Project MKULTRA – CIA mind control program CIA Files

Description

Project MKULTRA: A Timeline and Key Figures

Timeline of Events in Project MKULTRA

• 1950s-1960s: The CIA initiates and conducts Project MKULTRA, a wide-ranging program of human experimentation using drugs (primarily LSD), psychological, and other means. The goal is to develop techniques for controlling human behavior for counterintelligence and covert action purposes, spurred by reports of Soviet capabilities in this area.
• Much research involves administering substances to unwitting individuals in social settings.
• Some research is conducted at well-known institutions under standard practices, with results often published openly.
• November 19, 1953: Dr. Frank Olson, a civilian employee of the Army, unwittingly receives approximately 70 micrograms of LSD in a glass of Cointreau at a meeting with CIA and Army scientists. The LSD is administered by Dr. Robert Lashbrook as part of an experiment orchestrated by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb.
• Shortly after November 19, 1953: Dr. Frank Olson begins to exhibit symptoms of paranoia and schizophrenia.
• November 1953: Dr. Frank Olson, accompanied by Dr. Robert Lashbrook, seeks psychiatric assistance from Dr. Harold Abramson in New York City. Abramson’s LSD research had been indirectly funded by the CIA.
• November 27, 1953: Dr. Frank Olson dies after falling from a tenth-story window of the Statler Hotel in New York City while under psychiatric care.
• Spring 1963: During an Inspector General survey of the CIA’s Technical Services Division, John Vance, a member of the staff, discovers MKULTRA and the surreptitious LSD testing on unwitting subjects.
• July 20, 1963: A Memorandum from the CIA Inspector General to the CIA Director expresses concern about MKULTRA’s research and development of materials for clandestine human behavior control.
• Mid-1963: As a result of the Inspector General’s report, the unwitting testing within MKULTRA is halted, and tighter administrative controls are imposed on the program.
• 1963 (onward): The CIA states that Project MKULTRA was significantly decreased in scope each budget year.
• 1964: Project MKSEARCH, a program with a similar scope to MKULTRA but with activities based in Asia and Europe, is initiated.
• Late 1960s: According to the CIA, Project MKULTRA is completely terminated.
• January 1973: Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, Chief of the CIA’s Technical Services Division, orders the destruction of MKULTRA records. This order is carried out by TSD personnel.
• Later 1973: Former CIA Director Richard Helms confirms that he gave the verbal order to Dr. Gottlieb to destroy the MKULTRA records.
• 1974: An article about Project MKULTRA appears in the New York Times, bringing some public attention to the program.
• 1975: The Rockefeller Commission Report, officially the United States President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States, is published and includes significant information on MKULTRA, further increasing public awareness.
• 1976: The Church Committee hearings, officially the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, are held and also reveal details about MKULTRA to the public.
• 1977: The CIA uncovers additional MKULTRA files within budget and fiscal records that were not indexed under the project’s name. These documents detail over 150 subprojects funded by the CIA.
• Post-1977: Files from the Ford Administration emerge, covering discussions on how to handle the revelations surrounding the death of Frank Olson.

Cast of Characters

• Dr. Harold Abramson: A physician in New York City who specialized in LSD research. His research was indirectly funded by the CIA. Frank Olson sought psychiatric assistance from him shortly before his death.
• Dick Cheney: Served in the Ford Administration and authored a memo to Donald Rumsfeld regarding how to handle the revelations about Frank Olson and MKULTRA.
• President Gerald Ford: The President of the United States during the mid-1970s when information about MKULTRA and the death of Frank Olson began to surface publicly. His administration dealt with the fallout from these revelations.
• Dr. Sidney Gottlieb: Chief of the CIA’s Technical Services Division. He was heavily involved in the planning and execution of MKULTRA, including the experiment involving Frank Olson. He ordered the destruction of MKULTRA records in 1973.
• Richard Helms: Served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). He confirmed that he gave the verbal order to Dr. Gottlieb to destroy the MKULTRA records.
• Dr. Robert Lashbrook: A CIA officer who administered LSD to Dr. Frank Olson on November 19, 1953, as part of an MKULTRA experiment. He accompanied Olson to New York City for psychiatric treatment.
• Dr. Frank Olson: A civilian employee of the U.S. Army who unknowingly received LSD as part of a CIA experiment under Project MKULTRA. He subsequently experienced paranoia and schizophrenia and died in November 1953 after falling from a hotel window. His death and the circumstances surrounding it later became a focal point of investigations into MKULTRA.
• Donald Rumsfeld: Served in the Ford Administration and received a memo from Dick Cheney regarding the handling of the Frank Olson revelations.
• John Vance: A member of the CIA Inspector General’s staff who discovered MKULTRA and the surreptitious LSD testing during a survey in the spring of 1963. His findings led to a halt in the unwitting testing and increased controls over the program.

