Project MK Ultra

Overview

Project MK Ultra is the code name of an illegal U.S. government covert human research operation experimenting in the behavioural engineering of humans through the CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973. The program engaged in many illegal activities; in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy. MK Ultra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture.

The plan

Its aim was to develop mind-controlling drugs for use against the Soviet bloc in response to alleged Soviet, Chinese and North Korean use of mind control techniques on U.S. prisoners of war during the Korean War.

The CIA felt that it was their responsibility not to lag behind the known Soviet and suspected N. Korean and Chinese narco-warfare and narco-mid-control techniques. They knew the only way to find out what the risks were was to test on unknowing people in the West.

The locations

CIA created secret detention camps in Europe and East Asia, mostly Japan, Germany and the Philippines, in the early 1950s.

The victims

Most were American, Canadian and Danish.

Discovery

MK Ultra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford's United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States (also known as the Rockefeller Commission). Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA Director Richard Helms's order that all MK Ultra 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.

Also see

1. American cold war mental healthcare abuse
2. The 1963 Oklahoma elephant on LSD experiment
3. The "1970 Barbiturates Crisis"

Sources

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