RESPONSE TO INQUIRY FROM SENATOR KENNEDY REGARDING THE AGENCY'S EFFORTS TO NOTIFY MKULTRA 'VICTIMS'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R001900070090-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 1, 2006
• Sequence Number: 90
• Publication Date: March 27, 1978
• Content Type: MF

GC 78-1874
27 March 1978
.Approved For Release 2006/08/01: CIA-RDP81 M00980R0 0 1 9 0 0117_Q090-6
O _.
MEMORANDUM FOR: Acting Director of Central Intelligence
FROM : Anthony A. Lapham
General Counsel
Response to Inquiry from Senator Kennedy Regarding
the Agency's Efforts to Notify MKULTRA "Victims"
1. Action Requested: It is requested that you review and sign the
proposed response, attached as Tab A, to Senator Kennedy's letter of
13 March, attached as Tab B, inquiring as to the status of the Agency's
efforts, in coordination with the Department of Justice, to identify, locate,
and notify individuals who may have been the subjects of CIA-sponsored
drug-testing as part of Project MKULTRA.
2. Background: Admiral Turner testified on 3 August 1977 before
a joint hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Sub-
committee on Health and Scientific Research of the Senate Committee on
Human Resources, and again on 21 September 1977 before the latter sub-
committee alone, concerning documents discovered last summer
revealing many previously unknown details of the Agency-sponsored
drug testing which was conducted under Project MKULTRA in the
1950s and 1960s. In both instances, Admiral Turner endorsed, and
committed the Agency to, the concept of a program to attempt to identify,
locate, and notify individuals who may have been the subjects of such
drug testing. As is indicated in the proposed response to Senator
Kennedy's inquiry, we have requested the opinion of the Justice Depart-
ment as to the proper form of such a program. However, the problems
raised in this connection are novel as well as immense and have not yet
been resolved satisfactorily even on a conceptual level. Apparently there
was some misunderstanding between Admiral Turner and the Attorney
General as to the progress of the Justice Department's consideration of
this matter at the time of Admiral Turner's appearance before Senator
Kennedy's subcommittee.
MORKIDIF
 Approved For.Release 2006/08/01: CIA-RDP81 M00980R001 900070090-6
3. The most recent draft Justice Department opinion, now under
consideration in the Office of Legal Counsel at Justice, concludes that
there is a nonstatutory obligation on the part of the government to locate
and notify individuals whose health may reasonably be expected to have
been effected adversely by these drug tests, and a policy judgment to be
made concerning notice to other drug test subjects where no such adverse
effects seem likely to have resulted. The opinion also recognizes, among
other things, that the records of the various universities and institutions
involved are essential to the success of such a program, that CIA may well
not be the entity best-suited to engage in this effort because of its dis-
favored standing in academic circles, and that the scope of the investiga-
tions required to locate subjects once identified must be limited to public..
sour
s
office has been considering the most practical means for the Agency to
implement the Justice opinion so as to be in a position to make recommenda-
tions to you and Admiral Turner as soon as possible after that opinion is
finalized.
ces so as not to intrude further into the lives of the subject
M
4. For your information, relevant information concerning a similar
inquiry in December 1977 from Senator Inouye, and Admiral Turner's response,
is attached as Tab C.
5. Recommendation: It is recommended that you sign the attached
letter to Senator Kennedy.
Attachments
 FppTuvea or e ease 2006/08/01 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R001900070090-6
SUBJECT: Response to Inquiry from Senator Kennedy Regarding
the Agency's Efforts to Notify MKULTRA "Victims"
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