but were unaware that the CIA was using their work for these purposes.[28]

The project attempted to produce a perfect truth drug for interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the Cold War, and to explore other possibilities of mind control. Subproject 54 was the Navy's top-secret "Perfect Concussion" program, which was supposed to use sub-aural frequency blasts to erase memory; the program was never carried out.[29]

Most MKUltra records were destroyed in 1973 by order of CIA director Richard Helms, so it has been difficult for investigators to gain a complete understanding of the more than 150 funded research subprojects sponsored by MKUltra and related CIA programs.[30]

The project began during a period of what Rupert Cornwell described as "paranoia" at the CIA, when the U.S. had lost its nuclear monopoly and fear of communism was at its height.[31] CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton believed that a mole had penetrated the organization at the highest levels.[31] The agency poured millions of dollars into studies examining ways to influence and control the mind and to enhance its ability to extract information from resistant subjects during interrogation.[32][33] Some historians assert that one goal of MKUltra and related CIA projects was to create a "Manchurian Candidate"-style subject.[34] Alfred McCoy has claimed that the CIA attempted to focus media attention on these sorts of "ridiculous" programs so that the public would not look at the research's primary goal, which was effective methods of interrogation.[32]

Scale of project[edit | edit source]

One 1955 MKUltra document gives an indication of the size and range of the effort. It refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances described as follows:[35]

Applications[edit | edit source]

The 1976 Church Committee report found that, in the MKDELTA program, "Drugs were used primarily as an aid to interrogations, but MKULTRA/MKDELTA materials were also used for harassment, discrediting or disabling purposes."[36][37][38]

Other related projects[edit | edit source]

In 1964, MKSEARCH was the name given to the continuation of the MKULTRA program. The MKSEARCH program was divided into two projects dubbed MKOFTEN/CHICKWIT. Funding for MKSEARCH commenced in 1965, and ended in 1971.[39] The project was a joint project between The U.S. Army Chemical Corps and the CIA's Office of Research and Development to find new offensive-use agents, with a focus on incapacitating agents. Its purpose was to develop, test, and evaluate capabilities in the covert use of biological, chemical, and radioactive material systems and techniques of producing predictable human behavioral and/or physiological changes in support of highly sensitive operational requirements.[39]

By March 1971 over 26,000 potential agents had been acquired for future screening.[40] The CIA was interested in bird migration patterns for chemical & biological warfare (CBW) research; subproject 139 designated "Bird Disease Studies" at Penn State.[41]

MKOFTEN was to deal with testing and toxicological transmissivity and behavioral effects of drugs in animals and, ultimately, humans.[39]

MKCHICKWIT was concerned with acquiring information on new drug developments in Europe and Asia, and with acquiring samples.[39]

Experiments on Americans[edit | edit source]

CIA documents suggest that they investigated "chemical, biological, and radiological" methods of mind control as part of MKUltra.[42] They spent an estimated $10 million or more, roughly $87.5 million adjusted for inflation.[43]

LSD[edit | edit source]

Early CIA efforts focused on LSD-25, which later came to dominate many of MKUltra's programs.[44] The CIA wanted to know if they could make Soviet spies defect against their will and whether the Soviets could do the same to the CIA's own operatives.[45]

Once Project MKUltra got underway in April 1953, experiments included administering LSD to mental patients, prisoners, drug addicts, and sex workers – "people who could not fight back," as one agency officer put it.[46] In one case, they administered LSD to a mental patient in Kentucky for 174 days.[46] They also administered LSD to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, and members of the general public to study their reactions. LSD and other drugs were often administered without the subject's knowledge or informed consent, a violation of the Nuremberg Code the U.S. had agreed to follow after World War II. The aim of this was to find drugs which would bring out deep confessions or wipe a subject's mind clean and program them as "a robot agent."[47]

