MKULTRA: CIA Mind Control
MKULTRA is one of the most disturbing instances
of intelligence community abuse on record.
For many Americans, the 1950s were a docile decade. In U.S. history books, the period is mostly portrayed as a mellow, orderly one, especially in
light of the social upheavals that followed in the 1960s. But for the CIA, the "I Like Ike" years were packed with adventure and action, much of it
conducted outside of the public's view. Few programs were sheltered with more secrecy than the Agency's mind control experiments, identified
together with the code-name MKULTRA.
The most notorious MKULTRA experiments were the CIA's pioneering studies of the drug that would years later feed the heads of millions: lysergic acid
diethylamide, or LSD. The CIA was intrigued by the drug, and harbored hopes that acid or a similar drug could be used to clandestinely disorient and
manipulate target foreign leaders. (The Agency would consider several such schemes in its pursuit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who they wanted to
send into a drug-induced stupor or tirade during a public or live radio speech.) LSD was also viewed as a way to loosen tongues in CIA interrogations.
The CIA's LSD experiments were conducted on many unwitting subjects, most often prisoners or patrons of brothels set up and run by the Agency, which
had installed two-way mirrors in the establishments to allow for observation of the drug's effects (these studies were referred to as "Operation
Midnight Climax"). Some of the MKULTRA subjects who were informed faced even more inhumane treatment: during one experiment in Kentucky, seven
volunteers were given LSD for 77 days straight.
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