A Nation Betrayed: Secret Cold War Experiments Performed on Our Children and Other Innocent People (20 page)

b) [10 lines redacted]

4. It is highly undesirable from a policy and security point of view that contracts should be signed indicating Agency or government interest in either of these two fields. In a great many instances the work in field (a) must be conducted by individuals who are not and should not be aware of our interest. In
all
cases dealing with field (b), it is mandatory that any connection with the Agency should be known only to an absolute minimum number of people who have been specifically cleared for this purpose. In
no
case should any manufacturer or supplier be aware of Government interest.

5. In many cases in field (a) where the researcher can be cleared and may be aware of our interest in the program, he is unwilling to have his name on a contract which remains out of his control in his files. Experience has shown that qualified, competent individuals in the field of pharmacological, physiological, psychiatric and other biological sciences are most reluctant to enter into signed agreements of any sort which connect them with this activity since such a connection would jeopardize their professional reputations.

6. Even internally in CIA, as few individuals as possible should be aware of our interest in these fields and of the identity of those who are working for us. At present this results in ridiculous contracts, often with cut-outs, which do not spell out the scope or intent of the work and which contain terms which the cut-out cannot incorporate in his contract with the researcher without revealing Government interest. Complete Government audits of such contracts are impossible for the same reason.

7. It is, therefore, requested that the DCI authorize TSS to handle 6% xxxxxxxx of the previously approved research budget for FY ‘53 without the establishment of formal contractual relations. This program will be known as Project MKULTRA.

8. It is suggested that payment of invoices under Project MKULTRA forwarded by TSS be authorized, provided that:

(a) the total of such invoices does not exceed 6%   for Fiscal Year 1953;

Author’s note, rest of document details the 6% funding and is not reproduced here.

Mori ID 185209

26 July 1963

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT: Report of Inspection of MKULTRA

1. In connection with our survey of Technical Services Division, DD/P, it was deemed advisable to prepare the report of the MKULTRA program in one copy only, in view of its unusual sensitivity.

2. This report is forwarded herewith.

3. The MKULTRA activity is concerned with the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior. The end products of such research are subject to very strict controls including a requirement for the personal approval of the Deputy Director/Plans for any operational use made of these end products.

4. The cryptonym MKULTRA encompasses the R&D phase and a second cryptonym MKDELTA denotes the DD/P system for control of the operational employment of such materials. The provisions of the MKULTRA authority also cover xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [probably chemical and biological warfare research with the US Army]. The administration and control of this latter activity were found to be generally satisfactory and are discussed in greater detail in the main body of the report on TSD.

5. MKULTRA was authorized was authorized by then Director of Central Intelligence, Mr. Allen W. Dulles, in 1953. The TSD was assigned responsibility thereby to employ a portion of its R&D budget, eventually set at 20%, for research in behavioral materials and xxxxxxxxxxxxx under purely internal and compartmented controls, (further details are provided in paragraph 3 of the attached report). Normal procedures for project approval, funding, and accounting were waived. However, special arrangements for audit of expenditures have been evolved in subsequent years.

6. The scope of MKULTRA is comprehensive and ranges from the search for and procurement of botanical and chemical substances, through programs for their analysis in scientific laboratories, to progressive testing for effect on animals and human beings. The testing on individuals begins under laboratory conditions employing every safeguard and progresses gradually to more and more realistic operational situations. The program requires and obtains the services of a number of highly specialized authorities in many fields of natural science.

7. The concepts involved in manipulating human behavior are found by many people both within and outside the Agency to be distasteful and unethical. There is considerable evidence that opposition intelligence services are active and highly proficient in this field. The experience of TSD to date indicates that both the research and the employment of the materials are expensive and often unpredictable in results. Nevertheless, there have been major accomplishments both in research and operational employment.

8. The principal conclusions of the inspection are that the structure and operational controls over this activity need strengthening; improvements are needed in the administration of research projects; and some of the testing of substances under simulated operational conditions was judged to involve excessive risk to the Agency.