Project MKULTRA – CIA mind control program CIA Files & Congressional Investigations

17,241 pages of CIA Files.

Because of reports that the Soviet Union may have developed the capability to affect human behavior through the use of drugs, the CIA initiated MKULTRA.

In the 1950s and 60s, the CIA engaged in  extensive programs of human experimentation, using drugs, psychological, and other means, in search of techniques to control human behavior for counterintelligence and covert action purposes.

MKULTRA was the principal CIA program involving the research and development of chemical and biological agents.

Much of this research, which principally involved the use of LSD, was conducted at well-known institutions under the control and direction of researchers, and to the standards of, those institutions. The research and its results were generally unclassified and published in the normal manner by such institutions. Other MKULTRA research was performed in a questionable manner: research and tests were conducted on individuals who were not witting that they were the subjects of a research program and that they were being given a drug. This unwitting testing generally took place in social situations among friends and acquaintances of the researchers.

A tragic result of the testing of LSD by the CIA was the death of Dr. Frank Olson, a civilian employee of the Army, who died on November 27, 1953. His death followed his participation in a CIA experiment with LSD. As part of this experiment, Olson unwittingly received approximately 70 micrograms of LSD in a glass of Cointreau he drank on November 19,1953. The drug had been placed in the bottle by a CIA officer, Dr. Robert Lashbrook, as part of an experiment he and Dr. Sidney Gottlieb performed at a meeting of Army and CIA scientists.

Shortly after this experiment, Olson exhibited symptoms of paranoia and schizophrenia. Accompanied by Dr. Lashbrook, Olson sought psychiatric assistance in New York City from a physician, Dr. Harold Abramson, whose research on LSD had been funded indirectly by the CIA. While in New York for treatment, Olson fell to his death from a tenth story window in the Statler Hotel.

When questions were raised within the Agency about MKULTRA, it was discontinued. A Memorandum from the CIA Inspector General to the CIA Director, dated 7/20/63, states,  It was “concerned with the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior.”

In the spring of 1963, during a wide-ranging Inspector General survey of the CIA’s Technical Services Division, a member of the Inspector General’s staff, John Vance, learned about MKULTRA and about the project involving the surreptitious administration of LSD to unwitting, nonvoluntary human subjects. As a result of the discovery and the Inspector General’s subsequent report, this testing was halted and much tighter administrative controls were imposed on the program. According to the CIA, the project was decreased significantly each budget year until its complete termination in the late 1960s.

A project with a similar scope with activities based in Asia and Europe was then stared in 1964 called MKSEARCH

In January 1973, MKULTRA records were destroyed by the CIA’s Technical Services Division personnel acting on the verbal orders of Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, Chief of TSD. Dr. Gottlieb  testified to the Church Committee, and former CIA Director Helms confirmed, the ordering the records destruction, Dr. Gottlieb was carrying out the verbal order of then DCI Helms.

An article appeared about MKULTRA in the New York Times in 1974.

MKULTRA’ nature and termination were learned by the CIA’s Congressional overseers. Public attention was later drawn to the program in the 1975 Rockefeller Commission Report and in the Church Committee hearings in 1976.

In 1977, the agency uncovered additional MKULTRA files in the budget and fiscal records that were not indexed under the name MKULTRA. These documents detailed over 150 subprojects that the CIA funded.

CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTING

In addition to the CIA Files the collection contains 1,128 pages of reporting from the  Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) and the Rockefeller Commission (formally the United States President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States), encompassing some significant information on MKULTRA.

President Ford Administration Files on Frank Olson

27 pages of files from the Ford Administration covering of to handle the revelation about Frank Olson. The first memo is from Dick Cheney to Donald Rumsfeld.