In Operation Midnight Climax, the CIA set up several brothels within agency safehouses in San Francisco to obtain a selection of men who would be too embarrassed to talk about the events. The men were dosed with LSD, the brothels were equipped with one-way mirrors, and the sessions were filmed for later viewing and study.[48] In other experiments where people were given LSD without their knowledge, they were interrogated under bright lights with doctors in the background taking notes. They told subjects they would extend their "trips" if they refused to reveal their secrets. The people under this interrogation were CIA employees, U.S. military personnel, and agents suspected of working for the other side in the Cold War. Long-term debilitation and several deaths resulted from this.[47] Heroin addicts were bribed into taking LSD with offers of more heroin.[19]

At the invitation of Stanford psychology graduate student Vik Lovell, an acquaintance of Richard Alpert and Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey volunteered to take part in what turned out to be a CIA-financed study under the aegis of MKUltra,[49] at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital[50][51] where he worked as a night aide.[52] The project studied the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT and DMT on people.

The Office of Security used LSD in interrogations, but Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, the chemist who directed MKUltra, had other ideas: he thought it could be used in covert operations. Since its effects were temporary, he believed it could be given to high-ranking officials and in this way affect the course of important meetings, speeches, etc. Since he realized there was a difference in testing the drug in a laboratory and using it in clandestine operations, he initiated a series of experiments where LSD was given to people in "normal" settings without warning. At first, everyone in Technical Services tried it; a typical experiment involved two people in a room where they observed each other for hours and took notes. As the experimentation progressed, a point arrived where outsiders were drugged with no explanation whatsoever and surprise acid trips became something of an occupational hazard among CIA operatives. Adverse reactions often occurred, such as an operative who received the drug in his morning coffee, became psychotic and ran across Washington, seeing a monster in every car passing him. The experiments continued even after Frank Olson, an army chemist who had never taken LSD, was covertly dosed by his CIA supervisor and nine days later plunged to his death from the window of a 13th-story New York City hotel room, supposedly as a result of deep depression induced by the drug.[53] According to Stephen Kinzer, Olson had approached his superiors some time earlier, doubting the morality of the project, and asked to resign from the CIA.[54]

Some subjects' participation was consensual, and in these cases they appeared to be singled out for even more extreme experiments. In one case, seven volunteers in Kentucky were given LSD for seventy-seven consecutive days.[55]

MKUltra's researchers later dismissed LSD as too unpredictable in its results.[56] They gave up on the notion that LSD was "the secret that was going to unlock the universe," but it still had a place in the cloak-and-dagger arsenal. However, by 1962 the CIA and the army developed a series of super-hallucinogens such as the highly touted BZ, which was thought to hold greater promise as a mind control weapon. This resulted in the withdrawal of support by many academics and private researchers, and LSD research became less of a priority altogether.[53]

Other drugs[edit | edit source]

Another technique investigated was the intravenous administration of a barbiturate into one arm and an amphetamine into the other.[57] The barbiturates were released into the person first, and as soon as the person began to fall asleep, the amphetamines were released. The person would begin babbling incoherently, and it was sometimes possible to ask questions and get useful answers.

Other experiments involved heroin, morphine, temazepam (used under code name MKSEARCH), mescaline, psilocybin, scopolamine, alcohol and sodium pentothal.[58]

Hypnosis[edit | edit source]

Declassified MKUltra documents indicate they studied hypnosis in the early 1950s. Experimental goals included the creation of "hypnotically induced anxieties," "hypnotically increasing ability to learn and recall complex written matter," studying hypnosis and polygraph examinations, "hypnotically increasing ability to observe and recall complex arrangements of physical objects" and studying "relationship of personality to susceptibility to hypnosis."[59] They conducted experiments with drug-induced hypnosis and with anterograde and retrograde amnesia while under the influence of such drugs.