9. Attached for the signature of the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence is a memorandum transmitting the report to the Deputy Director/Plans requesting a summary of action taken or comments on the recommendations contained herein.

[Signature]
J. S. Earman
Inspector General

Attachments - as stated

[Typed at first page bottom:]
Declassification Review E.O. 12065
Conducted on 17 June 1981
Derivative Classification by 531025
Review 17 June 2001
Derived from C9c.2; C9e

Downgrade xxxxxxxxxxxxx 61140

[EYES ONLY
]

xxxxxxxxx - 185209
Cy 2 See D

REPORT OF INSPECTION OF MKULTRA/TSD

Introduction

1. Technical Services Division (TSD), (the Technical Support Staff) received authorization from the then Director of Central Intelligence, Mr. Allen Dulles, on 3 April 1953 to develop and maintain continuing operational capabilities in the fields of a) [one line reacted] and b) chemical and biological materials capable of producing human behavioral and psychological changes, (see Tab A). The cryptonym MKULTRA was assigned to encompass TSD’s research, development and equipment activities in these two fields. The cryptonym MKDELTA had already been assigned by DD/P Notice No. 229-1 on 20 October 1952 (since revised - see Tab B) as the indicator covering DD/P policy and procedure for the use of biochemicals in clandestine operations.

2. The MKULTRA charter provides only a brief presentation of the rationale of the authorized activities. The sensitive aspect of the program as it has evolved over the ensuing ten years are the following:

Research in the manipulation of human behavior is considered by many authorities in medicine and related fields to be professionally unethical, therefore the reputations of professional participants in the MKULTRA program are on occasion in jeopardy.

b. Some MKULTRA activities raise questions of legality implicit in the original charter.

c. A final phase of the testing of MKULTRA products places the rights and interests of U.S. citizens in jeopardy.

d. Public disclosure of some aspects of MKULTRA activity could induce serious adverse reaction in U.S. public opinion, as well as stimulate offensive and defensive action in this field on the part of foreign intelligence services.

3. In recognition of the sensitivity of MKULTRA, TSD was authorized exclusive control of the administration, records, and financial accountings of the program. Simple statements of certification were all that were required of TSD to obtain advances of funds from Finance Division. The DCI’s memorandum also exempted MKULTRA from audit, but this provision was modified to permit limited audit before the end of the first year. Funding of MKULTRA was eventually stabilized at 20 percent of TSD’s annual research and development budget. It has fallen in the neighborhood of xxxxxxxxxx per year over the ten-year history of the program, of which about 30 percent has been allocated to support of the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, cf. Tab C for MKULTRA funding record FY 60-63.

4. The inspection of TSD activities in the field of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx noted below in the section of the Inspector General’s Survey dealing with the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx of TSD, cf. discussions beginning with paragraphs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. The security considerations applying to xxxxxxxxxxxx were found to be significantly different from those governing manipulation of human behavior. a) Many xxxxx external projects in support of the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are being funded and managed securely outside the MKULTRA mechanism. b) Chief, Support, TSD, believes that it may also be possible in the future to fund xxxxx MKULTRA projects by secure methods more compatible with DD/S responsibilities. c) The very nature of the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx requires that a high percentage of staff contribute and be witting of each operation. xxxxx security practices are tight and the Inspector General’s Survey recommends further refinements in security procedures.

5. The inspection of MKULTRA projects in biochemical controls of human behavior raised questions in the following area of policy and management which are dealt with in the balance of this report:

a. Scope of the MKULTRA charter:

(1) Over the ten-year life of the program many additional avenues to the control of human behavior have been designated by the TSD management as appropriate to investigation under the MKULTRA charter, including radiation, electro-shock, various fields of psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and anthropology, graphology, harassment substances, and paramilitary devices and materials.

