MKULTRA 1953–1973 | Central Intelligence Agency 149 documented subprojects | $10–25 million (1950s dollars) What it actually was: The CIA paid doctors, psychologists, and chemists across North America to give LSD, mescaline, BZ gas, scopolamine, and dozens of other drugs to people who had no idea they were in an experiment. Subjects included: - Federal prisoners - Mental-hospital patients (some held in drug-induced comas for months) - Soldiers told they were getting “stress tests” - Bar patrons in San Francisco and New York whose drinks were spiked by CIA officers - Prostitutes’ clients in CIA safe houses (watched through two-way mirrors) Most famous site: Dr. Ewen Cameron at McGill University in Montreal. He used CIA money to put patients into insulin comas, gave them electroshock at 75× normal intensity, and played taped messages thousands of times to “erase” their memories and “rebuild” personalities. Many left permanently damaged. In 1973 CIA Director Richard Helms ordered every MKULTRA file destroyed. The only reason we know any of this is because about 20,000 pages were mis-filed in a financial archive and surfaced in 1977. Primary admissions: - 1977 Senate Select Committee hearings - CIA “Family Jewels” report, pp. 385–422 - 8,000+ surviving pages released under FOIA
