Nexus - 0206 - New Times Magazine-pages

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CIA MIND CONTROL RESEARCH Dr. Cameron’s ideology was in agreement with the philosophy of the American Professor, Henry H. Goddard, who believed that all who were “born” criminals could be identified by certain phys- ical characteristics and that the solution to controlling them was to “sterilize them, allow them to perform only lowly jobs, confine them to ghettos, discourage them from marrying outside their race, and create a pure, American, superior intelligence to control them.” Dr. Cameron began experimenting with a bizarre range of treat- ments. Drugs, electroshock, psychosurgery (or lobotomy as it is more widely known), gas, and a motor driven chair that rotated a patient at high speed until they fell unconscious, were all part of his cruel repertoire. Now he was to be paid by the CIA to further The Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles, had always found Ewen Cameron’s suggestions original and far reaching. He had been impressed by his suggestion at the end of World War 2 that every surviving German over the age of twelve should receive a short course of electroshock treatment to burn out any remaining Nazi ideals. With such innovative ideas Dulles decided he was just ments. Drugs, electroshock, psychosurgery (or lobotomy as it is the man for the job the CIA wanted done. more widely known), gas, and a motor driven chair that rotated a The list of projects soon became long, and only those with the patient at high speed until they fell unconscious, were all part of | “need to know “ were ever aware of the total range of operations his cruel repertoire. Now he was to be paid by the CIA to further under way. There was to be large a number of doctors and his bizarre research. researchers like Cameron on the CIA payroll. Dr Cameron’s reputation was beyond question to most of his The full details of the Mind-control research operations that the co-workers in the medical profession. He was President of the CIA conducted under Dulles’ command will never be made public. American Psychiatric Association, Many of the records were destroyed was soon to be President of the in following years. In all there were Canadian Psychiatric In all there were 149 MKuUltra 149 MKUltra subprojects dealing Association, and would become the with behavioural modification. A fur- first President of the World subprojects dealing with behavioural ther 33 subprojects were funded Association of Psychiatrists. He modification A further 33 subprojects under MKUltra that were not related regularly submitted articles and to this type of research. We will never research papers to scientific jour- were funded under MKUltra that know what these projects were about. nals, which were readily accepted. were not related to this type of Nor will we know what use the Even when his staff could not see results of these experiments have the purpose of his actions, it was research. We will never know what been put to. assumed that he was dealing with What follows is a list of formerly matters that they did not fully com- these projects were about. top-secret covert operations that prehend. If only they had known were conducted by the CIA for how true that was. mind-control research purposes: mL. Banke ee Lone his bizarre research. Canadian were not related to this type of research. We will never know what There were some doctors who found his research techniques unreasonable, and said so. Dr Donald O. Hebb, Chairman of the Psychology Department at McGill University stated that Dr. Cameron’s methods were ethically deplorable, and verged on “the irresponsible - criminally stupid.” Harsh words from a man who was himself working for both the CIA and Canadian Defense Department on sensory deprivation. Another respected psychiatrist noted that Cameron “was not possessed of the necessary sense of humanity to be a good doctor.” Yet not only did his work continue, ated Beginning in 1947 as a US Navy program, Operation Chatter set about to identify and test truth drugs. The CIA became concerned about the reports of “amazing results” being achieved by the Russians in this area and decided to conduct their own research. Eventually the CIA had many institutions secretly conducting drug experiments on their behalf. At the National Institute for Mental Health’s Addiction Research Centre in Lexington, Kentucky, the Director, Dr. Harris Isabell would test many drugs including scopolamine, rivea seed, bufontenine, and LSD for the Agency. Isabell once kept a study group of seven drug addicts on an LSD trip for a total of seventy-seven days. He noted on day 42 that the experiment was “the most amazing demonstration of drug toler- ance I have ever seen.” In an attempt to break the tolerance he gave the human guinea pigs triple and quadruple doses. In 1975 when giving evidence to a Senate subcommittee who were investigating alleged CIA misbehavior, Dr. Isabell said that at the time, “ethical codes were not so highly developed and there was a great need to know in order to protect the public in assess ing the potential use of narcotics. I personally think we did an excellent job.” Between 1944 and 1960 over 100,000 lobotomies were per- formed in the United States and around the same number in Europe. Tens of thousands were performed in the Pacific basin, mostly in India and Japan. In 1948, Dr. Walter Freeman of The University of Virginia, described lobotomy as “mercy killing of the psyche”, while demonstrating his technique to a group of students. It is hard to comprehend where “mercy” fits in to the picture. Dr. Cameron promoted the use of psychosurgery and regularly performed the operation himself. He would speak to his patients, who were only given a local anaesthetic, while performing the hideous operation and would continue to destroy the nerve fibres in their frontal lobes until they could no longer respond to his ques- tioning. NEXUS - 26 CIA MIND CONTROL RESEARCH BACK AT THE AGENCY In all there were 149 MKUltra these projects were about. OPERATION CHATTER it became even more radical. YEAR BOOK - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992