(2) Various projects do not appear to have been sufficiently sensitive to warrant waiver of normal Agency procedures for authorization and control.

(3) Other secure channels for establishment and funding of Agency-sterile activities have been evolved over the past ten years by Deputy Director/Support (DD/S) and in some cases could reasonably be employed by TSD in lieu of MKULTRA procedures.

In view of these developments there is substantial agreement among all parties concerned that redefinition of the scope of MKULTRA is now appropriate.

b. MKULTRA management policies:

(1) The original charter documents specified that TSD maintain exacting control of MKULTRA activities. In doing so, however, TSD has pursued a philosophy of minimum documentation in keeping with the high sensitivity of some of the projects. Some files were found to present a reasonably complete record, including most sensitive matters, while others with parallel objectives contained little or no data at all. The lack of consistent records precluded use of routine inspection procedures and raised a variety of questions concerning management and fiscal controls.

(2) Lack of records essential to inspection of MKULTRA moved to the forefront among issues as the present survey proceeded. Under normal circumstances the inspectors would have examined an inventory of discrediting, disabling, and lethal substances perfected or procured form whatever sources. The records on representative items would have been review according to such standard criteria as:

(a) How were the substance and its properties identified?

(b) What researcher was selected to perform the research, and why?

(c) When was work begun, where, involving what costs, at what rate of progress, based on what tests?

(d) What are the present capabilities and limitations of the substance for clandestine operations?

(e) What further research is being conducted on this and related substances and how does this reflect existing TSD capabilities, operational requirements and budget factors?

(3) MKULTRA records afforded no such approach to inspection. There are just two individuals in TSD who have full substantive knowledge of the program and most of that knowledge is unrecorded. Both are highly skilled, highly motivated, professionally competent individuals. Part of their competence lies in their command of intelligence tradecraft. In protecting the sensitive nature of the American intelligence capability to manipulate human behavior, they apply “need to know” doctrine to their professional associates and to their clerical assistants to a maximum degree. Confidence in their competence and discretion has been a vital feature of the management of MKULTRA.

c. Advanced testing of MKULTRA materials:

It is the firm doctrine in TSD that testing of materials under accepted scientific procedure fails to disclose the full pattern of reactions and attributions that may occur in operational situations. TSD initiated a program for covert testing of materials on unwitting U.S. citizens in 1955. The present report reviews the rationale and risks attending this activity and recommends termination of such testing in the United States, cf. paragraphs 10-18 below.

Modus Operandi

6. The research and development of materials capable of producing behavioral or physiological change in humans is now performed within a highly elaborate and stabilized MKULTRA structure. The search for new materials; e.g., psilocybin from Mexican mushrooms, or a fungi occurring in agricultural crops, is conducted through standing arrangements with specialists in universities, pharmaceutical houses, hospitals, state and federal institutions, and private research organizations who are authorities in the given field of investigation in their own right. Annual grants of funds are made under ostensible research foundation auspices to the specialists located in the public or quasi-public institutions. This approach conceals from the institution the interest of CIA and permits the recipient to proceed with his investigation, publish his findings (excluding intelligence implications), and account for his expenditures in a manner normal to his institution. A number of grants have included funds for the construction and equipping of research facilities and for the employment of research assistants. Key individuals must qualify for top secret clearance and are made witting of Agency sponsorship. As a rule each specialist is managed unilaterally and is not witting of Agency support of parallel MKULTRA research in his field. The system in effect “buys a piece” of the specialist in order to enlist his aid in pursuing the intelligence implications of his research. His services typically include systematic search of the scientific literature, procurement of materials, their propagation, and the application of test dosages to animals and under some circumstances to volunteer human subjects. No quarrel is found with the rationale of this program tot the extent that it fits the original MKULTRA charter. However, for inspection purposes, there were lacking records, year by year, of the progress of each project and the recorded judgments of the project monitors on operational benefits vis-à-vis costs.