CIA R&D AND TESTING OF BEHAVIORAL DRUGS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01434878
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2017
• Case Number: F-2007-00094
• Publication Date: February 5, 1975

TERNApproved for Release. 2017/01/18 C014S4676 Al.
:ROUTING :AND RECORD SHEET
spector Genera
TOV1Officer number;;Iii
�... .
building) �
15.
FORM :.
3-62
DATE
:,`�RECEIVED-44
. .- �
SECRET
�
FORWARDED
',OFFICER'S
NO.
DATE
197 5
, -.. �.,_,.,:,.,-�,...,.:.:.,- - . - . . _:.� . . .,..._ .: ,s,,,,, �..,�,
,-..4
'COMMENTS . (Number each comment �ter . shove from ,orhom
.r.:i-to whom.....Draif;Oz..1Teno across .columer after each comment.
- � " -1V2.--%--.. � ��yie.1:.
.-
SECRE
CONFIDENTIAL ult4STEER014filial
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
El UNCLASSIFIED
b)(1)
b)(3)
b)(3)
pproved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
5 February 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
.SUBJECT
CIA R&D and Testing or Behavioral
Drugs
I. Attached is a paper summarizing CIA interest over the
years in behavioral drugs. We believe that this touches on all
R&D programs that the Agency has conducted in the past, including
the incident involving the death of an employee of the Department
�
� of the Army in 1953. Records do not permit a description of such
relationships as may have existed between these various activities;
� it is apparent that there was some sharing of information between
different components in the Agency, and some overlap in time,
but there also are indications of independent approaches to the
problem.
2. We have been informed by ADDO that although the DDO
has an instruction on behavioral drugs � M.KDELTA � this was
established against the event that some such, materials became
available and has never been implemented in fact. There are
no operational records in the DDO in this connection.
3. We can sanitize the paper for transmittal to the
Investigating authorities when you have reviewed it.
ttachment a/ s
cc: Mr. Knoche.
if
(b)(3
Inspector General
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
.;1.
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
-,s
Behavioral Drugs, and Testing
1. CIA has had a recurring interest in behavioral drugs. The
subject is of general interest because of the operational applications
that could be made against Agency employees by hostile forces, for
which there would be a defensive requirement, as well as for possible
use against foreigners to influence their behavior. The earliest
record of this interest dates to the post-WWII period when there were
indications of Sovietlinterest in. the use of drugs for such purposes,
the most famous example being the bizaLrre confessions of Cardinal
Mindszenty in February 1949.
Z.-� In the past CIA's interest in behavioral drugs was expressed in
at least three programs, which have been identified. These programs
apparently proceeded on largely independent courses, subject to some ,�
informal coordination by a group referred to as the ARTICHOKE Committee,
which started in April 1952. This mechanism provided the means for
exchanging information and for deciding which components would assume
responsibility for certain study and research. Representation on the
ARTICHOKE Committee was from the Offices of Scientific Intelligence
(OSI) and Medic-al Services (OMS) and the predecessor organizations of the
Offices of Security (OS) and Technical Services (OTS). The ARTICHOKE
Committee initially was concerned with drugs that would assist in
interrogation, but the concept expanded to include drugs that would serve
as. a defense against hostile application to Agency employees as well as
drugs that would afford some control when administered to an individual.
Remaining records, which are not complete, refer to sodium pentothal
and sodium amytal, as well as LSD.
BLUEBIRD/ARTICHOKE
3. In 1949 the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) undertook the
analysis of foreign work on certain unconventional warfare techniques,
including behavioral drugs, with an initial objective of developing a
capability to resist or offset the effect of behavioral drugs. Preliminary
'lIES inrluded the review of drug-related work at institutions such as (b)(3)
(b)(3)
There also was extensive review of foreign literature, particularly work
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
�
in the Soviet Bloc. This program shortly became Project BLUEBIRD,
with the objectives of (a) discovering means of conditioning personnel
to prevent unauthorized extraction of information from them by known
means, (b) investigating the possibility of obtaining control of an
individual by application of special interrogation techniques, (c) memory
enhancement, and (d) establishing defensive means for preventing hostile
control of Agency personnel.
