HYPNOTISM AND COVERT OPERATIONS

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00140404
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: September 25, 2024
• Document Release Date: October 4, 1999
• Publication Date: May 5, 1955

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MIDICRANDUTI FOR
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5 May 1955
SUBJEtTi. E7pnotism and Covert Operations
1. III apologize for submitting a document as long as thip one.
The subject is highly controversial and even this treatment, which
may appear long, is abbreviated. k
2. Frankly, I now 'distrust much of what is writtce bir academic
experts on hypnotism. Partly this is because many of them appear to
have generalized:frUm a very few cases; partly because much of their
cautious pessimism is contradicted by Agency experimenters; but more
particularly because I personally have vitnessed behavior responses
which respeeted experts have said are impossible to obtain. In no
other field have I been so consciousiof the mental claustrophobia
of book and lecture hall knowledge. I don't think we have enough
evidence to say positively that hypnotism is a practicable covert
weapon, but I do say that we'll never know whether it is or not unless
we experiment in the field where we can learn what is practicable
(materially and psychologically) in a way that no laboratory worker
could possibly prove.
.3. Even the terminology of hypnotism is in confusion. I have
used terms like "suggestibility", "catalepsy" and "fascination"
because they seemed to me descriptive, but these are argued to be
inaccurate in current journals. As an example of the confusion,
rri:&77-7CI:Mrand I spent the better part of two days arguing with
7-an academic prictitioner of formidable reputation before we discovered
that -Ida vehement and perplexing disagreement with what we knew to �
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be facts was based on semantic hair-splitting and congealed pig-
headedness. ��
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4. If you decide that thefi7P-hould sue this eubject
fUrther, I suggest that you mee vith
-iFAIliigand myself t e firs rec mm ndation
ched paper.-- �
Attachment
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Orig. - Addressee
1 - C/Security
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HYPNOTISM AND coma �MATIONS
I. HYPNOTISM
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CONTEFIS
A.; What /a It?
B. Who Can Be Hypnotized.? �
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C. The iiiduction of hypnosis
1. Pre-Testing for Suggestibility
24. Induction Procedures
Verbal Suggestion
�b. Fascination Plus Verbal Suggestion
c. Norco-Hypnosis
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,3. Awakening "4
4. post-Hypnotic Suggqstions
5. Age Regression.
D. Other Factors
1. What Makes a Good Subject?
2. What Characterized a Good Operator?
3. Stages of Hypnosis
it. "Law of Hypnotisct"
5. Can a Subject be hypnotized Against.his Will?
APPLICATIM OF HYPNOSIS TO COVERT orr2,Krian
A. Disguised Pre-Testing
B. Disguised Induction
. C. Specific Operational Situations
RESEARCE
IV. SUMMARY of coal/slam
V. RECOMENDATIONS
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The consultant referr to a' e, who has participated
in Agency operations as a mePiber of an Artichoke team, feels
that narco-hypnosis as he knows it is not as effective as it .
.might appear at first glance to be. He feels that the stupor
sitich.ensues does not in every case permit as deep a stage
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of hypnosi*, is very difficult to control and further,
certaiipost-bypnotip phenomena, of great value in clan-
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'destine Work, may.'be leaking.(3). On the other hand, he agrees
: that drug-assisted hypnosis is essential in CIA work.
3. Awnkenina
There is no recorded instance in which a hypnotized subject
has failed to awaken. Not one subject in a hundred will "sleep"
. beyond the hypnotist's suggestion, "In a moment I am going to
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awaken you. You will feel fine, happy and cheerful. There will
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be no ill effects--no headache, drowsiness, stiffness or other
discomfort. I am going to count to three, and at the count of
three I will snap my fingers and you will be completely awake.
One--you are sleeping much more lightly. Two--almost awake now.
.Three--(snap!)--you are vide awake!"
If for any reason a subject does not desire to awaken
(usually connected with elvish to continue the pleasure and comfort
of release from anxiety and worry which accompanies hypnosis,
apparently), there are several other techniques to be tried.
91111111111111111111rnd some other psychiatrists do not agree,
at least inoofar as the therapeutic.use of narco-hypnosis is concerned.
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But suppose that while under Iftno ect is told tbet'-"N'
a loved one's life is in danger from a maniac and that the
only means of rescue is to .shoot a person 'designated as the
maniac? Three expert practitioners (two from universities and
the Agency consultant quoted above) say that there is.nordotibt
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.6n the 'Basis qf their experience thatIn such circumstanAs
- murder mould be attempted. The only requirement is that the
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proposal be 'pa'. "in -a- form and manner acceptable to the subject. "
Most dern authorities fepl that a subject will carry out any
suggestion which be can rationalize within the framework of
his moral code.
(Currently, there is a murder trial in In which the 41
.murderer has been judged to have been under hypnosis at the time
of the crime. He has been retried, released and the hypnotist
tried and convicted. The case la now under appeal. The comment
of the three knowledgeeble informants was that the hypnotist must
"have been a rank amateur to .have%een found out since any
experienced operator would have known how to suggest away the
fact that he had arranged the crime.)
II. APPLICATION OF HYPNOSIS TO COVERT OPERATIONS
. Obviously, disguised pre-testing and induction are necessities
for the use of hypnosis in clandestine operations. Without at least
the second of therm I am unable to ace that any covert hypnotic technique
requires operatianai_experimehtation. The possibilities are
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not only interesting, they are frightening. A kind of double-
think Orwellian world of hypnosis, 'while tinlikely, is not
utterly fantastic. One thing is clear: we really do not
kno0 within what limits "belief" may be changed by hypndsis.
Based on,what I have read, I judge that tha
se an elaborate conditioned-reflex procedure in
their "brain;LViShingl. Even so, hypnosis maybe able Cu the
one hand to pre-condition a subject against the pressures,
or after the fact to help undo the damage.
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Analogous Case �1
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� One of the foremost U.S. laboratory experimenters
with hypnosis on one occasion (1939) "converted" a
campus atheist to a devout believer. The same operator,
was on the point of trying a similar experiment in
reverse with a divinity student when the university
authorities forbade further tests. Before the "conversion"
to religion through hypnosis had been erased by negative
suggestions, the subject had for over two weeks given
every sign of being a dedicated religious convert. Be
'vas restored to his former disbelief. I know of no way
of estimating how long the hypnotically-imposed orientation
would have endured; but once implanted, of course, cir-
cumstances tended to reinforce it. Given a subject who
could be converted at all, the new orientation might beeome
permanent, the experimenter felt. .
2. e As part of their indoctrination procedure, CIA staff-
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personnel might be tested for hypnotic sysceptibility. Actually,
it appears to be easier to hypnotize large numbere of people .
than a single saject, for the best subjects go "under" quickly
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the statements in this paper are juatified: LtC17"DirCit.
2, Authorize development in detail of the field-oriented
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operationalproam sketched above.
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-3. select onecEID/PAHWiiron 0 ,AS an initial teat area and .::- �
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designate a si4;g1e individual in the operational chain-of-coomand
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as director of the prograei. �
1. Bet as a re-appraisal date either one year from the time
the first team arrives in the test area or sooner if the director
of the program feels that the test program has failed or is failing.
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