MKULTRA

Project MK ULTRA, the "CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification" (1950-1973)

The CIA's "Mind-Control" Program for drugs and procedures aiming in obtaining confessions and controlling human behavior 

Related research code names: "Bluebird" - "Artichoke" - "MKULTRA - MKDELTA"

NYT: "With each code name change, the interest in mind control broadened until there remained virtually no avenue of human behavior control that was not explored, from interrogation techniques to knockout drugs, from LSD to germ warfare, from the use of polygraphs to handwriting analysis."

(Note: There have been disagreements as to whether "MK" stands for Mind Kontrol)

From Wikipedia: As the US Supreme Court later noted, MKULTRA was concerned with "the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior." The program consisted of some 149 subprojects which the Agency contracted out to various universities, research foundations, and similar institutions. At least 80 institutions and 185 private researchers participated. Because the Agency funded MKUltra indirectly, many of the participating individuals were unaware that they were dealing with the Agency [13].

Structures involved in the program: CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division, U.S. Army Chemical Corps (formerly U.S. Chemical Warfare Service), U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories

New York Times article (1974) triggers U.S. Congress and Presidential Committee Investigations on CIA operations

It is noted that the efforts of the Church Committee led to the establishment of the permanent U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

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 as described in this article. According to Wikipedia, "that report prompted investigations by the U.S. Congress, in the form of the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission that looked into domestic activities of the CIA, the FBI, and intelligence-related agencies of the military". The Church Committee would later evolve into the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. As mentioned by Wikipedia, "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 influence and control human behavior through the use of psychoactive drugs such as LSD and mescaline and other chemical, biological, and psychological means."

Figure 1: Front page of the NYT on December 22, 1974.

According to Wikipedia, one 1955 MKUltra document gives an indication of the size and range of the effort; this document refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances described as follows [29]:

• Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public.

• Substances which increase the efficiency of mentation and perception.

• Materials which will cause the victim to age faster/slower in maturity.

• Materials which will promote the intoxicating effect of alcohol.

• Materials which will produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way so that they may be used for malingering, etc.

• Materials which will cause temporary/permanent brain damage and loss of memory.

• Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called "brain-washing".

• Materials and physical methods which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.

• Physical methods of producing shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use.

• Substances which produce physical disablement such as paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc.

• Substances which will produce a chemical that can cause blisters.

• Substances which alter personality structure in such a way that the tendency of the recipient to become dependent upon another person is enhanced.

• A material which will cause mental confusion of such a type that the individual under its influence will find it difficult to maintain a fabrication under questioning.

• Substances which will lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men when administered in undetectable amounts.

• Substances which promote weakness or distortion of the eyesight or hearing faculties, preferably without permanent effects.

• A knockout pill which can surreptitiously be administered in drinks, food, cigarettes, as an aerosol, etc., which will be safe to use, provide a maximum of amnesia, and be suitable for use by agent types on an ad hoc basis.

• A material which can be surreptitiously administered by the above routes and which in very small amounts will make it impossible for a person to perform physical activity.

Experimental protocol excepts from Wikipedia: 

Experiment 1 : Hypnotically induced anxieties to be completed by September 1

Experiment 2: Hypnotically increasing ability to learn and recall complex written matter to be completed by September 1

Experiment 3: Polygraph responses under Hypnosis, to be completed by June 15.

Experiment 4: Hypnotically increasing ability to observe and recall a complex arrangement of physical objects

Experiment 5: Relationship of personality to susceptibility to hypnosis.

The MKULTRA subproject on "Human Telecontrol"

"Techniques for Activating the Human Organism by Remote Electronic Means”.

As mentioned by H. Girard in the article at the link http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BW.php, in 1960, the CIA approved a proposal for a very sophisticated electroencephalography instrument that could be used to interpret brain activity, decipher thought content and obtain information whether a person would wish to disclose it or not. They also added to this a bibliography search with five objectives, the fifth termed “Techniques for Activating the Human Organism by Remote Electronic Means”. This study became known later as MKULTRA subproject 119, with MKULTRA being the CIA’s mind control program. 

Documents that are related to MKULTRA were obtained by a FOIA request by John Marks who conducted research for his book "The Search For The Manchurian Candidate - The CIA and Mind Control, The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences" (1979) published by W. W. Norton - paperback 1991, ISBN 0-393-30794-8. The author donated the documents to the National Security Archive of the George Washington University (http//www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive.html).

An inventory of the donated documents is available at http://all.net/journal/deception/MKULTRA/www.nemasys.com/rahome/library/programming/mkultra.shtml.

The author has noted Subproject 119 MKULTRA as "Telecontrol--Texas Christian" referring to Texas Christian University. 

A document related to this subproject can be found at this link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MKUltra_119.pdf