MEMORANDUM FOR: DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE FROM JOHN F. BLAKE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-00142R000200070003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2008
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 25, 1978
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
FROM: John F. Blake
Deputy Director for Administration
Stan:
1. I write to comment on Tony Lapham's paper of 24 July 1973
to you on "MKULTRA - Program to Identify Subjects of Agency-
Sponsored Drug Testing."
2. I believe this is a very solid paper, which from Tony is
not at all an unusual product.
3. In a more specific sense I address myself to paragraph 15
and the idea expressed there that "it would appear to be necessary
organizationally to take a staff or task force approach." Tony goes
on to suggest that "for this purpose an OMS official may be best
suited to heading this effort." While I believe I understand why
my learned, legal colleague made that observation, I believe an
equally viable alternative is to have a senior general duty staff
officer undertake the organization and direction of this undertaking.
In making this alternate recommendation, I have a specific individual
in mind and would be willing to make him available for such time as is
necessary to see this onerous task through.
AS/_ jack
John F. Blake
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24 July 1978
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MEMORANDUM FOR Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Anthony A. Lapham
General Counsel
SUBJECT . MKULTRA - Program to Identify Subjects
of Agency-Sponsored Drug Testing
1. Action Requested: It is requested that you review
the portions of this memorandum which summarize the opinion.
of the Justice Department to the effect that the United
States Government has an obligation to attempt to identify,
locate, and notify persons who unwittingly may have been
subjected to, and continue to suffer harm from, drug-testing
activities sponsored by this Agency in the past, and that
you consider the approach described below to implement that
opinion.
2. Background:
A. Summary of the Opinion. On 17 July 1978 the Depart-
ment of Justice responded finally and officially to our 22
September 1977 request for guidance concerning the exis-
tence, extent and nature of any legal or other responsibility
on the part of the U.S. Government to persons who were sub-
jected to CIA-sponsored drug-testing in the 1950s and 1960s..
(A copy of our request is attached for your information as
Tab A. A copy of the Justice opinion and a covering letter
which summarizes that opinion in some detail are attached as
Tab B.)
3. Briefly stated, the opinion concludes that the
government does have an obligation, supported by general
principles of tort law, to attempt to identify, locate, and
notify unwitting persons whose health might continue to be
affected adversely as a result of those portions of the
Agency activities in question which may reasonably be deter-
mined to have resulted in such long-term present-day conse-
quences. You should be aware that the prior drafts of this
opinion which we have seen concluded in addition that there
existed a policy judgment to be made by CIA, although Justice
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FROM ATTACHP^.ENT.
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favortd proceeding s this regard, as to whet,%wr unwitting
persons who were subjected to drug-testing sponsored by CIA,
which however could not reasonably be expected to have
produced long-term effects, also should be found and notified
of this fact. The discussion of this policy area was removed
from the final opinion, reportedly on the instructions of
Judge Bell. Although the opinion now is limited to the
legal aspects of this problem and finds a duty to notify
only persons who may suffer continuing health consequences,
it is of course still open to you to determine that a larger
number of persons meeting different criteria should be
included in the notification program.
4. After concluding that such a duty to notify exists,
at least where further harm may be thus avoided, the opinion
notes that any effort to fulfill this-duty must be circumspect
because of existing legal constraints and a 'concern for
avoiding damaging intrusions into the privacy of these
individuals. Accordingly, such an effort must be limited
generally to an examination of federal records and the
records of the institutions which were involved where such
records have survived and are not protected by law from
disclosure, and other documents not subject to limited
disclosure such as telephone books and voter registration
lists. "To the greatest extent practicable" this effort
should be conducted, it is the Justice Department's opinion,
without the use of personal interviews with family members,
former neighbors, employers or friends since such interviews
would cause further embarrassment and loss of privacy to
identified subjects.
5. `7e have determined, and Justice has, agreed in this
opinion, that this Agency is not in a position, without
special legislation, to offer indemnification to any institution
or associated individual against liability which may be
incurred as a consequence of their involvement in these
activities and their agreement to cooperate with the govern-
ment by making their records available and facilitating the
identification of test subjects. In addition, notes Justice,
in some cases the institutions themselves may be precluded
by law or professional ethic from allowing the government to
review their records for these purposes.
6. As to what may be done for confirmed test subjects
who are identified and located, the Justice Department con-
clusion is that a simple notification of involvement may be
made along with an offer to provide available information to
the subject's physician. Neither this Agency nor any other
federal agency appears to have authority, again in the
absence of special legislation, to provide medical treatment
or to pay the costs of private treatment in this regard.
The sole recourse for persons suffering medical expenses as
a result of governmental activities is to file claims and
institute litigation under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
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7. The Justice opinion concludes that CIA has lawful
authority to conduct this program, within the constraints
described above, but notes that CIA may legitimately approach
any other federal agency for assistance it may be authorized
and equipped to provide. As is discussed further below, it
may be necessary or advisable to call upon HEW or DOD for
help in this effort.
