MK-ULTRA: The CIA and Mind Control

The People's History
Wednesday, March 12, 2014

“In the 1950's and early 1960's, the agency gave mind-altering drugs to hundreds of unsuspecting Americans in an effort to explore the possibilities of controlling human consciousness. Many of the human guinea pigs were mental patients, prisoners, drug addicts and prostitutes -- ''people who could not fight back,'' as one agency officer put it. In one case, a mental patient in Kentucky was dosed with LSD continuously for 174 days.” - New York Times1

MK-ULTRA is the codename given to a CIA research operation into biological behavioral engineering, also known as mind control. Many people are familiar with the operation but incorrectly assume that it was limited to LSD research. While there were plenty of resources devoted to LSD research, it was only one area of a vast field of mind control operations. MK-ULTRA researcher Ike Feldman said himself that:

“The LSD... that was just the tip of the iceberg... Espionage. Assassinations. Dirty tricks. Drug experiments. Sexual encounters and the study of prostitutes for clandestine use. That is what I was doing when I worked for George White and the CIA.”2

MK-ULTRA had several precursors. There was Project Chatter in 1947, which tested drugs such as the infamous Scopalmine during interrogations.3 There was Project Bluebird in 1949, which began studies into hypnosis.4 The document describing the initiation of Project Bluebird outlines these special problems, among many others, that they were hoping to address:

* Can we in a matter of an hour, two hours, one day, etc., induce an hypnotic condition in an unwilling subject to such an extent that he will perform an act for our benefit?

* Can we create by post-hypnotic control an action contrary to an individual's basic moral principles?

* Can we guarantee total amnesia under any and all conditions?

* Can we "alter" a person's personality? How long will it hold?

* Can we devise a system for making unwilling subjects into willing agents and then transfer that control to untrained agency agents in the field by use of codes or identifying signs or credentials?5

Project Artichoke began in 1951, with a scope of ... “Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against fundamental laws of nature, such as self-preservation?”6 All of the above projects were shuttled into MK-ULTRA in 1953, under the Technical Services Division, combining over 150 sub-projects7, undertaken at over 80 institutions8 such as universities, hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies. Many of the projects were covertly ran through front organizations without the knowledge of the institution that hosted them.

CONTINUED...

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