4. In August 1957. Project BLUEBIRD was renamed Project ARTICHOKE
which, in 1952, was transferred from OSI to the predecessor organization
of the Office of Security. OSI did retain a responsibility for evaluation of
foreign intelligence aspects of the matter and in 1953 made a proposal that
experiments be made in testing LSD with Agency volunteers; OSI records
indicate that no- such experiments were made. OSIts involvement in this
project was terminated in 1956. Meanwhile, the emphasis given ARTICHOKE
in the predecessor organization to the Office of Security became that of us
of materials such as sodium pentothal in connection with interrogation
techniques and with the polygraph.
� 5. There are references to ARTICHOKE Teams travelling to Europe
and East Asia during the 1950s, for the -apparent purpose of interrogation
of foreign agents, but the results of such operations are not revealed by
existinerecords.
� MKDELTA/MKULTRA/MKSEARCH
6. On 29 October 1952 a formal policy was established by the Deputy
Director of Plans (is then styled, now Deputy Director for Operations) for
the use of biochemicals in clandestine operations (MKDELTA). This was
in anticipation of the development of behavioral drugs, but was never
implemented operationally. MKDELTA research was brought under a
special funding procedure established on 3 April 1953 (MKULTRA). The(b)(3)
program considered various possible means for controlling human behavior
of which drugs were only one aspect, others being radiation, electro-
shock, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, harrassment (b)(3)
substances, and paramilitary devices and materials. There were contacts
with individuals at such institutions as
as well as with various pharmaceutical houses,
(b)(3)
hospitals and federal institutions, the names of which are no longer available.
� (b)(3)
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
' Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Among the materials studied were psylocbin from Mexican mushrooms,
a fungus occurring in certain crops, and LSD. Following laboratory
testing a second phase was begun which involved testing on voluntary
participants. The final phase involved application on unwitting subjects,
in normal social situations, commencing in 1955 under an informal
arrangement with individuals in the Bureau of Narcotics. Originally
conducted on the West Coast, a similar arrangement was instituted
in 1961 on the East Coast. Such tests were conducted from time to time
until 1963 when the Inspector General discovered the activity and questioned
the program. At that time it was reported that in a number of instances
test subjects became ill for hours or days following the application, and
there was one reported instance of hospitalization, the details of which
arena longer available. Project records do not now exist, but it is
reported that the project was decreased significantly each budget year
until it was completely terminated in the late 1960's.
� 7. Follwing the Inspector General's challenge of the program,
there was a review of its nature and it was resubmitted for approval
under the name of Project MKSEARCH. The written proposal did not
specify whether testing was to be limited to volunteers. Records
indicate that the DCI did not approve unwitting testing; it is understood
that there was no renewal of this aspect of the activity. Funding for
MKSEARCH-commenced in FY-I966, running through 1972. There were
various research activities carried on under it, but the only aspect
related to behavioral drugs deal with an inquiry in improvement by
drugs of learning ability and memory retention; under this there is a,
record of testing at Iden 1 State Prison in Iden 5 on volunteers,
Drug-related Death of an Investigator
8. The predecessor organization of the Office of Technical Service�
was the focal point for the operational investigation of behavioral drugs,
although none of the office's records on this activity are in existence,
having been destroyed in January 1973. As noted above it participated
in the meetings of the so-called ARTICHOKE Committee. That office
maintained liaison with personnel at Iden 6 .., with whom meetings
were held once or twice a year to discuss questions involving behavioral
drugs. At one such meeting at Iden. 7 in Maryland,
Iden 8 1953, with seven representatives from Iden 6 z and
. three from CIA, eight of those present were administered LSD which had
been introduced into a bottle of Cointreau. Although records of an inquiry
by the Inspector General into the incident indicate that those present
3
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
discussed testing on unwitting persons, and agreed in principle
that such a program should be explored, .np-/lie. of them were advised
until some 20 minutes after they drank the Cointreau that it had
�
been treated with LSD. Of the two who did not take it, one did
not drink alcoholic beverages at all and the other refrained be-
�
cause of a heart condition. One of the members of the group, a
civilian employee of the Department of Army named Iden 9, had
serious after-effects. He-was sent at CIA expense, with an
escort from CIA tot New York where he received treatment
from a psychiatrist, commencing Idee 10.. While in .New York for
this-treatment he threw himself through a closed window in his room
on the tenth floor of the Iden 11, falling to his death. CIA, in a. - -
document of Iden 12, signed by its General Counsel, certified Iden 9
death resulted from "circumstances arising out. of an experiment- -
undertaken in the course of his official duties for the United States
Government. " This was the official position of the Agency, established
for the purpose.of assuring that the survivors of Iden 9 received com-
pensation from the BEC. Iden 9 had experienced some instability and
delusions prior to the incident, and it was judged that the drfig serv6d
to trigger the act leading to his death.. Reprimands wereissued by
the DCI to two CIA employees held responsible for the incident.
