In the mid-20th century, the CIA explored radical methods for mind control, often using unethical and secretive experiments on unsuspecting individuals. This project, known as MK Ultra, has roots that trace back to World War II and the involvement of former Nazi scientists in America.
Background and Early Experiments
- World War II: The Nazi regime in Germany used scientists to develop drugs, including methamphetamine, intended for creating a “super soldier.” After the war, these scientists were secretly brought to the U.S. through a program called Operation Paperclip, where they continued their work for the U.S. government.
- Formation of the CIA: Established in 1947 with the National Security Act, the CIA became concerned about the Soviet Union and Communist China potentially developing their own mind control drugs.
Introduction of LSD
- In 1951, a Swiss doctor created a powerful psychoactive drug called LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). The CIA saw its potential for experimentation, not only for mind control but also as a means to manipulate captured soldiers into carrying out missions against their will.
- This idea was fueled by a fear that adversaries could brainwash American soldiers, turning them into spies or even political figures.
Sydney Gottlieb and Unethical Experiments
- Sydney Gottlieb: A Jewish scientist, Gottlieb became a pivotal figure in the CIA’s drug research initiatives. He, alongside ex-Nazi scientists, began testing LSD on military personnel without their consent to understand its effects.
- Fort Detrick: This military base in Maryland was the site for many of these secret experiments. Soldiers were administered LSD while being observed for their reactions—this included how long the “trip” lasted and the nature of their experiences.
Shocking Operations and Results
- Operation MK Naomi: In 1950, Gottlieb was given approval to conduct numerous mind control experiments under this newly established program, which was a precursor to the more infamous MK Ultra.
- a) Experiment in San Francisco: Under deception and without public knowledge, Gottlieb tried to infect 800,000 residents of San Francisco by using fireboats to spray germs into fog. This led to illnesses among a few individuals, who developed strange urinary tract infections.
- b) Experiments on Mental Patients: Gottlieb also set up experiments at Bellevue Hospital in New York, presenting experimental drugs as cures for mental illnesses. Unfortunately, instead of helping, these experiments often resulted in severe psychological damage or even death, as seen in the case of a professional tennis player, who died shortly after receiving an overdose.
Rebecca Lemov, Author of The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-persuasion

Rebecca’s conversation digs into some heavy stuff around mind control, brainwashing, and hyper-persuasion — exploring how people can be manipulated into believing or doing things against their will. It goes back to Cold War era fears, like what happened with POWs and Patty Hearst, and stretches into how similar techniques are used today, even in social media and relationships. The key idea is how these techniques destabilize what we think is absolutely true, a process called “ungrounding,” making people vulnerable to influence.
- Brainwashing involves intense control over thoughts and environment, often seen with POWs and cults.
- Mind control and hyper-persuasion are related and form a spectrum of influence, from overt brainwashing to subtler persuasion tactics.
- Modern society faces ongoing shocks that challenge our grip on reality, making all of us a bit “ungrounded.”
Discussion on Emotional Vulnerability and Exploitation
- Word-counting software, built using diary entries describing traumatic events, was used to gauge emotion.
- Facebook experiments showed that altering the news feed to be more boring led to less engagement, highlighting the significance of “harvesting of trauma”.
- The exploitation of vulnerabilities in the human emotional landscape is being systematically pursued.
Harvesting of Trauma and its Implications
- The discussion explores how seemingly meaningless choices on social media connect to dire situations like thought reform and cult behavior.
- The design aims to highlight the connection between shocking deprivations of human liberty and subjective control, and the seemingly meaningless daily choices.
- There’s a comparison drawn between social media influence and historical instances of thought reform, cults, and brainwashing.
Governmental Mind Control and Hyper-Persuasion: Historical Context and Present Concerns
- The speaker is concerned about the influence of figures controlling social media platforms and their potential impact.
- It’s emphasized that awareness and reflection are crucial for navigating controlling situations.
- There’s a focus on finding space between stimulus and response as a means of maintaining control.
Historical Perspective on Government Mind Control
- A story is shared about Leonard Kail, who claimed government brain implants and control, reflecting historical experiments like MKUltra.
- The discussion mentions government involvement in trying to control people through various techniques and methods, referencing the MKUltra program and experiments on prisoners.
- In the mid-20th century, there was an uneasiness with the public, and behavioral control was seen as a way to maintain order.
Mind Control Techniques and the SERE Program
- The government was trying to learn how techniques worked to turn devoted US soldiers into communist-believing individuals.
- The SERE program was developed to expose troops to the same brainwashing techniques, ironically, as a form of inoculation against mind control.
