New documents released about the US government’s secret LSD mind-control program

Starting in 1953, the US CIA conducted research on mind control using techniques ranging from hypnosis to electroshock, torture, and the administration of LSD to unwitting people. Called MK-Ultra, the program’s ultimate goal was to develop tools for interrogation and psychological manipulation. In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all MK-ULTRA files. Two years later, a New York Times investigation and resulting congressional hearings revealed the existence of the horrific program to the public. Since then, collections of surviving files have been released with the latest tranche published in recent weeks by the National Security Archive who share the following highlights (lowlights):

* A DCI-approved plan in 1950 for the establishment of “interrogation teams” that would “utilize the polygraph, drugs, and hypnotism to attain the greatest results in interrogation techniques.” (Document 2)

* A 1951 memo that captures a meeting between CIA and foreign intelligence officials about mind control research and their shared interest in the concept of individual mind control. (Document 3)

* A 1952 entry from the daily calendar of George White, a federal narcotics agent who ran a safehouse where the CIA tested drugs like LSD and performed other experiments on unwitting Americans. (Document 5)

* A 1952 report on the “successful” use of ARTICHOKE interrogation methods that combined the use of “narcosis” and “hypnosis” to induce regression and later amnesia on “Russian agents suspected of being doubled.” (Document 6)

* A 1956 memo in which MKULTRA chief Sidney Gottlieb signs off a project that would “evaluate the effects of large doses of LSD-25 in normal human volunteers” on federal prisoners in Atlanta. (Document 13)

* The 1963 report from the CIA’s inspector general, which led CIA leadership to reexamine the use of unwitting Americans in their covert drug testing program. (Document 16)

* The 1983 deposition of MKULTRA chief Sidney Gottlieb in a civil case brought by Velma “Val” Orlikow, a victim of CIA-sponsored projects conducted by Dr. Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal. (Document 20)

More: “National Security Archive Publishes Key Records on Infamous MKULTRA Program”

reviously:

• Midnight Climax: CIA’s MK-ULTRA LSD experiments in San Francisco

• CIA releases new documents about Russian telepathy experiments in the 60s

• More on the CIA’s evil genius, Dr. Sidney Gottleib

• CIA releases Pentagon docs on MK-ULTRA origins, secret LSD tests

The post New documents released about the US government’s secret LSD mind-control program appeared first on Boing Boing.