Experiments on Canadians[edit | edit source]

The CIA exported experiments to Canada when they recruited British psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, creator of the "psychic driving" concept, which the CIA found interesting. Cameron had been hoping to correct schizophrenia by erasing existing memories and reprogramming the psyche. He commuted from Albany, New York to Montreal every week to work at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University, and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 (which would be US$558,915 in 2018, adjusting for inflation) to carry out MKUltra experiments there, the Montreal experiments. These research funds were sent to Cameron by a CIA front organization, the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, and as shown in internal CIA documents, Cameron did not know the money came from the CIA.[60]

In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs as well as electroconvulsive therapy at thirty to forty times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced comas for weeks at a time (up to three months in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were often carried out on patients who entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postpartum depression, many of whom suffered permanent effects from his actions.[60] His treatments resulted in victims' incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to talk, forgetting their parents and thinking their interrogators were their parents.[61]

During this era, Cameron became known worldwide as the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association as well as president of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. Cameron was also a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal in 1946–1947.[60]

Motivation and assessments[edit | edit source]

His work was inspired and paralleled by the British psychiatrist William Sargant at St Thomas' Hospital, London, and Belmont Hospital, Surrey, who was also involved in the Intelligence Services and who experimented on his patients without their consent, causing similar long-term damage.[62]

In the 1980s, several of Cameron's former patients sued the CIA for damages, which the Canadian news program The Fifth Estate documented.[63] Their experiences and lawsuit was made into a 1998 television miniseries called The Sleep Room.[64]

Naomi Klein argues in her book The Shock Doctrine that Cameron's research and his contribution to the MKUltra project was not about mind control and brainwashing, but about designing "a scientifically based system for extracting information from 'resistant sources'. In other words, torture."[65]

Alfred W. McCoy writes, "Stripped of its bizarre excesses, Dr. Cameron's experiments, building upon Donald O. Hebb's earlier breakthrough, laid the scientific foundation for the CIA's two-stage psychological torture method",[66] referring to first creating a state of disorientation in the subject, and then creating a situation of "self-inflicted" discomfort in which the disoriented subject can alleviate their pain by capitulating.[66]

Secret detention camps[edit | edit source]

In areas under American control in the early 1950s in Europe and East Asia, mostly Japan, Germany and the Philippines, the CIA created secret detention centers so that the U.S. could avoid criminal prosecution. The CIA captured people suspected of being enemy agents and other people it deemed "expendable" to undertake various types of torture and human experimentation on them. The prisoners were interrogated while being administered psychoactive drugs, electroshocked and subjected to extremes of temperature, sensory isolation and the like to develop a better understanding of how to destroy and to control human minds.[13]

Revelation[edit | edit source]

In 1973, amid a government-wide panic caused by Watergate, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed.[67] Pursuant to this order, most CIA documents regarding the project were destroyed, making a full investigation of MKUltra impossible. A cache of some 20,000 documents survived Helms' purge, as they had been incorrectly stored in a financial records building and were discovered following a FOIA request in 1977. These documents were fully investigated during the Senate Hearings of 1977.[7]

In December 1974, The New York Times alleged that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s.[68] That report prompted investigations by the United States Congress, in the form of the Church Committee, and by a commission known as the Rockefeller Commission that looked into the illegal domestic activities of the CIA, the FBI and intelligence-related agencies of the military.

In the summer of 1975, congressional Church Committee reports and the presidential Rockefeller Commission report revealed to the public for the first time that the CIA and the Department of Defense had conducted experiments on both unwitting and cognizant human subjects as part of an extensive program to find out how to influence and control human behavior through the use of psychoactive drugs such as LSD and mescaline and other chemical, biological, and psychological means. They also revealed that at least one subject, Frank Olson had died after administration of LSD. Much of what the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission learned about MKUltra was contained in a report, prepared by the Inspector General's office in 1963, that had survived the destruction of records ordered in 1973.[69] However, it contained little detail. Sidney Gottlieb, who had retired from the CIA two years previously and had headed MKUltra, was interviewed by the committee but claimed to have very little recollection of the activities of MKUltra.[18]

The congressional committee investigating the CIA research, chaired by Senator Frank Church, concluded that "prior consent was obviously not obtained from any of the subjects". The committee noted that the "experiments sponsored by these researchers ... call into question the decision by the agencies not to fix guidelines for experiments."

Following the recommendations of the Church Committee, President Gerald Ford in 1976 issued the first Executive Order on Intelligence Activities which, among other things, prohibited "experimentation with drugs on human subjects, except with the informed consent, in writing and witnessed by a disinterested party, of each such human subject" and in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Commission. Subsequent orders by Presidents Carter and Reagan expanded the directive to apply to any human experimentation.

