MKULTRA Was More Than Just Brain Research

Declassified files reveal details of 149 MKULTRA projects

Most people believe MKULTRA was a CIA brain research initiative running from 1953 to 1973, but according to the Agency’s own files, it was much more.

The “ULTRA” in MKULTRA was a reference to the highest level of secrecy during WWII, originally a term in use by British Intelligence for materials derived from broken Enigma codes. In keeping with this linguistic heritage, MKULTRA was the catch-all for the CIA’s most secretive, controversial, and important (or occasionally stupid) research projects.

A formerly classified briefing book containing details on 149 of the projects, dating back to 1976 but recently unearthed on the Internet Archive in 2016, sheds light on some of the most interesting projects. Each Project is technically a “subproject” of the larger MKULTRA program.

Allow me to introduce you, dear reader, to subproject 104- an initiative to harness micro-organisms able to infect and degrade petroleum stockpiles.

Why blow up an oil depot when just one agent with an untraceable vial containing a biological weapon safe for humans but hungry for petroleum can disable it and potentially spread to downstream gas stations before anyone realizes what’s gone wrong?

Another incredible program, or series of programs, were subproject 4 and its later extensions 5 and 19, which involved hiring a stage Magician and published author to help produce a covert operations manual on the applications of the Magician’s art to Intelligence operations.

One technique of special interest to the Agency was how to slip a pill undetected into a beverage, but there was far more, and I get the feeling you want examples.

The so-called “Jack-in-the-Box” (JIB) technique was a mechanical device consisting of a collapsible fake human torso with a rotating head attached to a wired controller. One operative could slip out of a vehicle under surveillance while the driver deployed the JIB single-handed in a matter of seconds, creating the illusion that the person under surveillance was still in the vehicle. This was one of many so-called “identity transfer techniques” that were used to confuse enemy agencies, like sleight of hand but with an entire human being.

Another wondrous technique that came out of subproject 4 was the use of water-soluble paper. A coded message could be written on it, and if the operative was caught, it could be dipped into a beverage or swallowed. Waiting for the classified materials to “come out the other end” as in times past was rendered an instantly useless technique in the field of Counter-Intelligence.

An updated version of the manual, literally titled “The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception”, which allegedly includes all the original techniques and definitely covers many new ones, was later published by former Director of the Technical Services Division of the CIA Robert Wallace and Historian Keith Melton. It is presently available for purchase on Amazon and served as an important source of research for this article.

MKULTRA extended far beyond the wonderful and wacky, however, and into the abyssal darkness of the shadows cast by the two giants of the Cold War.

Subproject 11 was meant to identify and produce the “active ingredients” in certain plants for experimental purposes. One of these purposes was the development of new exotic poisons with unique characteristics and incredible potency. This subproject eventually led to the discovery of abrin, a unique protein found in the seeds of the rosary pea plant which is similar to ricin except that it is 75 times more lethal.

On the topic of man-made horrors beyond our comprehension, I am for the first and last time in this article going to delve into the realm of speculation, though it is based on reading between the lines of extensive documentation.

This is where we explore subproject 30 and its possible connections to the Army’s Operation Whitecoat.

Subproject 30 was a “petty cash fund” for “Agency activities at Fort Detrick”, a famous Biodefense installation where the most infectious diseases are studied. This cash fund was to be used when procuring certain materials would “require an undesirable amount of written or oral justification” and, notably, one of the things to be purchased with this money was a “suitcase for biological sampling.”

From 1954 to 1973, starting one year after MKULTRA and ending the same year as it, Operation Whitecoat was an Army program that offered conscientious objectors the “opportunity” to avoid prison by serving their country a different way. These “Volunteers”, most of them belonging to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, were told that the purpose and goals of the research was to defend American troops from biological weapons. This statement is true, but I sincerely believe the research was used for more than that.

Though subproject 30 includes expenses for things like animal feed and rifle slugs (suggesting non-human animal testing and a most unsanitary way to dispose of the test subjects), the Agency doesn’t specify the full extent of their involvement. I can’t ignore the fact that the timeline of MKULTRA and Operation Whitecoat matches up perfectly.

Congress had so many questions to ask about MKULTRA and the Agency’s activities that it forgot to ask what the Army was doing at the same facility. A CIA Officer could answer honestly that the Agency never conducted human testing at Fort Detrick if all the experiments were technically run by the Army under Operation Whitecoat and, not technically being a part of MKULTRA, the Agency could also leave out key details about their activities at Fort Detrick without lying to Congress.

As for my speculation, it is that Operation Whitecoat was actually a CIA front for subproject 30 and that the CIA were the ones pulling the strings at Fort Detrick all along. I don’t have concrete evidence, but, hey, this is an article about MKULTRA. It has to contain at least one conspiracy theory.

Because I owe you at least one brain research program, I want to talk about the mystery behind a deeply fascinating subproject- no. 54 (“The Perfect Concussion” project), an exploration of ways to induce highly localized brain damage to erase memories. It is believed by many people that this project was never carried out, but that contradicts the bulk of the historical documents from the CIA and the United States Senate hearings about MKULTRA.

CIA Technical Services Staff Frank Laubinger alternated in his testimony before congress as to whether SP54 was originally an Office of Naval Research program the CIA had considered taking over but never did, or whether the ONR program was originally based on CIA research. Either way, it involved the creation of an elaborate fluid filled glass skull and testing on human cadavers.

Various methods such as explosions, specialized melee weapons and intense sound waves were studied for their effects on human brains. I want to emphasize we have no reason to believe live people were used for these experiments, and any cadavers were likely donated to science by their previous owners. That’s not some faux-witty sarcastic bit I’m doing, by the way. It genuinely doesn’t appear live humans were used in these tests.

The Senate Hearings on this subject contain a detailed history of the research and future proposals tied to SP54.

According to documents the CIA entered into the official Congressional Record, they believed it was possible to induce this kind of localized brain damage either by making direct physical contact with the skull using a high-powered “sound driver”, or by creating an elaborate mechanism of acoustic lenses to amplify and concentrate a high intensity sound lasting one tenth of a second.

As we approach the end of this article I want to leave you with an amusing thought, that being subproject 94. Fedspeak says the goal of this was to achieve “remote control of animals” to be used as “delivery systems.” When we’re talking about Intelligence or Military affairs, a “delivery system” doesn’t mean something that delivers a package to your door. A “delivery system” delivers a specific capability (“package”) to a specific location. An F-15 is a “delivery system” for missiles and a spy drone is a “delivery system” for surveillance machinery. 

Subproject 94 included research into the remote control of donkeys, dogs, and rats by stimulating specific areas in the brains of these creatures via electrode. I have no idea how far this project got, but I do know that if successful it could have been used to deliver anything from an explosive donkey to a spy cat, as seen in the notorious related CIA project “Acoustic Kitty.”

This article never would’ve been possible without the spirited research of the internet television show “Flesh Simulator” and badbiosvictim1. While both of their studies contained inaccuracies or highly speculative information, they nevertheless discovered quite a bit of very real information and the titles of certain original Government documents that informed the writing of this article.

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