Sidney Gottlieb and Allen Dulles oversaw MKUltra experiments from the 1950s to 1973 that administered LSD and other drugs to unwitting US and Canadian citizens to test reactions and try to develop truth serums and sleeper agents. Methods included administering LSD without consent and asking subjects questions to see if they would answer truthfully or follow orders while under the influence, as well as other experiments involving electroshock, drugs, hypnosis and harassment. Though most documents were destroyed, it is known that some subjects died and thousands were exposed to dangerous substances without consent during the program.
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1. Who was the primary researchers?
Sidney Gottlieb Head researcher in 1953
Allen Welsh Dulles Director of CIA 1953
Richard Helms Director of CIA 1973
2. What was the time period in which the research took place?
The program began in the early 1950s, was officially started
in 1953, was decreased in scope in 1964, and officially
stopped in 1973.
3. Who were the participants?
Innocent U.S and Canadian citizens without their
knowledge.
4. Methods
LSD would be administered to subjects, sometimes without their knowing and most
of the time without consent, to test the subjects reactions. LSD would allow the mind
to wonder without control. The CIA would ask the unaware subjects questions and
give orders. The idea was to see if the subjects would answer truthfully or carry out
orders while aware that they were given while being under the influence of LSD.
Their overall goal was create a perfect truth serum and to make secret agents that
didnt realize they were agents. They were trying to create what is known as a
sleeper agent.
MK ultra was a large experiment that broke down into at least 149 subprojects. In
each subproject different methods were administered including various other drugs,
electroshock therapy, gas aerosols, hypnosis, sleep treatments, and harassment
(including sexual harassment). The idea was to break a subject and strip them
down to just an empty conscious that the researchers could upload whatever
information into the subject as possible.
5. Results
Unfortunately, almost all of the MK ultra documents destroyed in
1973.
However, Senator Ted Kennedy revealed to the U.S that the CIA
have tested experiments on unwitting people involved LSD, and
there have been some known deaths from the experiment.
Also, thousands of people were exposed to dangerous substances.