In 1977, during a hearing held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, to look further into MKUltra, Admiral Stansfield Turner, then Director of Central Intelligence, revealed that the CIA had found a set of records, consisting of about 20,000 pages,[70] that had survived the 1973 destruction orders because they had been incorrectly stored at a records center not usually used for such documents.[69] These files dealt with the financing of MKUltra projects and contained few project details, but much more was learned from them than from the Inspector General's 1963 report.

On the Senate floor in 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said:

The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations.

At least one death, the result of the defenestration of Dr. Frank Olson, was attributed to Olson's being subjected, unaware, to such experimentation, nine days before his death. The CIA itself subsequently acknowledged that these tests had little scientific rationale. The agents conducting the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers.[71][72]

In Canada, the issue took much longer to surface, becoming widely known in 1984 on a CBC news show, The Fifth Estate. It was learned that not only had the CIA funded Dr. Cameron's efforts, but also that the Canadian government was fully aware of this, and had later provided another $500,000 in funding to continue the experiments. This revelation largely derailed efforts by the victims to sue the CIA as their U.S. counterparts had, and the Canadian government eventually settled out of court for $100,000 to each of the 127 victims. Dr. Cameron died on September 8, 1967, after suffering a heart attack while he and his son were mountain climbing. None of Cameron's personal records of his involvement with MKUltra survived, since his family destroyed them after his death.[73][74]

1994 U.S. General Accounting Office report[edit | edit source]

The U.S. General Accounting Office issued a report on September 28, 1994, which stated that between 1940 and 1974, DOD and other national security agencies studied thousands of human subjects in tests and experiments involving hazardous substances.

The quote from the study:[75]

Working with the CIA, the Department of Defense gave hallucinogenic drugs to thousands of "volunteer" soldiers in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to LSD, the Army also tested quinuclidinyl benzilate, a hallucinogen code-named BZ. (Note 37) Many of these tests were conducted under the so-called MKULTRA program, established to counter perceived Soviet and Chinese advances in brainwashing techniques. Between 1953 and 1964, the program consisted of 149 projects involving drug testing and other studies on unwitting human subjects

Deaths[edit | edit source]

Given the CIA's purposeful destruction of most records, its failure to follow informed consent protocols with thousands of participants, the uncontrolled nature of the experiments, and the lack of follow-up data, the full impact of MKUltra experiments, including deaths, may never be known.[30][35][75][76]

Several known deaths have been associated with Project MKUltra, most notably that of Frank Olson. Olson, a United States Army biochemist and biological weapons researcher, was given LSD without his knowledge or consent in November 1953, as part of a CIA experiment and died by suicide by jumping out of a window a week later. A CIA doctor assigned to monitor Olson claimed to have been asleep in another bed in a New York City hotel room when Olson exited the window and fell thirteen stories to his death. In 1953, Olson's death was described as a suicide that had occurred during a severe psychotic episode. The CIA's own internal investigation concluded that the head of MKUltra, CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb, had conducted the LSD experiment with Olson's prior knowledge, although neither Olson nor the other men taking part in the experiment were informed as to the exact nature of the drug until some 20 minutes after its ingestion. The report further suggested that Gottlieb was nonetheless due a reprimand, as he had failed to take into account Olson's already-diagnosed suicidal tendencies, which might have been exacerbated by the LSD.[77]

