CIA'S MANHATTAN 'TEST' EXPERIMENTS ON NEW YORKERS?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400410004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 10, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01315R00040,64-1~dQ42( e,5 ft .s
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THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
10 December 1979
-AAALGL IT W %A Luc uLaov wvxr+a... .. a.v w ....
at a commercial. car wash for
,tamination," the expense vouchers sa;
G Scores of bug dusters --- the ordi-
uary?"flit; gun" variety with a pump
at one' end and a little jar for holdin,
bug killer at the other -- were pure
chased. The agents also bought numei
ous packs of "nasal filters" as well as
suitcases,, miniature motors, and
soundproofing material.:.
THE IMPLICk1T1ON LURKING in .
that series of purchases, say some
By James Coates
ASHINGTOI The CIA did some-
thing sinister in.New York City in
1955 and early. 1956 - possibly. ex.
posing unsuspecting Manhattanites
to germ warfare agents or drugs such as LSD.
Everybody who, was involved in -the covert,
operation is long gone, said agency spokesman.
Dale Peterson. "Nobody here. remembers the-
details," he explained.
But if dead men -' or for* that matter,"re-. `
tired men tell,no tales, their expense ac-
counts live long after them. And it- is a CIA '
expense account: that gives chilling hints that
agency operatives did something nasty in New
York. with germs. or hallucinogenic-drugs.' ;:.
A fragmented picture emerges from a pile of
yellowing receipts released by the agency un-
der the Freedom of Information Act. Here are
some of the things the spy burpaucrats. billed '
the home office' fora
"Cigarets, Development Security $130"
"Beer, security, exp. devel. 51.58"
UP TO-THAT point the. vouchers could be -fo
a slightly weird party involving small amounts
of beer and large amounts of. ice.
But, the chits soon become more menacing; j
"Bug duster, one dozen, dissemination
"Shotgun shells, dissemination study $10"
"Nasal filters, sampling 3 at $12.50 each
$37
50"
.
"Driver license, car'rental, proposed. field
test area-survey'--- security $9.70"
-"Nasal filter pads'-.- sampling ,.;:
"Animal Fresh Food,`emergency $2.891 "Book -WRITING CODE, security $2.50" . f
people have pondered the nature of the
program they financed. Here are som
highlights of, the speculation::
? A :team of CIA agents working .. `j
with Army personnel. from the germ
warfare labs at.Ft.-Detrick,
.my exhaust* system, which may havei
served 'as a dispersal system for a
u"rm:nir drug
analysts oF. the documents, is that the?
agents hooked motors to the bug guns
and. placed the devices in suitcases
converted to conceal. the spraying ap- .
paratus. Wearing nose plugs, the
agents carried the devices in city
crowds athere bystanders `got a dose o.
Whatever was being 'sprayed.
The vouchers also covered purchases'
of. hundreds of small boxes and vials '
--, apparently to hold specimens taken
around. town to establish just how well
whatever. was being sprayed covered.
surrounding people and objects..
The CIA-Army team also collected a
lot of weather data during their experi-
ment, feeding speculation that condi-
tions had to be just right before the
spray was effective. .
A voucher for $1.50 to visit the.ob-
servation tower of the Empire State
'Building for "weather data" was one
major tipoff that Operation Big City
the CIA's code- name for the project -
occurred in New York. Other data in-
cludes numerous - and obvious - re-
?ferences to Manhattan's streets.
The expense accounts, like most
other CIA, data released under the.
Freedom of Information Act have been
heavily censored. Names of hotels, car
washes, restaurants, food suppliers,
and the like have been crossed out.
THERE ARE TANTALIZING hints
for armchair analysts that the CIA
operatives made mistakes during their
tests. One voucher, for example, shows
they :bought a quantity of "nasal filter
pads emergency sampling." =
Another cryptic entry reads as fol=>
lows: _"Toy dog, No official Reep. (rim
ceipt?) Air contamination. test $0.981'.
'42 tax 9'3." .
? Why did the spies need a $1 toy
dog? Ond ohserver speculated that. the
toy -Was? a wind-up animal that was op-,
:crated in 'a corridor filled with the >
chemical, then tested to see' bow niuchh
had adhered to its. fake fur.....:.
G' ra 4w [a ~ "jjtA i~ V L
61411-6,
Between May 17,1955P ana reu..,,x,
1956, the agents sought reimbursement
for the purchase of 93 items, which
Many of the project's expenses were
IA
covered elsewhere in the regular C
b dget?_ the documents show. But at-
there is an agency-memo saying these.
'
d by a
expense accounts were covere 11 Z-A_ P-
given activity will require an un desir- able amount, of written, or oral justiti?
cation."
WHATEVER THE AGES were
doing in New York, it appears unlikely
that people were infected with disease
or intoxicated with any hallucinogenic.
drugs.
One analyst of the docnmentts, a
well-financed foe of the CIA, said that'
checks of newspapers, ,, cath certifi-
cates, and other sources during the ex-
periment showed no unusual incidents
had occurred., The expense accounts
are among 20,000 pages of once
classified material from an age=7-
project code named MKULTRA, a gov.
ernmentwide effort-to develop mind
control methods and use LSD and.,
other hallucinogenic. chemicals on ur-
ban populations. j
The project was developed during the,
Cold War when extensive publicity was
focused on how the Soviets had brain- 1
washed Cardinal 3ozef Mindszenty and'l
bow the Communist Chinese had bra '
ken the wills of numerous American
?Otis in Korea.
-
Under MKULTRA, the CIA sought to
provide a U.S. capability for the same
:techniques and it was expanded into!
studies of mind control drugs and ';; ,;
chemical agents, a. CIA official ex.,.:
plained.
John. Marks,'a-former CIA agent.
now considered-.a-renegade by his one.
time colleagues;'documented many of
the farfetched MKIJLTRA schemes in ,-
several books and articles, including a
recent volume called, The Search for
nnllles`on New York streets, bridges,
expr swaps,'mA tunnels for "tests:'