OFTEN/CHICKWIT
9. In 1967 the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and
the Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories undertook a program for
doing research on the identification and characterization of drugs that
could influence human behavior. Edgewood had the facilities for the
Lull range of laboratory and clinical testing. A phased program was
� envisioned that would consist of acquisition-of-drugs and chemical
compounds believed to have effects on the behavior of humans, and
testing and evaluating these materials through laboratory procedures
and toxicological studies. Compounds believed promising as a. result
of tests on animals were then to be evaluated clinically with human - -
subjects at Edgewood. Substances of potential use would then be
analyzed structurally as a basis for identifying and synthesizing
possible new derivatives of greater utility.
�
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
� 10. The program was divided into two projects. Project
OFTEN was to deal with testing the toxicological, transmisivity
and behavioral effects of drugs in animals and, ultimately,
humans. Project CHICKWIT was concerned with acquiring infor-
mation. on new drug developments in Europe and the Orient, and
with acquiring samples.
11. Samples of drugs and chemicals were obtained from
drug and pharmaceutical companies, government agencies such as
� Edgewood, NIH, FDA and the Veterans Administration, as well as
� from research laboratories and individual researchers. Most of
the materials came from the drug ilidustry, consisting largely of
substances that had been rejected because of undesired side effects
from the point of view of medicinal use.
12. A panel was established to review the program, with
membership from ORD, and the predecessor organization of the
Office of Technical Service. Meetings were held periodically,
and briefings were given senior officials from time to time. The
principal contractor, under OFTEN was Iden 2, commencing
FY-1966. The association with Edgewood started with a transfer
of funds to Edgewood in. FY-1967, for. work to be done by Iden 3
under CHICKWIT. Synthesis of new drugs and derivatives was
contracted with Iden 4, starting FY-1971. Data from this program
was merged into a computer controlled data base with test data
and information from other sources. One substance identified as
a potential incapacitant was in an area known to he the subject of
research by the Soviet Union, being considered a potential threat
to U. S. leaders because of the ease with which it could be administered
13. CIA's program was terminated in January 1973, its final
billing from Edgewood being received in April of that year. Edge-
wood did not progress to testing materials on human volunteer
subjects under the work sponsored by CIA.
� 14. With CIA's termination of the program, the program
data was withdraWn from the CIA computers, the tapes and limited
records being sequestered and stores under special controls where
they still are.
5
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
�
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
S 1P I. 1
5 FEB 1975
Behavioral Drugs, and Testing
� 1. CIA. has had a recurring interest in behavioral drugs.
The subject is of general interest because of the operational
applications that could be made against Agency employees by
hostile forces, for which there would be a defensive require-
ment, as well as for possible use against foreigners to influence
their behavior. The earliest record of this interest dates to
the post-WWII period when there were indications of Soviet
interest in the use of drugs for such purposes, the most famous
example being. the bizarre confessions of Cardinal Minds zenty
in February 1949.
2. In the past CIA's interest has taken form in four programs.
Some of these activities, described separately- below, have some
coincidence or overlap in time, but existing records do not make
possible a clear determination of what relation, if any, there may
have been between them.
BLUEBIRD /ARTICHOKE
3. In 1949 the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) under-
took the analysis of foreign work on certain unconventional warfare
techniques, including behavioral drugs, with an initial objective
of developing a capability to resist or offset the effect of behavioral
drugs. Preliminary phases included the 'review of druE-related
work at institutions such as
There also was extensive review o
foreign literature, particularly work in the Soviet Bloc. This
program shortly became Project BLUEBIRD, with the objectives
of (a) discovering means of conditioning personnel to prevent un- (b)(3)
authorized extraction of information from them by known means,
(b) investigating the possibility of obtaining control of an individual
by application of special interrogation techniques, (c) memory
enhancement, and (d) establishing defensive means for preventing
hostile control of Agency personnel.