8. Finally, the Justice Department opinion points out
several circumstances in which the duty to conduct such a
notification program may not apply. One such circumstance
exists where there are sound policy reasons not to notify
such persons. The exception would appear to be unavailable
in this instance, particularly since you have already com-
mitted the Agency to supporting-such a program. The second
circumstance would exist were CIA so peripherally involved
or ignorant of the nature of the testing as to be not aware
of or responsible for any resulting harm to the subjects. By
and large, given the nature. of the testing programs and the
CIA role, this exception also would appear to be inapplic-
able. Finally, a factor which may apply to exclude certain.
groups of individuals is that no duty to notify exists where
the subject had actual notice of participation in a testing
program, although presumably this circumstance would not
obviate the duty unless the subject was made aware of all
relevant aspects of the experiment, e.g., identity of the
drug-involved,dosages, etc.
'B. Implementation
f
8. A number of matters require decisions before this
opinion may be implemented. In addition to the policy
determinations concerning the categories of persons to be
included and whether to approach HEW or another federal
entity to request assistance, there are numerous questions
concerning how the Agency should best organize itself to
initiate and maintain such an effort.. The paragraphs which.
follow present for your consideration my thoughts on how to
approach this matter.
9. While CIA must of course play an important part in
such a program, it may not be the entity best suited for the
undertaking. Due to the fragmentary nature of the surviving
CIA records, we do not have sufficient information either to
allow identification of any test subjects or to develop
sufficiently specific details to be very useful to treating
physicians in a medical sense. Thus, there will have to be
very heavy reliance upon records which may be available. at
the various institutions, by and large academic in nature,
which were involved in these activities. As you are aware,
however, CIA enjoys a somewhat less than favorable standing,
partially as a result of the MKULTRA disclosures themselves,
in the eyes of the very institutions whose records must be
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relied upon for this effort to have even a marginal chance
of success. For this reason, and to assist in the process
of properly evaluating existing Agency records to determine
in the first instance which institutions it will be necessary
to contact, Secretary Califano should be requested to make
available the good offices and assistance of HEW in evalu-
ating the existing information concerning the MKULTRA projects,
in approaching appropriate institutions and requesting their
cooperation, in examining the records of any institutions
which agree to help, and in providing assistance to any
subjects who may be located. CIA has, of course, been in
contact with most of the institutions identified in the
MKULTRA documents during the past several months. Although
these communications generally have been courteous, further
correspondence from CIA cannot be expected to be received
warmly by officials who have been wrestling with the media
and inquisitive students as a result of the MKULTFeA dis-
closures. Further,-we would be in this case asking these
institutions to undertake affirmative efforts to review
their records, to make those records available to our investi-
gators, and to expose themselves and their personnelto
potential civil liability arising from litigation by identi-
fiable test subjects.
10. In addition, CIA may be open to charges, if it
conducts such a program alone, that it suppressed evidence,
influenced recollections, or failed to pursue or consider
adequately any information which might arise. While the
institutional exposure to liability cannot be eliminated, we
can alleviate the adverse reaction which might be expected
to result from further contact by CIA and also reduce the
basis for charges of bad faith against the Agency by coop-
erating in this effort with HEW. The Agency must participate
in the identification of the institutions to be contacted,
and, based upon our prior correspondence, the preparation of
the initial requests for help. Those requests, however,
should come from an "untainted" third party such as HEW to-
assure the most favorable response. Furthermore, since HEW
has been involved in promulgating guidelines to govern human
experimentation by the entire federal government, it would
seem to be the most appropriate agency to assist not only in
contacting the institutions but also in determining which
projects most likely would have resulted in long-term ill
effects on the health of the subjects and thus which insti-
tutions should be contacted. Similarly, the impartial
advice and assistance of HEW representatives would be valuable
in ensuring and evidencing that such a program has been
conducted fairly, impartially, and thoroughly. Furthermore,
as is noted in the Justice opinion, there are limited circum-
stances in which HEW may be enabled to provide medical
assistance, such as a "follow-up research program" or a pre-
litigation medical examination, and any prospect of such
assistance would be heightened by early HEW involvement.
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11. At the saf!"ye time as HEW is being apoached, you
should direct that the Agency component most familiar with
the surviving MKULTRA papers, probably the Office of Technical
Services (OTS), begin reviewing all drug research documents
to identify, insofar as is possible, the activities which
involved drug. testing on humans; the specific dates, places,
researchers, amounts and sources of money; the specific
nature of the testing, dosages, all drugs used, any recorded
effects; the status of the subjects (i.e., student volunteers,
inmate volunteers, hospital patients, etc.), the population
from which these subjects were drawn
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, etc.), the identities
of any subjects, and any other information of relevance to
the determination of whether adverse effects might result.
and where the subjects might be located. We have tentatively
divided the projects into various categories based upon
summary information supplied to us last summer and a copy of
this breakdown is attached as Tab C for your information and
as a starting point for OTS. This listing should be verified
and supplemented by a close review of the documents themselves.
