OSU PROF LINKED TO CIA WORK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200990015-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: January 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

-STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200990015-9
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pursued.,*
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ll{y Patbelck g Cob
To his frkgds and `George
Alexander I#ly was a whftr and a
gentleman.
He is considered among- Ohio 3 ate
Unversity's top sit psychol scholars,
in this ceuy, and his theo
rlea,plii_ j-choZ
suc1t-legends aa,
Sigmund Freud, Carl
-Jung and David
ume.
His thinking and
work are a land-
mark., To his pa-
pers are housed in
archives named for
him at the University
bt Nebraska.
Kelly t Those who knew
him generously season their comments
with glowing adjectives, calling him:
honest, ethical, brilliant, patriotic, in-
sightful, Renaissance man.
But there is one trivia item many did
not know: The proposal for Kelly's 1960-
61 sabbatical research project spon-
sored by the now-defunct Human Ecolo-
gy Fund ended up in the CIA's records
that document Ohio State's participation.
in the agency's decade-long, search for
ways to control the h mind.
This discovery and others, made by
the Beacon Journal through .the federal
Freedom of Information Act, links an
Ohio State faculty member tor the first
time to one of the CIA's most bizarre
and controversial bits of once-secret re-
search.
In addition, the circumstances pro-
vide a view of the CIA's secret dealings
with the academic community, a vola-
tile issue on campuses during the stu-
dent unrest of the 1960s and an issue
that has re-emerged as a source of con
cern among many in the academic com-
munity today. ,
AKRON BEACON JOURNAL
26 January 1986
Earlier this' month, Nadav Safran, a
Harvard government professor, resigned
as director of the Center for Middle
Eastern Studies for failing to disclose
that the CIA sponsored a coriierence the
center organized on Islam and politics.
That sponsorsW chew attention in Eu-,
rope, Aslar and the Middle East as,
well as America.
And:last week, the CIA told the
New`York Times it had re-estab
lished ties with universities and la,
receiving data from an increasing
number of professors;
The project done at Ohio state
25 years ago was part of a pro-
gram code-named MKULTRA -
pronounced M.K. Ultra. It ?was
the CIA's main research program
into the development of chemical
and biological agents from 1953
to the mid-1960s. Approved by
former CIA Director Allen Dulles,
the project searched for ways to
develop chemical and biological
agents to be used in "clandestine
operations to control hurhap be.
havior," according to Congres-
sional documents.
In August 1977, when CIA Dl,
rector Stansfield Turner released
a ream of documents on
MKULTRA to Congress, the pro-
gram triggered worldwide out-
rage.
That same month,' Ohio State
officials announced it was one, of
80 U.S. institutions involved, al-
though the CIA would not identify
the researchers.
But before the public learned
about MKULTRA, it was a well-
kept secret even within the CIA
- so sensitive it wasn't men-
tioned in a secret 1968 CIA study
of the Agency's relationship with
the academic community.
The extent of the research re-
mains unknown since a CIA offi-
cial ordered most MKULTRA
records destroyed in January
1973. Yet some research - in-
cluding ones done by Ohio State
professors - had been saved.
Many universities do not view
CIA-funded scholarly research as
taboo, but in almost all cases
they require funding by intelli-
gence sources to be disclosed to
the university. It isn't clear
whether anyone at Ohio State
knew Kelly received a CIA grant.
The research projects
MKULTRA was an' umbrella
under which 149 known subproz
jests, were versi-
ties, medical facilities and penal
institutioM. The CIA's Informa-
tion and Privacy Division said
two of those projects, numbered
96 and 101, were conducted at
Ohio State.
The most information was re-
leased on subproject 96. Called A
Study of the Current Decision
Matrices of. (deleted) Scholars, it
was proposed by an Ohio State
psychology professor July 18,.
1959.
The project records, consisting
of 30 pages of correspondence, a-
proposal, receipts and invoices,
provide a classic illustration of
how the CIA secretly arranged to
have scholars do research. .
The proposal said the project's
Purpose was to search for a new
theory to explain how people
reach decisions:
"Traditionally psychologists
have approached the problem of
understanding human behavior
by attempting to seek out the mo.
tives or forces which seem to im-
pel persons willy-nilly along par-
ticular lines of action. . . But
there is another approach," the
proposal said.
As an alternative, the research-
er proposed using a new theory
called psychology of personal
constructs - patterns pdceived
by individuals that are used to
explain the realities encountered
in life.
The researcher sought to dis-
cover how a college professor
could be inclined to change his
personal constructs and hence his
position on an issue. The re-
searcher assumed any person can
be forced to change his position,
so "it becomes important to find
out what alternatives are availa-
ble to him when he must make
new choices."
"The firmness of his stand may
be reassuring, providing he is
never dislodged from it,,, the pro-
posal said. "But the question is,
what direction will he jump if he
can no longer stand where he is
standing?"
According to the records, the
professor's wife accompanied him
and helped collect data.
According to a CIA memo dat-
ed July 22, 1959, the project had
two main goals: 1) to apply the
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psychology of personal constructs
to foreign cultures, and 2) to ob-
tain data about research atti-
tudes and personality information
on other scholars through the re-
searcher's access to them.
CIA accounting record9.show
the agency paid the profeipor
$37,428 - about $3,008 more
than the original proposes' Be?
sides paying the professor's solo,
ry while he was on leave, It cow;
ered secretarial help, research
equipment, gifts and travel.
