New CIA Documents Expose the Dark Legacy of Mind Control Experiments

by Nil

John Lisle’s “Project Mind Control” is a chilling exposé of America’s descent into moral ambiguity, cloaked in the language of national security. Through the enigmatic and unsettling figure of Sidney Gottlieb, Lisle draws readers into the dark underbelly of the CIA’s MKULTRA programme. What emerges is not only a portrait of bureaucratic overreach and scientific hubris but an indictment of the very institutions sworn to uphold democratic values.

“Once secrecy becomes sacrosanct, it invites abuse,” quotes Lisle from Senator Mike Mansfield. That epigraph alone encapsulates the essence of the book. MKULTRA was not merely a rogue programme—it was a systemic moral collapse, engineered by patriots who believed the Cold War justified anything. Gottlieb, the CIA’s “poisoner-in-chief,” is at the centre of this ethical black hole.

Lisle presents Gottlieb as an oddly sympathetic monster. Born with clubfeet, stuttering, and perpetually on the margins, Gottlieb yearned for belonging. That psychological isolation, Lisle suggests, made him the perfect agent of moral transgression. “Gottlieb may have been unconventional by nature,” Lisle writes, “but he nevertheless craved acceptance.” In this paradox lies the tragedy of MKULTRA: brilliant minds, alienated from society, given unlimited resources and no oversight.

Lisle’s narrative strength lies in his use of depositions and documents hidden for decades in the Library of Congress. As a result, this is not mere hearsay. Gottlieb’s own words indict him. In one deposition, he admits, “He was going to tell the story that he wanted to tell.” And what a story it is: hypnosis trials on secretaries, LSD experiments on prisoners, and the development of techniques that veered dangerously close to psychological torture.

The book’s most controversial implication is this: the line between defender and destroyer of democracy is perilously thin. Consider the moment when a CIA memo declares, “There are no rules in such a game. Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply.” Such rationales paved the way for drugging unknowing subjects, manipulating minds, and creating “disposable” human lives in the name of intelligence.

Lisle doesn’t shy away from the philosophical implications. Was Gottlieb a patriot or a war criminal? The answer is elusive. His experiments occurred under the auspices of preventing communist brainwashing, yet they mirrored the very tactics America claimed to oppose. In one case, CIA operatives considered hypnotising a man into assassinating a foreign politician and leaving him to be disposed of by his own government. How is that not state-sponsored murder?

Equally disturbing is the programme’s cultural impact. MKULTRA didn’t end—it mutated. Its legacy lives on in surveillance technologies, coercive interrogations, and the justification of secrecy as sacrosanct. The veil of Cold War paranoia still lingers, and Lisle’s book forces readers to confront how many atrocities remain hidden behind redacted documents and executive privilege.

“Gottlieb was not the kind of witness that if you’re defending a case you want to have,” said a Department of Justice attorney. Indeed, Gottlieb’s openness is damning. In describing his work on “chemical comas, sensory deprivation, and assassination attempts,” he does not flinch. If anything, he seems proud. One is reminded of Arendt’s “banality of evil”—bureaucrats of genocide who viewed their roles as intellectually stimulating.

And yet, the most damning question is: would we do it again? Lisle subtly suggests that the answer is yes. “Desperate times call for desperate measures” was the CIA’s mantra. With the return of geopolitical tensions and state-driven disinformation, the temptation to resurrect programmes like MKULTRA has never been greater.

Ultimately, “Project Mind Control” is not simply about Sidney Gottlieb. It is a mirror held up to the American psyche. The book dares us to ask: what are we willing to do to preserve freedom—and at what cost do we lose it? If history is any guide, the answer should terrify us all.