SUMMARY OF REMARKS BY DR. ALLEN W. DULLES AT THE NATIONAL ALUMMI CONFERENCE OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY HOT SPRINGS, VA., APRIL 10, 1953 - BRAIN WARFARE

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00146077
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 17, 2024
• Document Release Date: January 15, 1983
• Publication Date: April 10, 1953

su=riY 01, R7t.W,F DY ALL= W. rliftFS
LT TA CF Ti
GRALUATE rF t.;I:=1TY
� HOT SYRII:OE, VA., APRIL' 10, 1953 .
Mill WARFARE
f
In tho past few years we have become accustomed to hearing much
about the battle for men's mdnds -- the war of ideologies - and indeed our .
government has been driven by the internaticnal tension we 'call the "cold
war" to take pcsitiVe steps to reccznize psychological warfare and to play
an active role in it. I wonder, however, whether we clearly perceive the
full magnitudc.of the problem, whether we realize how sinister the battle
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for =en's minds has become in Soviet hands. We mi:fht call it, in its new
form, "brain warfare".
The target cf this warfare is the minds of =en both cn a collectiv-:,
and on an individunl basis. Its aim is to condition the mind so that it no
longer reacts cm a free will or rational basis but responds to impulses
implanted from outside. If we are to counter this kind of warfare we must
understana the: tehniques the EevieL is edepting to control men's minds.
� There is an old adage that "everyone is crazy but me and thee
and
sometimes I suspect thee". There is more truth than we realize in this saying.
The human mind is the most delicate cf all instruments. It is so finely--
adjusted, so susceptible to the impact of outside influences that it is
iroving a malleable tool in the hands of sinister ten. The Soviets are now
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using brain perversion techniques as one of their main weapons in prosecuting
the cold war. Some of these techniques are so subtle and so abhorrent to-our
way of life that we have recoiled from facing up to them.
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We take for granted a society where hum.an tuings are fr,2c to think ns
� they plcasc.. We read and sco and hear such a variety of things that the. izd
adopts no single pattern. Our society produces all kinds of people thinking
and believing all manner of thoughts. Fortunately, in cur drive for standarfi-
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� zation in other fields; we havetnot consciously tried to standardize the n:Lnd.
In the Soviet world, however, this is being done.
�In the freedom that we enjoy -- and freedom of thought is possibly the
- most precious freedom that we do enjoy -- it is hard for us to realize that
in the great area behind the Iron Curtain a vast experiment is underway to
change men's minds, working on them continuously frcm youth to cld age.
- -Such an experiment has never before been undertaken en so vast and
so Well organized a scale. In Hitler's Germany and in. Fascist Italy some
r., effort was .made to make men into a single pattern. In Germany it vas called-�
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ci .c.&. ..,...c. .rt _. _t.,--_.1; ,..--... t fi --&......r..
d - glaichmestaftng :- the leveling process. This effort covered only a few
- .years and may have had little permanent effect on the German mind, though
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it did have its effect on history in conditicning.the Germans in vast nutbers
to follow Hitler's mad experiments. 'Japan had its thou.ht control which,
while highly efficient in combatting sedition and welding the Japanese people
into apparent unity behind an intense nationalism, seems, also to have had
little permanent.effect-
-'The Soviet experiment is very different. It takes two forms:
the attempt at mass indetrinaticn cf hundreds of millions of peciple so that
.thCy respond docilely to the orders of their caster. This permits the creation
- of :a monolithic solidarity in the Soviet state which outwardly gives it the
- appearance of great unity.
Second, the perversion of the minds of selected individuals who are
subjected to such treatment that they are deprived of the ability to state-
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their cwn thoochts. Perrot-like th:. individuals so conditionLd can D:sroly
repeat thohts whIch have*bccn imIplantd in th.:ir minds by suggestion
from outside. In effect the brain under these cireu=tences becomus a phono-
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graph playing a disc put on its spindle by an olitside genius over which it
has_no control.
