Group issues specifics regarding CIA mind control researches
Date
12/26/2024 7:22:57 AM
(MENAFN) A group focused on government transparency has released new documents revealing details of the CIA’s controversial mind control experiments from decades ago. The National Security Archive, an NGO that uses Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to uncover classified information, made some of these records public on Monday, marking the 50th anniversary of the New York Times’ exposé on the CIA's activities. A full set of over 1,200 documents will be available through ProQuest, a research assistance firm.
Beginning in the early 1950s, the CIA secretly investigated methods of manipulating human behavior using drugs like LSD, hypnosis, and extreme treatments such as sensory deprivation. These experiments, some of which were conducted on unsuspecting individuals, were rooted in concerns about anti-war sentiments among U.S. soldiers captured during the Korean War. The media dubbed this phenomenon ‘brainwashing,’ and the CIA aimed to recreate this effect with projects named BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE, and MKULTRA.
CIA Director Richard Helms and MKULTRA leader Sidney Gottlieb destroyed most of the original records in 1973, in what the Archive called one of the agency's "most infamous cover-ups." Much of the material now available comes from John Marks, who wrote a book about the program in 1979. One of the newly released memos claims success in inducing amnesia in suspected Russian double agents, while another details experiments involving federal prisoners who were given large doses of LSD. The Archive also pointed out that pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly provided vast quantities of LSD to the CIA.
The group described the CIA’s actions as a history of "near-total impunity" for decades of abuse, comparing some of the research to that carried out by Nazi doctors during World War II. The MKULTRA program was publicly exposed in 1974 by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who has since broken several major stories, including recent claims regarding U.S. involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.
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