Elias M Ramirez
Professor Hammett
ENGL-1301
December 6th, 2021
Would someone ever believe that their government meant to protect them would experiment on their citizens? Believe it or not, the United States Central Intelligence Agency or C.I.A used LSD, and other illegal drugs to try to achieve mind control. Then C.I.A Director, Allen Dulles, believed that the Chinese, North Koreans, and Soviets would subdue prisoners of war to mind control experiments during the Korean War (Gross). In an effort to beat them, he initiated PROJECT MK ULTRA. The program was shrouded in secrecy for a decade until in 1963 inspector general John K. Vance discovered the contents of the project, which many deemed distasteful and unethical, then terminated the project in the late 1960s (1). Many still believe that it continues to this day mind controlling people of influence like celebrities and people of power (Hobbs). The Poisoner in Chief, Sidney Gottlieb, was a chemist working for Project MK Ultra who convinced the C.I.A, to buy the world's supply of LSD in which he used in his experiments to find the key in mind control (Gross). The United States Senate created a committee in which had the purpose to investigate reports of abuse by the CIA, NSA, FBI, and IRS. Most popularly known as the Church Committee or the United States Senate Select Committee, to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities the most shocking of which was PROJECT MK ULTRA (“Church Committee”).
Character Analysis
Thousands of unwilling American citizens were experimented on with drugs and other illegal substances without their knowledge, forever changing their lives mentally and physically and having their loved ones watch them while they slowly lost their minds. This was all the work of a man who wanted to obtain the power of mind control. Sidney Gottlieb was the head of the Central Intelligence Agency project MK ULTRA to obtain mind control (Penner and Prideaux 1). He served as the head of the project in which he subjected the vulnerable population to inhumane acts. Many consider him to have a sinister demeanor and patriotic passion, taking his experiments to a whole different level.
To begin, many consider the actions of Dr. Gottlieb to be sinister in nature. He was willing to put people in danger no matter what the consequences to obtain any or all the information he needed. Dr. Gottlieb did not care who his subjects were; they could be prisoners, scientists, politicians, students, children, and anyone whom he deemed expendable according to the quote:
By the mid-fifties CIA-sponsored ‘subprojects’ were being conducted in institutions including, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Universities of Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Denver, Illinois, Oklahoma, Rochester, Texas and Indiana as well as Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Stanford, Baylor, Emory, George Washington, Vanderbilt, Cornell, John Hopkins New York University. At one point the agency attempted to buy the world’s entire supply of LSD (Collins 1).
Gottlieb would go to United States-occupied territories to conduct experiments avoiding legalities such as Western Europe, Japan, the Philippines, and many more. He would even experiment on his own staff members just for the fun of it. Most of them not knowing until they felt the effects of the drug according to this stateman by Kinzer “Gottlieb himself was known to spike colleagues' coffee and drinks with the tasteless, odorless drug. Watching his colleagues get high, Kinzer notes, ‘he would sometimes dance a jig” (Collins 1). Gottlieb conducted his experiments using universities, prisons, hospitals, and metal health facilities. Many of which did not even know what they were giving to their patients.
Lastly, growing up Gottlieb was born into an Orthodox Jewish Immigrant Family evading Nazi occupied Germany. He was a balding, silver-haired man with a Germanic name, club foot and with a speech impediment. The whole time Gottlieb thinking he was one of the “good guys” (Lennon 1). He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science in agriculture where he later found his way into working as the head chemist for the C.I.A under PROJECT MK ULTRA. His works later became known as one of the most sinister projects any U.S. agency have conducted.
Conspiracy Theories
Ultimately the goal for Project MK Ultra was to obtain the power of mind control; thankfully, the C.I.A failed in their attempt to obtain it. The damage was already done by the time the general public knew about the secretive program. Only very few secrets were revealed due to the work of the U.S Senate, revealing the actions of Lead Chemist Sidney Gottlieb and C.I.A Director Richard Helms (Hendricks). Due to this, a great number of Americans still believe that the project is ongoing to this day (Hobbs).The main conspiracy theories related to project MK Ultra are:
Is Project MK Ultra still in operation today?
Was the project responsible for the death of C.I.A scientist Frank Olson?
