Project MK ULF RA or MKULTRA was the code name for a covert CIA iniiid-coiitrol and chemical interrogation .. ; 1 p 0' ; M1(U1_]']M .
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: r 1‘-C research program, nin by the Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the _
early 1950s,-continuin at least throuvh th I 1960 d ' ' ' ‘ i ' " '
g - C, c ate s, an it supposedly used United States citizens as unwitting test
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subjects. -The published evidence indicates that Project MK-ULTRA involved the surre titious use ofmaii —~-————--3-—— p y :' '5"-7‘-'_.:_'l-' " 11*‘--/‘"1 ’ " _ "“=- ' 1.
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types ot drugs, as well as other methods, to manipulate individualrneiital states and to alter brain function. - “"' !'~‘?‘;~ I
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- Project MK-ULTRA was‘ first brought to wide public attention in 1975 by the U .S. Congress, througliinvcstigations
by the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission. Investigative
efforts were hampered by-the fact that CIA Direct0rRichard I-Ielmsordercd all MK-ULTRA tiles destroyed in '
I973; the Church Committee‘ and Rockefeller Coinniission investigations relied on the swoni testimony of direct
participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms’ destruction order.l4l
Although the CIA insists that MK-ULTRA-type experiments have been abandoned, 14-year CIA veteran Victor
Marchctti has stated in various interviews that the CIA routinclyconducts disinformation campaigns and that CIA
mind control research continued. In a 1977 interview, Marchetti specifically called the CIA claim that MK-ULTRA
was abandoned a "cover story. "[5][6]
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On the Senate tloor 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" progiam which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all 5'-
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social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration C°"°' ‘hm f°I MKUPTRA PT°P°5"'
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. of LSD to "i.uiwitting subjects in social situations." At least one death, that of Dr. Frank Olson, resulted from _
_ these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged Lliat these tesm made little scientific sense. The agents doing the iiioniloring were not qualilied
scientific observerslm
To this day most specific infomiation regarding Project MKULTRA remains highly classified.[8]
Contents
I 1 Title and origins
I 2 Goals
I 3 Budget
I 4 Experiments
I 4.1 LSD _
' I 4.2 Other drugs
I 4.3 Hypnosis and Magic
I 4.4 Canadian experiments
_I 5 Revelation
I 6 U.S. General Accounting Ollice Report '
I' 7 Legal issues involving infomied consent
I 8 Extent of participation '
I 9 Notable subjects
I 10 Incidents
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I 10.1 Dr.'Frank Olson Commits Suicide
I 11 See also -
I 12 Web links '
I 13 References
_ Title and origins
The project's intentionally oblique CIA ciyptonym is made .up of the digraph MK. meaning that tlic project was sponsored by the agency's Technical Scn/ices‘
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. Approved for Release: 2018/12/12 C06760269
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Project MK-ULTRA - lntcllipedia
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Dt. Sidney Gotllieb approved ofan MKULTRA
subproject on [SD in this lune 9. I953 letter.
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Division, followed by the word UL'!‘R/I (which had previously been used to designate the most secret
classification ofWorld War ll intelligence). Other related cryptonyms include MK-NAOMI and MK-DELTA.
A precursorofthe MK-ULTRA program began in I945 when the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency was
established and given direct responsibility for Operation Paperclip. Openrtion Papcrclip was a program to
recnrit former Nazi scientists. Some of these scientists studied torture and brainwashing, and several had just
been identified and prosecuted as war criminals during the Nuremberg Trialsplllol
Several secret U.S. govemment projects grew out of Operation Papcrclip. These projccu included Project
CllA'|'l'ER (established I947), and Project BLUEBIRD (established I950). which was later renamed to
Project ARTICHOKE in l95l. Their purpose was to study mind-control. interrogation, behavior
modification and related topics.
Headed by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, the MK-ULTRA project was staned on
the order ofClA director Allen Dulles on April ts, r9s3,l"l largely in I
response to Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean use ofmind-control
techniques on U.S. prisoners ofwar in Korcadm The CIA wanted to
use similar methods on their own captives. The CIA was also interested
in being able to manipulate foreign leaders with such techniques,‘ ml turd
would later invent several schemes to drug Fidel Castro.
Forpcriments were oflen conducted without the subjects‘ knowledge or
cunsentlm In some cases, academic researchers being funded through
grants from CIA front organizations were unaware that their work was
being used for these purposes.ll5l
ln l964, the project was renamed MK-SEARCH. The project attempted to produce a perfect truth drug for use in Sidney Gonna’
interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the Cold War. and generally to explore any other possibilities ofmind control.
Another MK-ULTRA elTort, Subproject S4, was the Navy's top secret "Perfect Concussion" program. which used sub-aural frequency blasts to erase
mt-mory.l l 5‘
Because most MK-ULTRA records were deliberately destroyed in I973 by order ofthen CIA Director Richard Helms. it has been difficult. ifnot impossible,
for investigators to gain a complete understanding ofthe more than l50 individually funded research sub-projects sponsored by MK-ULTRA and related CIA
prognrrns.[m
Goals
The Agency poured millions ofdollars into studies probing dozens ofmcthods ofinflucncing and controlling the mind. One I955 MK-ULTRA document gives
an indication ofthe size and range ofthe effort; this document refers to the study ofan assortment ofmind-altering substances described as follows: U5]
l. Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public.
2. Substances which increase the efliciency of mentation and perception.
3. Materials which will prevent or counteract the intoxicating effect ofalcohol.
4. Mater-iaLs which will promote the intoxicating effect ofalcohol.
5. Materials which will produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way so that they may be used for malingering.
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6. Materials which will render the induction ofhypnosis easier or otherwise enhance its usefulness.
7. Substances which will enhance the ability of indiv