Based on the past “experiments” of the CIA, I seriously have to wonder what our nation’s so-called “Intelligence Agency” is up to today. I recently read an interesting article in Discover Magazine, which detailed the CIA’s use of LSD in its secret quest for mind-control.
While it sounds more like a movie plot line from either the “Manchurian Candidate” or the “Bourne Identity”, in the 1950’s the CIA was dosing volunteers and random brothel visitors with LSD. The MKULTRA Project was started in order to determine if LSD could be used for the general and terrifying purpose of “mind control” and "Operation Midnight Climax" was one of their more cleverly named operations. The “johns” were unwitting participants in the study and the prostitutes at the brothels were paid $100 each to participate in the study, and were then watched through secret mirrors by “undercover agents”.
Though the general purpose was mind control, I am uncertain what the specific objective of “Operation Midnight Climax” was. I don't know why it was necessary to use people unknowingly for this bizarre experiment or how the agents justified watching the pairs in the mirrors.
The MKULTRA project did not only focus on LSD and also included other drugs including heroin and meth and project was uncovered in the early 70’s. Back in 1973, when the New York Times still had some teeth in their reporting, the NYT revealed information about the experiments, which actually sparked a congressional investigation into the matter with the late Ted Kennedy leading the way. Many of the files regarding MKULTRA were destroyed, leaving the rest of us to wonder not only what the specific intent of the project was, but what the conclusions of the experiments were.
According to a TIME Magazine article written right after the hearings, some of the goals of the project were to “incapiciate entire buildings of people, poison food to create ‘anxiety and fear’.....and produce amnesia in foreign spies.” In total there were 194 projects at 80 Canadian and American universities.
What kind of government willingly and knowingly poisons its citizens for such an insidious purpose in the first place? If this happened in the past without congressional oversight, how can we know what is being done now in the name of science, national security or death?