Was the project responsible for the death of American tennis player Harold Blauer
To begin with, the first conspiracy, is it still active to this day? Many Americans still believe that the project is still in operation due to many celebrities or people of influence acting strangely on camera (Bletcher). People catch celebrities either “glitching” or looking off into the distance mid-interview or even witness something suspicious going on in the background (1). One example is famous pop star singer Britney Spears when she had her mental breakdown in 2007 and put on a conservatorship causing the #FreeBritney campaign (2). One famous video shows her “splitting into multiple personalities” when asked about mental health problems regarding her family causing the interview to stop (3). The article states the actions Britney performed in the interview.
Those who believe this theory point specifically to an on-camera interview Britney did, where she "glitched," as some viewers have called it. In the video, while she's answering a question about the onslaught of negative publicity she's received, her entire demeanor changes when she says the word "weird." She suddenly sits up in her seat as though shocked and says "Weird. Hello. Um, oh my goodness, hello! Strong Britney." (4).
The real question conspiracy theorists are asking is project MK ULTRA still active until this day, and is it actively trying to keep us from learning the deeper truth?
The second conspiracy surrounds the death of C.I.A scientist Frank Olson in his apparent suicide. The story goes Frank Olsen found out the true meaning behind Project MK ULTRA and all the heinous actives associated with the project itself. He became uncomfortable with the nature of his work and showed signs of being a security risk (Vidich). Dr. Olson was then invited to an offsite business meeting intended to test his trustworthiness from the project. Unknowingly, Olson was about to participate in another experiment by Sidney Gottlieb (1). The first day they were all offered a drink, which Dr. Olson accepted, leading to his demise. The drink was spiked with LSD causing everyone at the retreat to be drugged without consent. (3) Dr. Olsen then proceeded to have hallucinations and believe someone was out to get him. After the retreat, Dr. Olson sought help from his general physician, Harold Abramson, a medical collaborator for the C.I.A, who recommended him to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital to get help (Kinzer). On the night leading to the admission of the hospital, Dr. Olson, along with a fellow C.I.A agent, stayed on the 13th floor of the Statler Hotel in New York City, NY(1). The next morning Dr. Olson was found lifeless on the ground floor outside the hotel presumed to have jumped out the window.
Shortly after the police arrived on the scene the hotel manager asked if anyone had made any phone calls recently to his surprise, yes. It was no other than Dr. Olson’s colleague to whom he made the phone call to one of MK ULTRAS medical collaborators Dr. Olson’s physician. The phone operator over-heard the conversation in which the C.I.A agent and the medical collaborator were quoted saying “Well, he’s gone,” the caller had said. Abramson replied: “Well, that’s too bad.” (Kinzer). This is where conspiracy theorists have different opinions on what happened that night. The C.I.A classified his death as an apparent suicide, and for decades that’s what the public along with the Olson Family was led to believe up until the 1970s (1). The Rockefeller Commission looking into allegations of abuse by several government agencies discovered the dark truth of the apparent suicide of Frank Olson (Keller). The Commission discovered that the C.I.A drugged a C.I.A scientist with LSD and later jumped out of a hotel window in New York City, NY revealing the truth behind the events leading up to his death (2). Stephen Kinzer who had previously written an autobiography on Sidney Gottlieb is quoted saying “Olson’s death remains officially classified as “undetermined,” but all the evidence points toward murder and none of it points away.” (Vidich). Revelations made by the Rockefeller Commission shed some light onto the Frank Olson case, some believe he committed suicide, but others say otherwise.
The third conspiracy theory also revolves around the death of American tennis player Harold Blauer. Mr. Blauer who was suffering from depression from a recent divorce voluntarily admitted himself to New York State Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan on December 5th, 1952 (Lubasch) At the Institute he was diagnosed with pseudo-neurotic schizophrenic but was responding to therapy. The institute however was injecting Mr. Harold with mescaline derivatives which led to his death. The drugs administered to Mr. Blauer were part of a classified contract with the state-run institute and the Army Chemical Corps for evaluating the effects of potential chemical warfare agents (Doyle). Mr. Bleaur was supposed to be released a few weeks after his death, while he knew he was receiving experimental drugs he has no idea he was a part of an experiment to develop weapons. Blauer was given the drug five times over five weeks, but the drug that killed him had only been given to him once in a smaller dosage (1). When news broke out about his death the institute said his death was caused by a weak heart not revealing the truth about the experiments. U.S District Judge Constance Baker Montley who presided over the case regarding Mr. Bleaur after the secrets were revealed about the truth regarding the death of Mr, Bleaur is quoted saying;
″A conspiracy soon developed to make sure that Blauer’s estate accepted this convenient picture of the death. The United States and the state of New York plotted the coverup because they were concerned about adverse publicity, and the doctors at the Psychiatric Institute were happy to go along because they were concerned about their professional reputations, ″ (Doyle).
