MKUltra

"MKULTRA" redirects here. For other uses, see MKULTRA (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Edgewood Arsenal human experiments.

Declassified MKUltra documents

Project MKUltra[a] was a human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.[1] The term MKUltra is a CIA cryptonym: "MK" is an arbitrary prefix standing for the Office of Technical Service and "Ultra" is an arbitrary word out of a dictionary to denominate this project.

Project MKUltra began in 1953 and was halted in 1973. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals without the subjects' consent. Additionally, other methods beyond chemical compounds were used, including electroshocks,[2] hypnosis,[3][4] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.[5][6]

Project MKUltra was preceded by Project Artichoke.[7][8] It was organized through the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.[9] The program engaged in illegal activities,[10][11][12] including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as unwitting test subjects.[10]: 74 [13][14][15] MKUltra's scope was broad, with activities carried out under the guise of research at more than 80 institutions aside from the military, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.[16] The CIA operated using front organizations, although some top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.[10]

Project MKUltra was revealed to the public in 1975 by the Church Committee (named after Senator Frank Church) of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford's United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (the Rockefeller Commission). Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA Director Richard Helms's order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the small number of documents that survived Helms's order.[17] In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings.[10][18] Some surviving information about MKUltra was declassified in 2001.


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  1. ^ United States Congress Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1977). Project MKUProject MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 70. Some MKUltra activities raise questions of legality implicit in the original charter.
  2. ^ National Public Radio (NPR), 9 Sept. 2019, "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief'" (On-air interview with journalist Stephen Kinzer)
  3. ^ "Dialogue Sought With Professor In CIA Probe". August 27, 1977. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "Statement of Director of Central Intelligence Before Subcommittee On Health And Scientific Research Senate Committee on Human Resources" (PDF). September 21, 1977. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  5. ^ Otterman, Michael (2007). American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond. Melbourne University Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-522-85333-9.
  6. ^ McCoy, Alfred (2007). A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Macmillan. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-4299-0068-3.
  7. ^ "FOIA | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019.
  8. ^ "PROJECT BLUEBIRD | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on January 24, 2017.
  9. ^ "Advisory on Human Radiation Experiments, July 5, 1994, National Security Archives, retrieved January 16, 2014". Archived from the original on July 13, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c d "Project MKUltra, the Central Intelligence Agency's Program of Research into Behavioral Modification. Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. August 8, 1977. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2010 – via The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Chapter 3: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals". Archived from the original on March 31, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  12. ^ "U.S. Senate Report on CIA MKULTRA Behavioral Modification Program 1977". publicintelligence.net – Public Intelligence. July 27, 2012.
  13. ^ Richelson, JT, ed. (September 10, 2001). "Science, Technology and the CIA: A National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book". George Washington University. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  14. ^ "Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals". Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report. Archived from the original on April 30, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2005.
  15. ^ "The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence". Church Committee report, no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. Washington, D.C.: United States Congress. 1976. p. 392.
  16. ^ Horrock, Nicholas M. (August 4, 1977). "80 Institutions Used in CIA Mind Studies: Admiral Turner Tells Senators of Behavior Control Research Bars Drug Testing Now". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021.
  17. ^ "An Interview with Richard Helms". Central Intelligence Agency. May 8, 2007. Archived from the original on April 27, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  18. ^ "Private Institutions Used In C.I.A Effort To Control Behavior. 25-Year, $25 Million Program. New Information About Funding and Operations Disclosed by Documents and Interviews Private Institutions Used in C.I.A. Plan". New York Times. August 2, 1977. Retrieved July 30, 2014. Several prominent medical research institutions and Government hospitals in the United States and Canada were involved in a secret, 25-year, $25-million effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to learn how to control the human mind. [...] Dr. Harris Isbell, who conducted the research between 1952 and 1963, kept up a secret correspondence with the C.I.A.