12. All Agency documents relating to drug testing-on
human subjects which are available should be reviewed. This
would include BLUEBIRD/ARTICHOKE, MKSEARCH, OFTEN/CHICKWIT,
and other drug-testing conducted without regard to specific
project designations, not just those specifically related to
MKULTRA which were discovered last summer. To the extent
the Office of Security or any other Agency component is more
familiar with any of these collections than is OTS, that
other component should be assigned the same review respon-
sibilities as to those papers. Further, it is my un4erstand--
ing that the Information and Privacy Staff is the Agency
entity charged with accumulating requests.and inquiries from
persons who claim to have been test subjects. This informa-
tion should be correlated with the project breakdowns by OTS
and other components to determine whether, according to
alleged dates and places of involvement, these inquiries
include any credible claims which should be investigated.
The final compilation will be necessary for a determination
as to which institutions should be contacted and requested
to help in this effort.
13. Appropriate Agency personnel familiar with these
materials should assist HEW representatives in evaluating
this information and in drafting correspondence to the
appropriate institutions. These letters should describe the
goals of this effort, identify the circumstances of the
testing as specifically as is possible, alert the institutions
to.their own potential liabilities and to the indemnification
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problem, and request assistance and all pertinent informa-
tion, including access to the institutional records whenever
possible. It seems to me that it is going to be very diffi-
cult, if not impossible, to protect the identities ofl the
researchers involved from any institution which agrees to
assist us in this effort and which requests such information
as an aid to locating the records in question. As you know,
up to this point we have striven to protect the identities
of the researchers from disclosure either to the public or
to the institutions. However, a continued policy of non.--
disclosure in the present context could prevent access to
the only available sources of information necessary to sus-
tain the notification program, thus frustrating its purposes
and further exposing CIA to the charge of deliberately crip-
pling the entire effort. To the extent that the identities
of researchers are to be disclosed, I believe the researchers
themselves must be notified as the first order of business,
and some special problems and unpleasant exchanges can
probably be anticipated in this regard.
14. CIA and HEW personnel also' will have to cooperate
in following up and coping with any unforeseen problems
which might arise in this effort. Institutions which agree
to help would have to be contacted by representatives of HEW
and the Agency's Office of Security for the purpose of
amassing as much information as possible about identifiable
subjects of the testing. The Office of Security would be
responsible for utilizing open sources such as telephone
directories, in accordance with the Justice opinion, to
attempt to identify and locate persons who may have been
subjected to Agency-sponsored drug testing. Contdct with
any subject located should be made by HEW and CIA representa-
tives jointly. Unless HEW is prepared to furnish further
assistance of some sort, it would appear that the most that
can or should be done for identified subjects is to supply
them or their physicians with all pertinent data concerning
the tests so as to facilitate treatment. My Office will, of
course, be involved in the development of a policy for
dealing with and for disposing of the administrative claims
and litigation which may be expected to develop from this
effort.
15. It is entirely possible that, depending upon the
determinations which are made as to the categories of persons
to be notified and the likelihood of long-term effects from
the various drugs involved, the actual numbers of persons to
be located and notified, and thus the numbers of institu-
tions to be contacted, may be very small. However, in order
to accomplish the analysis effort which must precede these
determinations and because of the potential size and. scope
of this project,'it would appear to be necessary organiza-
tionally to take a staff or task force approach and have
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specific Agency personnel designated by the various components
involved as primarily responsible for the coordination and
accomplishment of the many functions which relate to this
program, and for maintaining contact with the HEW representa-
tives. Such a group, in order to be at all successful, must
have direction, and for this purpose an OMS official may be
best suited to heading this effort.
16. If HEW declines the request, we will have to _
reconsider that aspect of the program. An alternative
course of action would be to call upon the military services
which have had some experience in recent years in the initia-
tion and conduct of similar programs to review the claims of
servicemen who participated in drug-testing programs.
However, I believe the responsibilities proposed for OTS,
the Office of Security, OMS, and this Office in this memo-
randum are appropriate and should proceed unchanged regard-
less of HEW's reaction.
17. Recommendation: Copies of this paper.have been
submitted to the components mentioned in order that they may
furnish you with their views concerning the wisdom and
consequences of these recommendations. The scope and form
of this program should be the subject of further discussion
at a meeting called by you or the DDCI and you may wish to
reserve decision on these matters until after such a dis-
cussion.
Anthony A. Lap am
Attachments
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SUBJECT: 1,,7KULTRA - Program to Identify Subjects of
Agency-Sponsored Drug Testing
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