No one was ever indicted for the death of Mr. Blaur even though the truth of his death was revealed.
Lastly, Project MK Ultra is one of the most diabolical projects the U.S government has ever conducted. It has been shrouded in secrecy for decades and may still be in operation. These three conspiracies associated with the project only further deepen the rabbit hole in which is MK ULTRA. Is the project still in operation today? Did the C.I.A kill one of their scientists Frank Olson in the name of national security? Did the U.S Army of Chemical Corps the reason for the death of Harold Blauer.
Conclusion
Project MK Ultra had the ultimate goal of obtaining the power of mind control in the name of national security. After years of secrecy the true intentions of the project were revealed showing horrendous actions done by the Central Intelligence Agency. After the revelations done by the Church Committee these are the conspiracy theories associated with Project MK Ultra:
1. Is Project MK Ultra still in operation today?
2. Was the project responsible for the death of C.I.A scientist Frank Olson?
3. Was the project responsible for the death of American tennis player Harold Blauer?
Project MK Ultra ended in 1973, in its 50 years of operation it did horrendous actions against humanity. Some say it’s still in operation, but will we truly know?
Works Cited:
Bletcher, Sara.” Some Conspiracy Theorists Think Britney Spears Is Controlled by MK Ultra”. March 3 2021. Distractify. https://www.distractify.com/p/mk-ultra-britney-spears
“Church Committee”. Britannica. November 30, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-Committee
Collins, Laura. “How CIA scientist Sidney Gottlieb - the 'most prolific torturer of his generation’ - used potent drugs, extreme temperatures, food and sleep deprivation and electroshock for his mind control experiments on human 'expendables”. Daily Mail. Dec 4 2019. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7752125/How-CIA-scientist-Sidney-Gottlieb-becamethe-prolific-torturer-generation.html
Doyle, John M.. “U.S Help Responsible for Death in Secret Army Drug Testing”. May 5 1987. AP NEWS. https://apnews.com/article/2e5220ecb195844edacfbffdb0a37a5a
Gross Terry. “The CIA’s Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A ‘Poisoner In Chief’”. NPR. September 9 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief
Hendricks, Scotty.” What was Project MKULTRA? Inside the C.I. A’s mind control-program”, April 17 2018. Big Think. https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/how-the-cia-used-lsd-to-try-and-find-a-mind-control-drug/.
Hobbs Thomas. “The conspiracy theorists convinced celebrities are under mind control”. Wired. September 05 2019. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mkultra-conspiracy-theory-meme
Kinzer, Stephen. “From mind control to murder? How a deadly fall revealed the CIA’s darkest secrets”. September 6 2019. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/06/from-mind-control-to-murder-how-a-deadly-fall-revealed-the-cias-darkest-secrets
Lennon. Troy. “CIA’s ‘black sorcerer’ scientist Sidney Gottlieb was a master of poisons and mind control.”. The Daily Telegraph. Aug 3 2018. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/cias-black-sorcerer-scientist-sidney-gottlieb-was-a-master-of-poisons-and-mind-control/news-story/0a3cfb3c031674db9747f0c7c64588dd.
Lubasch, Arnold H.. Article 388687—No Title. May 6 1987. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/06/nyregion/article-388687-no-title.html
Prideaux, Ed. Penner, James. “The Untold Story of the CIA’s MK Ultra; A Conversation with Stephen Kinzer”. Los Angeles Review of Books. May 19 2021. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-untold-story-of-the-cias-mkultra-a-conversation-with-stephen-kinzer/
Vidich. Paul. “Did the CIA’s Dr. Frank Olson Jump to His Death or Was He Pushed?”. February 17, 2020. Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/did-the-cias-dr-frank-olson-jump-to-his-death-or-was-he-pushed