The Chinese, who are seldom at a loss for a word, have given its the
term which has
Corn
generally to be applied to this treatment of individual
rinds: "brain washing". Actually, the Chinese subjected to Communist "thouMht
reform" tcchniaues experienced two treatments: a "brain washing" which
"cleansed the mind of the. old and evil th,iugSts spawned by imperialists cf
the West," and a "brain changing" which implanted the "new and glorious
thoughts of the Communist Revolution". In ou� conception of the perversion
of inaividual minds the tern "brain washing" seems aptly to describe this
phase of brain warfare.
This campaign for the control of men's rinds, with its two Particular
manifestations, has such far reaching implications that it is high time for
us to realize what it means and the problems it �resents in thwarting our
siwa program for spreading the gospel of.freedem.
To create conditions which permit the mass indoctrinetipn of millions
of people cortaip prcrecuisites are necessary. In particular it is neces- �
sary to close off with an impenetrable barrier the area within which the
operation is to take plaCe. This is what Winston Churchill described So
graphically in 1945 as "the Iron Curtain". It is the physical and spiritual
barrier by which the Soviet Union has isolated itself .and its satellites from
the outside world.
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Today this nern, whetn,:r of iron or Lar:.boo, stretcnes son.. 21,000
miles around the Soviet doLlinatel Eur-sien land mans and cffecti7oly cuts off -
normal intercourse btween East and West. Th- land.fronticrs in Europe arc
normally divided into three zones: A forward zone which is the actual border
area about a mile deep; an intLrmediate zene of about 10 miles; and a rear
arcs which Lay be as much as 150 miles deep. This rear area is cleared of
politically unreliable elements cf the population and those who cone into it
must have special passes issued by the Frontier Troop Administration. The
intermediate belt of 10 miles is being completely depopulated. The forward
arg is a no man's land cleared of underbrush and other cover and esuipped
vith physical obstacles such as barbed wire and mines. Many sectors are
pluwed and kept raked to reveal telltale footprints. ';'hsc physical barriers
are supplemented by patrols of frontier troops e-luipmed.l.dth the latest
'weapons and technical aids in^lu'lins aircraft and radio, and such tine honored
auxiliaries as specielly trained dcgs. Interestingly enough these border
-troops are subordinated not to the armed forces but to the internal police.
The intensity of border controls naturally varies with the nature of the
frontier, the character of the population, and the torrain.
Along the sea frontiers in the Baltic and the Far East fishing crews
are selected from among the most reliable elements of the population, and as
'a double insurance against defection, members of the various boat crews are
rotated so that no one group servos together for any length of time. As a
result of some defections to Sweden frou the Baltic areas, the fishing fleets
in nost instances are not allowed cut *farther than about 60 miles. They are
Often accompanied by a guard vessel, and are also closely watched by aircraft.
1111.
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The modern way to Get ideao across national frontierc in throuh ra.i4o
bronoting. Even here the Co=unioto arc trying to dra...f the curtain.
.pyierful j=inG equipment has been Installed at otrategic points in order
produce electro:dc interference and eliminate the reception of foreign radio
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messages. These measures, so/far, are only partially successful. To reinforoe
them the sale of radios capable of picking up foreign broaacasts LI being
curbed. In their place, public loud-speakers &)ntrolled from Mzscsw are be-in:7
installed in the public squares of towns and villages in the Soviet Unicn.
In this way mass. indoctrination can take the place of individual C-oice in
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radio reception.
Except for official use, foreign publications have been almest wholly.
eliminated from the Soviet Union. For a long period, the official publica-
tion "Lmerika" was tclerated on the theory that its circulation. was so limitei
that it did no harm. That has now been stopped. Of course nothinz is
published in the Soviet Union that is not Government approved.
If, by chance, Soviet artists, scientists, doctors, or te-1-4cians
deviate frcm the official line they are quickly fcrced to recant cr are
purged. To be different-is a crime. .These days It seems a bit damgerous even
to be a doctor in the Seviet Union.