NNN
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
4. In August 1951 Project BLUEBIRD was renamed Project
ARTICHOKE which, in 1952, was transferred from OSI to the
predecessor organization of the Office of Security. OSI did retain
a responsibility for evaluation of foreign intelligence aspects of
the matter and in 1953 made a proposal that experiments be made
in testing LSD with Agency volunteers; OSI records indicate that
no such experiments were made. OSP s involvement in this
project was terminated in 1956. Meanwhile, the emphasis given
ARTICHOKE in the predecessor organization to the Office of
Security became that of uge of materials such as sodium pentothal
in connection with interrogation techniques and with the polygraph.
-
� 5. During .this period there was an informal Agency group
known as the ARTICHOKE Committee, with representation from
the Offices of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) and Medical Services
(OMS), and the predecessor organizations of the Offices of Security
and Technical Services (OTS). There are no records indicating the
details of the exchanges in this committee, although there are
references in fragmentary records of continued interest in LSD.
It is believed that the exchanges were technical in nature but there
is reference in papers in the records held by the Office of Security
of something referred to as an ARTICHOKE Team travelling over-
seas in 1954, with indications of operational applications to individuals
representing a Communist Bloc country. There is no record of the
operation or its results.
Drug-related Death of an Investigation
6. The predecessor organizatio'n"of the Office of Technical
Service also was interested in behavioral drugs, although none of
the office's records on this activity are in existence, having been
destroyed in January 1973. As noted above it participated in the
meetings of the so-called ARTICHOKE Committee. That office
maintained liaison with personnel at Camp Dietrick, with whom
meetings were held once or twice a year to discuss questions
involving behavorial drugs. At one such meeting at Deep Creek
Lake in Maryland, 18-19 November 1953, with seven representatives
from Camp Dietrick and three from CIA, eight of those present were
administered. LSD which had been introduced into a bottle of Cointreau.
Although records of an inquiry by the Inspector General into the
incident indicate that those presep.t discussed testing on unwitting
persons, and agreed in principle that such *a_ program should be
-2-
S-4-1 7, 9."
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
11�141
explored, none of them were advised until some 20 minutes after
they drank the Cointreau that it had been treated with LSD. Of the
two who did not take it, one did not drink alcoholic beverages at
all and the other refrained because of a heart condition. One of
the members of the group, a civilian employee of the Department
of Army named Frank R. Olson, had serious after-effects. He
was sent at CIA expense, with an escort from CIA, to New York
where he received treatment from a psychiatrist, commencing
24 November. While in New York for this treatment he threw
himself through a closed Window in his room on the tenth floor
of the Statler Hotel, falling to his death. CIA, in a document of
9 December 1953, signed by its General Counsel, certified'that
Dr. Olson's death resulted from "circumstances arising out of an
experiment undertaken in the course of his official duties for the
United States Government." This' was the official position of the
Agency, established for the purpose of assuring that the survivors
of Dr. Olson received compensation from the BEC. Dr. Olson
had experienced some instability and delusions prior to the
incident, and it was judged that the drug served to trigger the
act leading to his death. Official reprimands were issued by the
DCI to three CIA employees held responsible for the incident..
MKDELTA/MK ULTRA /MKSEARCH
7. On 29 October 1952 a formal policy was established by
the Deputy Director of Plans (as then styled, now Deputy Director
for Operations) for the use of biochemicals in clandestine operations
(M(DELTA). This was brought under a special funding procedure
established on 3 April 1953 for special research purposes (MKULTRA).
The program considered various possible means for controlling
human behavior of which drugs were only one aspect, others being
radiation, electro-shock, psychology, psychiatry, sociology,
anthropology, harrassment substances, and paramilitary devices
and materials. There were contacts with individuals at such
institutions as]
as well as with various pharmaceutical houses,
hospitals and federal institutions, the names of which are no longer
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
available. Among the materials studied were psylocbin from (b)(3)
Mexican mushrooms, a fungus occurring in certain crops, and
LSD. Following laboratory testing a second phase was begun which
involved testing on voluntary participants. The final phase involve463)(3)
-3-
Approved for for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878 .
