Project MKUltra: A Radical Research Program

Even today, we can get chills when we remember the outrageous experiments carried out by the Nazis during World War II. The purpose was to investigate mechanisms for controlling human minds. Or put another way, thought control. What many may not know is that similar experiments with even darker methods took place in the United States. One of these experiments was the CIA’s project MKUltra, a research program that also aimed to explore thought control.

World War II represented a change in military strategy. Espionage had never been so important before. The strategy changed when those involved became aware of the value of having knowledge of the enemy’s information. They wanted to know how it held up against their own attack strategy.

In the same way, Hitler had proved that he could control the human mind, that he could manipulate millions of people into doing things any person in his right mind would otherwise have rejected. Thus, when the war was finally over, it became a priority for the United States to obtain information on the manipulation of thoughts. This is how the concept behind the MKUltra project came about.

What was project MKUltra?

It is very difficult to know exactly what the MKUltra project was about. After the press found out about the project in the late 60’s and early 70’s, the CIA ordered the destruction of all the files relating to the project. The only thing that survived was a meager pile of documents.

However, it was precisely from the small database that some individuals were able to reconstruct what had been going on in secret. Several victims who had participated in the project also added their testimonies to the investigation. Strictly speaking, however, we will never be able to know with certainty how the MKUltra project arose. The project contained 150 action lines, and we only know of two or three of these.

The little information we have indicates that they experimented with the effects of psychoactive and neurological drugs on humans. They used other methods as well, and the so-called researchers used the strategies they came up with on thousands of people without their consent.

The purpose was to observe the effect of such means on humans, to discover whether they could use them to manipulate enemy agents to reveal information, or to determine whether they could possibly make them change their minds on command.

Experiments on humans

Based on the data available, the leaders of the project administered narcotics, such as LSD, in different ways and in different doses to determine how it affected the “subjects”.

They also explored other methods, such as electroshock and hypnosis. There was a lot of talk about “brainwashing” in the 50’s, when the project started.

We also know that the CIA tested the effects and effectiveness of various methods of torture. In some cases, the “volunteers” were forced to stay awake for several days, while the inspectors played subliminal messages repeatedly. In other cases, they administered systematic electroshocks or even synthetic drugs in large quantities.

Project MKUltra and “volunteers” from psychiatry

There is no doubt that what we have talked about so far is cruel, but the most shocking part of the MKUltra project is how the CIA tricked thousands of people into participating in the project. They mainly had two methods of obtaining “guinea pigs”.

The first method involved psychiatric hospitals. There, patients were told that they volunteered to try new, experimental treatments and therapies. Of course , none of the patients at these hospitals knew that the CIA was to carry out the experiments, nor that several former Nazis were among the “experts”.

In fact, one of the most active contributors to the MKUltra project was psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron. He later became the first president of the World Psychiatric Association . He was also president of the American Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association . It has also emerged in retrospect that he has been involved in child abuse and poisoning of patients.

Other “volunteers”

They used not only patients from psychiatric wards, but also several other thousand people who most would consider “normal”. They recruited them in the army, universities, public hospitals, brothels, hospices and pretty much everywhere else they could find crowds of people.

Many people agreed to participate in the research when they were promised a modest financial reward. However, they were never informed of the real purpose behind the experiments to which they were subjected.

Many of these volunteers did not survive the gruesome experiments. Others ended up with permanent brain damage. The most talked about case concerned Frank Olson, in the United States. In addition, the Canadian government ended up compensating hundreds of people in an attempt to quell the unfolding uprising.

People became acquainted with the real story thanks to investigative journalism. The US Congress then formed a commission to investigate the facts. Finally, they managed to get the classification of the documents removed in 1973. This was also the reason why the CIA ordered the destruction of all the archives.

Project MKUltra refers to the lengths government agencies can go to obtain information they believe is relevant. Amazingly, these experiments did not take place under a dictatorship, but in a country known for its love of freedom and democracy.

The most troubling question is: Are similar experiments we do not know about still being performed elsewhere in the world ?