Racial minority groups within the Soviet which once enjcyed their
own individual cultures have been largely eliminated by mass purges or forced
migrations to "safe" areas. The persecution of the Jews and their orospective
_elimination was one of the latest evidences of this phase of the Sevic,t
campaign.
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Religion has been made a State affair. Belief in God has been the
hardest deviation which the Soviet leveling machine has had to face and this
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has not yet been wholly so1ved. It is most certainly on 'their b,...eks a3. the
final obstacle to the complite reallzation of their idea1. of the Bolshevist
State, but neither Lenin nor Stalin has yet been accepted as a cubstieute fer
God by the Russian people.
The program of isolation which has been followed in the Soviet Union
vith ever increasing intensity since the Revolution bf 1217 has epnroached
its climax during the last few years. Within the heartland of Russia, this
program has been carried to near cernletion.
In the European satellites, the progress has been slower, differing
from State to State depending upon the length and completeness of Soviet
domination, and on the tince and attention that the raster rinds in Moscow
have been able to give to this particular taslc. In these States, with
centuries of Christian tradition behind them, the levelire task will take
some time -- but is being ruthlessly pressed forward.
All of these facts are well known to us -- it is only when we put them
together and bee their clmmlative effect that we can appreciate their full
meaning. We have, none of us, ever been subjected to conditions where year
by year we have been tOld one thing, read one thing and. allowed, to t1"-,k one
thing. It is otherwise in the Seviet Union. There tt is prescribed.
No alternative is offered.
In our own daily lives, by contrast, we are given choices. We can
make up cur minds as between possible alternatives. It is hard for us to
conceive how cur own minds would operate if, say fvr the last twenty years,
ve had been given only one choice and heard only one message. I can only assure
you of !;ly firm belief that few of us would have withstood such treatment and
kept an open mind.
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Daring the past few years, in paitioular, the people of the Soviet '
Union and of the Satellites have been giv.rn one 'theme seng about the Western
d-mocracies and especially the United States, namely, that we are the enery
of the Soviet people, that we are plotting their downfall and attempting
their oricirclement. We are portrayed as thaprotagcnists of atomic and
bacteriological warfare, and our government is said to be dominated by the
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gagnates of Wall Street -- the oppressors of the working man. It is the
nost vicious campai-n of hatred that any country has ever attempted against
another. It is a campaign intended to condition the minds of the Russian
people so that their leaders could embark. en any type of aggressive action
against the free world. Unfortunately, it is a camnaign that is making
steady progress under conditions where no diSsenting voice is allowed to
interrupt the hate tirade, even though the crescendo may be toned davn during
"peace offensives".
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The second phase cf the brain-conditioning program of the Soviet is
directed against the individual, case by case.' Here they take selected human
leings whom they wish to destroy and turn them into huMble confessors cf
crimes they never cemmitted or make them the nouthpiece for Soviet propaganda.
Here new techniques wash the brain clean of the thoughts and mental processes
of the past and, possibly through the use of some "lie serum.", create new
brain processes and newAhour''-its which the victim, parrot like, repeats.
The development of :these new techniques has been under way in the
'Soviet Union for a long time. We first had some inkling of what they were.
doing during.the notorious purge trials of the late 1930's. Then we saw
hardened old Bolsheviks, veterans of many revolutions, who becone like docile
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childr,.'n in the hands cf the Soviet prcsecutor, Vishiushy. With alacrity
and seaming enthusiasm they confszed to all manner of extraordinary crimes
ozainot the Soviet State and hastened t invite the. death sentence. Low for
these confessions w�Ire truth and hc�,7 far they were fiction remains today a
mystery; but certainiy the men who :::ado these confessions had gene through
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a Wntal mota=rphosis when they appearsd before the State prosecutor.