- � Uz...i.ltg t:LitizaJUVL. �
application on unwitting subjects, in normal social situations,
commencing in 1955 under an informal arrangements with
individuals in the Bureau of Narcotics. Originally conducted
on the West Coast, a similar arrangement was instituted in
1961 on the East Coast. Such tests were conducted from time to
time until 1963 when the Inspector General discovered the activity
and questioned the program. At that time it was reported that in.
a number of instances test subjects became ill for hours or days
following the application, and there was one reported instance of
hospitalization, the detail's of which are no longer available.
Project records do not now exist, but it is reported that the
project was decreased significantly each budget year until it
was .c.ompletely terminated in the late 1960's.
8. Following the Inspector General's challenge of the program,
there was a review of its nature and it was resubmitted for approval
under the name of Project MKSEARCH, recommending continuation
of the testing; the written proposal did not specify -whether it was
to be limited to volunteers. Records indicate that the DCI did not
approve this, and it is understood that there was no renewal of
this aspect of the activity. Funding for MKSEARCH commenced
in FY-1966, running through 1972. There were various research
activities carried on under it, but the only aspect related to be-
havioral drugs dealt with an inquiry in improvement by drugs of
learning abi fir ni,d memory retention; under this there is a record
of testing at on volunteers.
OFTEN/CHICKWIT
9. In 1967 the Office of Research and Development (ORD)
and the Edgewood Arsenal Research La.boratories undertook a
program for doing research in influencing human behavior with
drugs. A phased program was envisioned that would consist of
acquisition of drugs and chemical compounds believed to have
effects on the behavior of humans, and testing and evaluating
these materials through laboratory procedures and toxicological
'studies. Compounds believed promising as a result of tests on
animals were then to be evaluated clinically with human subjects
at Edgewood. Substances of potential use would then be analyzed
structurally as a basis for symthesizing new derivatives of
greater utility.
4-.
(b)(3)
7171777
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01434878
Approved for Release: -2-01-7/6/-1-6 C01434878
Z)t
10. Samples of drugs and chemicals were obtained from drug
and pharmaceutical companies, government agencies such as Edge-
wood, NIH, FDA and the Veterans Administration, as well as from
research laboratories and individual researchers. Most of the
materials came from the drug industry, consisting largely of
substances that had been rejected because of undesired side
effects from the point of view of medicinal use.
11. Project OFTEN dealt with testing the behavioral and
�toxicological effects of drugs in animals and, ultimately, humans.
Project CHICKWIT was to acquire information on new drug
developments in Europe and the Orient, and acquiring samples.
12. A panel wsks established to review the program, with
membership from ORD, and the predecessor organization to the
Office of Technical Service. Meetings were held periodically,
and briefings were given senior officials from time to time. The
principal contractor under OFTEN
commencing FY-196 . e association with Edge- (bk)(,)3)
wood started with a transfer of funds to Ed ewood in FY-1967, for
work to be done by under CHICKWIT.
Synthesis of new drugs and derivatives was contracted with (b)(3)
starting FY-1971. Data from this program wa.s�kTs")
merged into a computer controlled data base with test data and
information from other sources. One substance identified as a
potential incapacitant was in an area known to be the subject of (b)(3)
research by the Soviet Union, being considered a potential threat
to U.S. leaders because of the ease with which it could be admin-
istered. Study of this material progressed to testing in 1971-1972
at Ed ewood. This involved twenty volunteers, five from the
and fifteen military
volunteers. Records and evaluations held by CIA are limited,
(b)(3)
the program being terminated in January 1973 when final reports
had not yet been prepared. Edgewood completed the follow-up
testing required because of the prolonged after-effects, for which
it billed CIA in April 1973, but did not provide CIA with the results.
The work that continued after CIA's termination of the project was
the completion of testing protocol, including interviews of subjects.
With CIA's termination of the program, the material was
withdrawn from the CIA computers, the tapes and limited records
being sequestered and stored under special controls where they
still are.
- 5 -
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C0143487R