- MKUltra aimed to explore the extent of control, with sub-projects run by psychiatrists, including Louis Jolyon West, connected to the Leonard Pyle case.
Leonard Keil’s Case and the Blurred Lines of Paranoia and Reality
- Leonard Keil’s case involved a brain implant for remote control, targeting those seen as problematically violent.
- Michael Crichton, as a resident during Keil’s operation, later wrote “The Terminal Man,” inspired by the case.
- The story highlights the difficulty in distinguishing between paranoia and a realistic description of events.
Forced Confessions and Guantanamo Bay
- The discussion touches on forced confession stories, highlighting psychological persuasion techniques and their use in places like Guantanamo Bay.
- The interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo, including sleep deprivation and torture, were the same as those trained at SERE camps.
- Some prisoners at Guantanamo remain in a difficult situation because the evidence gained through torture cannot be used in court, yet they are not released.
Psychological Manipulation and False Confessions
- The nature of the types of interrogations is discussed, and how those techniques were also used in thought reform.
- The speaker shares an example of Dr. Vincent, a French physician in China, who was arrested and interrogated, leading him to falsely confess to being a spy.
- Dr. Vincent’s story illustrates how extreme conditions can lead individuals to confess to false accusations to escape torment.
Systemic Issues and the SERE Program
- The SERE program, designed to prepare soldiers for capture, is described as a potentially sadistic system that could grant control over a population.
- Soldiers are instructed not to talk about the SERE program.
- The program involves extreme methods and can cause trauma, even leading to modifications to reduce brutality.
Mind Control in Personal Relationships
- There’s a shift to discussing mind control in personal relationships, particularly abusive ones, and how to recognize controlling behavior.
- Isolation is a key component of such relationships, where the individual is subjected to the worldview of the controlling person.
- The abuser isolates the victim from family and friends.
Hope and Resistance in Manipulative Relationships
- Mao Zedong’s idea that nobody is permanently re-educated is used as a symbol of hope for breaking manipulative relationships.
- Relationships have to be continually renewed, and that’s why people get sent off to the countryside.
- The importance of recognizing the dynamics of isolation and maintaining external connections.
Framing Truth and Authority in Public Health
- The discussion turns to the Pfizer papers and the challenge of framing information when authorities, like the government, may have misrepresented facts.
- Authority of government is often relied upon, but how does one reconcile the truth when information can be shifted?
- During COVID, there were examples of initially promoted practices later being deemed unnecessary, raising questions about trust in authorities.
Misrepresentation of Science and Maintaining Discernment
- The point is made that public health messages may obscure some truths for the greater good.
- It was regrettable during COVID-19 that the misrepresentation and weaponization of science.
- The nature of science is that it’s ongoing, and it’s an ever-changing discussion.
Mass Information, Hysteria, and Personal Convictions
- The responsibility of the government, at least as it sees it, is to statistically stack the chips in favor of what they believe the greatest good will be for the most people.
- It’s very hard to understand the degree to which we’re supposed to believe in something, and those change.
- The importance of having certain beliefs that remain constant despite challenges, and recognizing vulnerabilities in vulnerable communities.
Algorithmic Influence and Personal Autonomy
- How can you enjoy the benefits of social media without being negatively influenced by algorithms?
- It’s impossible to really live in the world while navigating each one of these factors that are feeding and controlling.
- The need for media transparency and fact-checking to navigate biases and influences.
Project MKUltra
Project MKUltra, a clandestine and illegal human experimentation program, was initiated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1953 and continued until 1973. The program’s primary objective was to develop methods and identify drugs that could be used for mind control, particularly during interrogations, to weaken individuals and extract confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture. The CIA’s interest in mind control stemmed from the Cold War era, driven by fears that the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea were employing similar techniques on American prisoners of war during the Korean War. The U.S. also drew inspiration from unethical human experimentation conducted by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War II, some of which involved drugs for mind control purposes.
The CIA funded these experiments through various front organizations, such as the “Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology”. While the CIA was the primary funder, the Canadian government also contributed financially to some of these projects, particularly those conducted in Canada.
The CIA’s mind control program in Canada, often associated with the broader MKUltra project, involved controversial experiments conducted primarily at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University in Montreal during the 1950s and 1960s. These experiments were led by psychiatrist Dr. Ewen Cameron.
Dr. Ewen received significant funding for his research, including $69,000 from the CIA through the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology between 1957 and 1964, and over $500,000 from the Canadian government between 1950 and 1965. It remains unclear whether Cameron was fully aware that the CIA was the ultimate source of some of his funding.