Maybe the techniques of those days were crude, but they served well
the bosses of the Kremlin and demonstrated beyond any doubt that anyone whom
the Kremlin rulers decidsa to destroy and had put through the necessary period
of indoctrination would state just about what these Kremlin rulers wanted
him to say. And a tou-,:er, more crsP-haraened croup of men probably never .
appeared before the bar of "justice".
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After the war, Soviet science and ingenuity made rapid strides in the
study of mental reactiens and in the nefarious art of breahing down the
human mind. Possibly the case that msst startled the West was that involving
the confession of Cardinal Mindszenty, in Hungary. Here a man of proven
Co rage and outstanding intellect ,,:as brought to a point of publicly con-
fescing actions which 'those who knew this cutstand4ng cha,-acter could not
pr,ssibly have attributed to him.
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recently, in Czechoslovakia, we have
had the trial of Slansky, Clem:antis and their associates who had fallen into
disfavor vith Moscow. Here, again, we had hardened products of the Communist
system. The only trouble with Slanny & Co. was that Moscow vented semeone
else to have their jobs so they up and confessed to those crimes and mis-
demeanors against the Communist State which would assure their removal from
the scone.
'
There is one interesting feature about this type of trial; it is the
length of time between arrest and confession. It is rarely less than six
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months. This is not because "Cemmaniot jilstice" en=ot move pith rapidity
when it w-,Ints to. In fact, few thin go can be more rapid. But in cas:, where
detailed confessions in epe.n cetut are desired, there must be a censierable
period probably a mini= of around three months -- to proprly indectrinate
VI,' intended victims. Men.: ve-tten confessions could be much more quickly
extracted by torture.
that does this indectrination consist of?
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We, in the West, are somewhat handicanped in getting all the details.
. There are few survivors, and we have no human guinea pigs, ovrselves,.on
whiCh to try out those extraordinary techniques. The Soviets have their
political prisoners, their Slave cap inmates and finally, and most tragic
ef all, our own countrymen whom they held as.priesners.
We now have, hs,wever, some evidence on which to base a judgmont.
A few-have escaped from the ordeal ef brain-washing to tell their story. One
of the first was Michael Shiphov, a young Bulgarian efficer educated at .
Robert College in Istanbul. He served for a time with the American Mission
in Bulgaria following the end of the war. In 1949, he was arrested by the .
Bulgarian Cc=munists, sub-jectad to the brain-washing technique, miraculously
managed to escape, reported on his experiences to the American authorities
and then, in att=ting to escape fren Bulgaria, was tragically caught and
liquidated.
The technicues cm-cloyed in the case of Shipmv were somewhat crude
but give the pattern of the later, more refined methods. One element stands
out in all the knewn cases. It is endless interrogation by teams of brutal
interrogators while the victim is being deprived of sleep. In the earlier
days, as in the Shipkov case, acme minor tertures were employed. Shipkcv
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V33 forced to stand in an awkward pecition without being allowed ts move
during the interrrdgation. Only a short time was required to "break" him c.s
aU that was revircd of him by the Communists was it signcd confession. As
he lvoked back upon his experience, here is what Shipkov wrote:
"Out of the jumbled memories, soMe impressions stand out
vivid. One: they are not over interested in what you tell them.
It would arpear that the ultimate purpose of this treatment is to
break you down completely, and deprive you of any will power or private
thought or. self-esteem, which they achieve remarkably quickly. And �
they seem to pursue- a classic confession, well rcunded off in the
phraseology, explaining why you were induced by environment and
education to enter the service of the .enemies cf Ccmmunism, how
you placed your capacities in their service, what ultim4e real did
you pursue -- the overthrow of the pecples government throh forefsn
intervention. Ana they anpeer to place importance on the parallel
appearance of repentance and self-conaemnat4en that come up with the
. breaking down of their prisoner."
