MK ULTRA
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MK ULTRA ARTICLE
Project MKULTRA was the code name for a CIA mind-control research program that began in the 1950s. The extensive project was wide-ranging and managed to branch-off into several other programmes that have been the subject of widespread research, debate, and controversy.
The principle activities of the project involved experimentation with many types of drugs to manipulate peoples' mental state and to alter brain function. The CIA's motives were not only to improve scientific knowledge of drug control but to develop weapons that would give the United States the upper hand in the mind wars. Toward that objective, the Agency poured millions of dollars into studies probing literally dozens of methods of influencing and controlling the mind. One 1955 MKULTRA document gives an indication of the size and range of the effort; this document refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances which would:
- promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public
- increase the efficiency of mentation and perception
- prevent or counteract the intoxicating effect of alcohol
- promote the intoxicating effect of alcohol
- produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way so that they may be used for malingering, etc.
- render the indication of hypnosis easier or otherwise enhance its usefulness
- enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called 'brainwashing'
- produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use
- produce shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use
- produce physical disablement such as paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc.
- produce 'pure' euphoria with no subsequent let-down
- alter personality structure in such a way that the tendency of the recipient to become dependent upon another person is enhanced
- cause mental confusion of such a type that the individual under its influence will find it difficult to maintain a fabrication under questioning
- lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men when administered in undetectable amounts
- promote weakness or distortion of the eyesight or hearing faculties, preferably without permanent effects
The government of Canada was a willing partner with the CIA and provided material and financial support for the development of tests lead by New York doctor D. Ewen Cameron. Dr. Cameron pioneered "psychic driving," by which he believed he could erase the memories of patients and rebuild their psyches without psychiatric defect. The idea intrigued the CIA, which recruited Dr. Cameron to experiment with mind control techniques beginning in 1950. The experiments carried out at the Allan Memorial Institute at McGill University were jointly funded by the CIA and the Canadian government.
In Montreal Dr. Cameron carried out some of the most controversial MKULTRA experiments. It is alledged that the CIA arranged to have these potentially deadly experiments carried out in Montreal because they would be done on non-U.S. citizens.
During the experimentations patients were put in isolation, tied down or drugged, and subjected to hours and hours of taped recordings meant to brainwash them at the behest of the CIA.
They were subjected to massive electroshocks, experimental drugs and LSD, most of them unwilling and unknowingly part of the U.S. spy agency's experimentation.
They were part of a larger CIA programme, which also saw LSD administered to U.S. prison inmates and patrons of brothels without their knowledge, according to testimony before a 1977 U.S. Senate committee.
In 1994, 77 patients were awarded $100,000 each from the federal government but more than 250 others were denied compensation because they were not "totally depatterned."
On Sunday, January 07, 2007, the Canadian Press reported that Janine Huard, one of the hundreds of patients of Dr. Ewen Cameron to be subjected to the Cold War-era experiments, was seeking court approval for a class-action lawsuit. Ms. Huard, a petite great-grandmother, was a patient of Dr. Cameron three separate times from 1951 to 1962. She said she was drugged, shocked and forced to listen to recorded messages for hours on end, day after day.
Further Resources
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Documentary on "Fifth Estate", January 6, 1998: MKULTRA'S "Dr." Ewen Cameron Psychiatrist and Torturer, transcript available at: http://www.raven1.net/cameron.htm
Canadian Press report on Ms. Huard's lawsuit: http://www.brooksbulletin.com/news/national_news.asp?itemid=59666
CKUT interview w/ Alan Stein, lawyer representing Janine Huard. http://www.archive.org/details/alanstein041207