The program, known as Project MKUltra Subproject 68, focused on “psychic driving” and involved administering high doses of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, inducing prolonged comas, and subjecting patients to repeated loops of auditory messages. Patients, many of whom were seeking treatment for minor ailments such as anxiety or depression, were often subjected to these procedures without their informed consent, leading to severe and lasting psychological damage. The Canadian government and the CIA funded these experiments, with the CIA providing grants through various fronts. The existence of these experiments came to light in the 1970s, largely due to investigations by the U.S. Senate and subsequent media reports. Whistleblowers, including former CIA agents and victims, played a crucial role in exposing the details of MKUltra. While the provided context mentions “whistleblower John Mark” in relation to 1980, the most prominent whistleblowers regarding MKUltra’s Canadian operations were often the victims themselves and investigative journalists.
In-depth look at experiments carried out in Canada:
Dr. Ewen Cameron’s research aimed to “depattern” individuals by erasing memories and personalities, and then “repattern” them using techniques like “psychic driving”. His methods were extreme and unethical, often conducted without the patients’ consent or knowledge. These experiments involved:
- Drug-induced comas: Patients were kept in drug-induced comas for extended periods, sometimes as long as 86 days, using powerful sedatives and psychotropic drugs like LSD and barbiturates.
- Intensive electroshock therapy: Patients were subjected to electroshock therapy at up to 75 times the normal intensity, with some receiving 30-40 daily sessions of six 150-Volt shocks.
- Psychic driving: Immobilized and sedated patients were forced to listen to taped messages played on a loop for up to 16 hours a day, with messages repeated hundreds of thousands of times. These messages often included negative statements followed by positive ones, aiming to reshape their personalities.
- Sensory deprivation: Patients were placed in environments that numbed their basic senses, sometimes with limited food, water, and oxygen, and injected with drugs like LSD and curare to keep them paralyzed.
The subjects of these experiments were often individuals seeking treatment for common mental health issues like depression and schizophrenia, who were hoping for positive changes from Cameron’s treatment. Instead, many suffered severe and lasting damage, including retrograde amnesia, emotional instability, and the loss of basic skills. The experiments violated fundamental medical ethics and the Nuremberg Code, which prohibits human experimentation without informed consent.
Revelation and Aftermath
Project MKUltra officially ended in 1973, and its existence was largely revealed to the public in 1975. These investigations were hampered by the destruction of most MKUltra files in 1973 by then-CIA Director Richard Helms. However, a cache of 20,000 documents was discovered in 1977, leading to further Senate hearings.
In Canada, the Montreal experiments became widely known in 1980 through an episode of the CBC’s “The Fifth Estate”. This revelation brought to light the suffering of many victims and led to legal actions against the CIA and the Canadian government. In 1988, nine survivors received compensation from the U.S. government, and in 1992, 77 survivors were awarded compensation from the Canadian government. However, many other claimants were denied compensation due to a lack of medical records, late filings, or insufficient perceived suffering. Neither the CIA nor the Canadian government has issued a formal apology for their involvement.
The legacy of MKUltra and the Montreal experiments continues to be a subject of public interest and concern, highlighting the ethical implications of government-sponsored human experimentation and the importance of informed consent in medical research.
The secrecy that surrounded these experiments raises ethical concerns about human experimentation and informed consent. When these programs were exposed in the 1970s, organizations like Amnesty International highlighted the shocking hypocrisy of employing such inhumane practices, suggesting it was difficult for future generations to fully comprehend the extent of this dark history. This history serves as a reminder of the importance of ethical standards in scientific research, particularly when it comes to the health and well-being of individuals.
Ref:
- MKUltra. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra]
- Montreal experiments. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_experiments]
- MKULTRA. [ https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mkultra]
- Brainwashed: The Secret CIA Experiments in Canada – Episodes – The Fifth Estate [Youtube]
- The Dark History of MKUltra. [ https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/mkultra]
- MK-Ultra: CIA mind control program in Canada. [ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mk-ultra-cia-mind-control-program-in-canada-1.780806 ]
- Project MKUltra, the CIA’s Cold War mind-control program. [ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Project-MKUltra ]
- The victims of mind control. [ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-victims-of-mind-control/article4200630/ ]
- The CIA’s Secret Quest for Mind Control. [ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mkultra-cia-mind-control-experiments]
- Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Church Committee). [ https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-investigations/church-committee.htm]
- The Whistleblowers Who Exposed MKUltra. [www.cia.gov]
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