Daring and after the late war the Scviets made extensive efforts to
reindoctrinate German and Japanese prisoners of war. Many of these have not
even yet been repatriated. Those that have been .released have been sent tack
to their homeland as missionaries for the Con:::ttnist faith. Recently, there
has been a new development in Soviet procedures which takes on, for us, an
even more alarming significance. The Communists are now applying the brain-
washing.tcchniques to American prisoners in Korea and it is not beyond the
range of pcssibility that considerable numbers of our own boys there might
be co indoctrinated as to be induced, temporarily at leatl.to renounce_contry
and fenn y.
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The Communists havc recently'bo.n showing a film portraying young.
American .aviators vho publicly me.2-:(2 spurious :1confessions" of participation.
in the.u.lc of germ varfarc against North Korea. We have a copy of this film
and I oaw a showing the other day. Here Amoricaa boys -- their identity is
beyond doubt -- stand up before the merfsers of an. International investigatory
group of Cemmuniots fr= Western Europe and the Satellites and make open
confessions, fake from beginning to end, giving the details of the alleged
drooping of bcnbs with bacteriological ingredients on North Korean targets.
They describe their indoctrination in bacteriological warfare, give all the
details of their missions, their flight sChecililes, where they claim to have
dropped the germ bombs, and other details. As far as one can judge from the
film, these pseudo confessions are voluntary. There is. little prompting from
the Communist interrogators.
More recently, the Chinese Communist radio br^st what they claimed
vas the recorded voice cf a Colonel and Major of the United States Marine
Corps, captured last July, giving, in the greatest detail, fictitious informa-
tiOn regarding preparations for bacteriological warfare in Korea. Since then
these alleged co;ifessions have been introduce-, by the Ccr-munists into the
proceedings at the United rations.
. These state7.!ents bear the usual hallmarl:s of Soviet imposed fabrica-
tions for example, the humiliation and repcntance of the individual at
having engaged in such activities. Again, as in the case of the Soviet trials,
there is a period of some six months between the date of capture and the alleged
confession: adequate time to allow for the elaborate planning by the Communists
of vhat the confession should contain, the drafting of the "scenario", as it
were, and the -- roughly -- two to three months needed for the indoctrination
of the patient.
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. The only factor that prevents the Communists f.:cm ennloying thos,
procedures on a Mass scale -is the problem of rmupower for the task and the
shortage of trained interrecators. Presilmably thcru-arc schools in which
Interrogators arc trained in the tochniqecs of brain-washing. Uowever, to
deal with a hundred victims at time would require the services of four
or five times as many trained interrogators over a protracted pericd. Each
man has a team assiL;ncd to him and each case is individunlly-prepared
I have talked with cne man who has cone throurh the brain-washing
process, an erdnent American missionary in China. He had the unique ex-
perience of going through the treatment and then of being released and given
his freedom. This is very unusual under SoViet practice.
This ran described how he had been subjected for scventy-five nays
to the monotony of interrogation, mostly during the night hours, by relays.
of brutal questioners, deprived of sleob and subjeeted to the effect of
bright lighting during the teriod of his cuestioninc. As far as he knew)
no drugs were used, but of course they might have been used without his
knokling it. In this case, no direct physical torture was applied.
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' After many days cf this interrogation his mind was 'broken down, and
he went into court and gave what he now recognizes to be combl,!tely false
testimony arainst.one of his fellow missionaries, asserting with confidence
that this other missionary had a concealed radio with which he was communicat-
ing with "the enemy". He gave this testimeny with vigcr and with what, at
the tine, was apparent com-olete confidence in its truth.
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The information on which I have based these remarks is none of it -
secret; it is all available to any student .ho wishes to study this form of
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varfnrc which lc now beinc; practiced azaiast us. It seem,2d to mo useful to
gather sone of the facts t.QT,-I;hnr co ti,at we can be alerted to the danGcr and
are not misled or troubled by these fictitious c'enfessicns - whether from
Communists victimized by other Communists or by our own people who fall into
Communist hands.
The End
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