The Olson family disputes the official version of events. They maintain that Frank Olson was murdered because, especially in the aftermath of his LSD experience, he had become a security risk who might divulge state secrets associated with highly classified CIA programs, about many of which he had direct personal knowledge.[78] A few days before his death, Frank Olson quit his position as acting chief of the Special Operations Division at Detrick, Maryland (later Fort Detrick) because of a severe moral crisis concerning the nature of his biological weapons research. Among Olson's concerns were the development of assassination materials used by the CIA, the CIA's use of biological warfare materials in covert operations, experimentation with biological weapons in populated areas, collaboration with former scientists under Operation Paperclip, LSD mind-control research, and the use of psychoactive drugs during "terminal" interrogations under a program code-named Project ARTICHOKE.[79] Later forensic evidence conflicted with the official version of events; when Olson's body was exhumed in 1994, cranial injuries indicated that Olson had been knocked unconscious before he exited the window.[77] The medical examiner termed Olson's death a "homicide".[80] In 1975, Olson's family received a $750,000 settlement from the U.S. government and formal apologies from President Gerald Ford and CIA Director William Colby, though their apologies were limited to informed consent issues concerning Olson's ingestion of LSD.[76] On 28 November 2012, the Olson family filed suit against the U.S. federal government for the wrongful death of Frank Olson.[81] The case was dismissed in July 2013, due in part to the 1976 settlement between the family and government.[82] In the decision dismissing the suit, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote, "While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family's suit], farfetched as they may sound."[83]

A 2010 book by H. P. Albarelli Jr. alleged that the 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning was part of MKDELTA, that Olson was involved in that event, and that he was eventually murdered by the CIA.[84][85] However, academic sources attribute the incident to ergot poisoning through a local bakery.[86][87][88]

Legal issues involving informed consent[edit | edit source]

The revelations about the CIA and the army prompted a number of subjects or their survivors to file lawsuits against the federal government for conducting experiments without informed consent. Although the government aggressively, and sometimes successfully, sought to avoid legal liability, several plaintiffs did receive compensation through court order, out-of-court settlement, or acts of Congress. Frank Olson's family received $750,000 by a special act of Congress, and both President Ford and CIA director William Colby met with Olson's family to apologize publicly.

Previously, the CIA and the army had actively and successfully sought to withhold incriminating information, even as they secretly provided compensation to the families. One subject of army drug experimentation, James Stanley, an army sergeant, brought an important, albeit unsuccessful, suit. The government argued that Stanley was barred from suing under the Feres doctrine.

In 1987, the Supreme Court affirmed this defense in a 5–4 decision that dismissed Stanley's case: United States v. Stanley.[89] The majority argued that "a test for liability that depends on the extent to which particular suits would call into question military discipline and decision making would itself require judicial inquiry into, and hence intrusion upon, military matters." In dissent, Justice William Brennan argued that the need to preserve military discipline should not protect the government from liability and punishment for serious violations of constitutional rights:

The medical trials at Nuremberg in 1947 deeply impressed upon the world that experimentation with unknowing human subjects is morally and legally unacceptable. The United States Military Tribunal established the Nuremberg Code as a standard against which to judge German scientists who experimented with human subjects.... [I]n defiance of this principle, military intelligence officials ... began surreptitiously testing chemical and biological materials, including LSD.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing a separate dissent, stated:

No judicially crafted rule should insulate from liability the involuntary and unknowing human experimentation alleged to have occurred in this case. Indeed, as Justice Brennan observes, the United States played an instrumental role in the criminal prosecution of Nazi officials who experimented with human subjects during the Second World War, and the standards that the Nuremberg Military Tribunals developed to judge the behavior of the defendants stated that the 'voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential ... to satisfy moral, ethical, and legal concepts.' If this principle is violated, the very least that society can do is to see that the victims are compensated, as best they can be, by the perpetrators.

In another lawsuit, Wayne Ritchie, a former United States Marshal, after hearing about the project's existence in 1990, alleged the CIA laced his food or drink with LSD at a 1957 Christmas party which resulted in his attempting to commit a robbery at a bar and his subsequent arrest. While the government admitted it was, at that time, drugging people without their consent, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel found Ritchie could not prove he was one of the victims of MKUltra or that LSD caused his robbery attempt and dismissed the case in 2007.[90][91]

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Further reading[edit | edit source]

  • Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control, Henry Holt and Co., by Stephen Kinzer, 2019,
  • The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments, by Stephen Kinzer, Politico, 2019.

Drugs as Weapons Against Us. (2015). Trine Day LLC.. ISBN 978-1937584924

External links[edit | edit source]