Littld is knswir about the sec-
ond proposal, subproject 101. k
CIA memo dated Sept. 23, 1959,
estimated cogsulElog wo
$2,000 to pay an Ohio State pros
fessor to research the biophysics
of the central nervous system.
But CIA records show only $100
of that money was used.
Kelly and subproject 96
The CIA will not say which pro-
fessors did research for the two
MKULTRA projects. And the
Freedom of Information Act and
federal court decisions allow the
agency to withhold the names,
However, the Beacon Journal
conducted a tour-week investiga.
tion of key facts about subproject
96's researcher - apparently left
inadvertently in the project's
records and CIA correspondence.
After examining those clues and
the backgrounds of the 1959-1960
Ohio State psychology faculty,
Kelly's background appeared to
best fit those clues.
Kelly, who died in 1967, taught
psychology at Ohio State from
1946-1965. He is known to his
field as the father of the psycholo-
gy of personal constructs - the
subject of the CIA-funded re-
search project. Former Ohio
State psychology faculty mem-
bers say there was no other schol-
ar at Ohio State as prominent as
Kelly in this field.
"That would be right. up
George's alley," said Donald
Meyer, professor emeritus of psy-
chology at Ohio State.
"That had to be Kelly - it had
to be - because personal con.
structs was his baby, without
question," said another Ohio
State professor who asked not to
be identified.
Other clues link Kelly to sub-
project 96. One document said
the researcher formerly held the
presidency of a major organiza?
tion or association, but deleted
the name. Kelly served as presi-
dent of the American Psychologi-
cal Association's clinical division
from 1956-57 and was president
of the consulting division of that
organization in 1954-55.
A CIA memo noted the re-
searcher had written a major
work on the psychology of person
al constructs shortly before he
had submitted the proposal for
subproject 96 to the CIA in 1959.
In 1955, Kelly published his most
signficant work, A Theory of Per-
sonality: The Psychology of Per-
sonal
Another key clue was the name
deleted from the documents: The
researcher's last name, as Kel-
ly's, was five letters long.
Kelly's sabbatical
The project's intinerary and
source of funding reflected a
nearly identical link with Kelly's
research activities.
The 12-month project was to
begin April 1, 1960, and docu--
ments said the researcher could
arrange for a sabbatical.
According to the records, the
researcher had to make specific
visits to various cities (deleted)
4uring 1960 and 1961 to carry out
the project.
Biographical information on
file at Ohio State about Kelly
shows he left Ohio State during
the same time period, taking
leave in the spring of 1960 until
March 1961 to "lecture on per-
sonality theory in various coun-
tries."
Most importantly, Ohio State
records show Kelly's sponsor for
his sabbatical was the Human
Ecology Fund. In 1977, the CIA
revealed that fund (also known
as the Society for the Investiga-
tion of Human Ecology) was a
CIA operation set up to secretly
fund psychological research.
According to its own reports,
the fund, established in May 1955
and disbanded 10 years later,
was a non-profit corporation
based in Forest Hills, N. Y., en-
couraging research into "marked
behaviorial change and the condi-
tions under which it occurs."
One annual report also said the
fund sponsored studies of how
people reacted to LSD at the But-
ler Health Center in Providence,
z
R.I., a known MKULTRA rye.
search project.
The subproject 96 proposal said
the research should contribute'to
psychological knowledge and to
the "understanding of ecological
factors in mankind's decisions"
- this was one of the principal
aims of the Human Ecology
Fund, the annual report said.
And in 1962, a year after the
CIA-funded study on decision ma-
trices of scholars was to have
been completed, Kelly published
a paper, Europe's Matrix of Deci-
sion Making, in which Kelly said
his remarks were based on re-
_,,search into the psychology of per-
sonal constructs sponsored by the
Human Ecology Fund.
Did Kelly know of CIA?
If Kelly was the researcher -
and the documents and his back-
ground suggest he - was - he
could have known his research
would be used by the CIA.
Most researchers apparently
did not know the Human Ecology
Fund_ was created by the CIA.
According to John Gittinger, a
former CIA employee who testi-
fied before Congress in 1977,
most researchers did not know
they were getting CIA money
through the fund. Although the
agency provided funding for
projects In which they had an in-
terest, they did not direct the re-
search, he said.
The correspondence on subpro-
ject 96 confirms this theory. The
researcher never referred to CIA
or MKULTRA when he submitted
the proposal. Neither did letters
responding to the researcher nor
did other letters.
In fact, the researcher's July
18, 1959, proposal letter released
by the CIA was addressed to
"Executive Secretary" - the ad-
dress and the organization's
name were deleted. The fund's
annual report instructed those in-
terested in receiving information
about grants to send a letter to
"Executive Secretary, Society for
the Investigation of Human Ecol-
ogy" In Forest Hills, New York."
But a CIA memo offers strong
evidence the researcher knew his
data was going to the CIA:
? A July 22, 1959, CIA memo
on subproject 96 said the re-
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searcher had been "a fully
cleared consultant to the Agency
for four years and has demon-
strated unusual sensitivity and
perceptivity to Agency needs,"
especially in assessment matters.
? Page 2 of the memo said it
learned the researcher was plan-
ning a study on decision matrices
because of his relationship as a
consultant. "However, at our re-
quest, he agreed to submit this
original request to (blank)" - a
40-letter deletion that could have
been an organization's name such
as the Society for the Investiga-
tion of Human Ecology.
? The memorandum also said
the agency granted the research-
er access to top-secret material.
An Ohio State psychology pro-
fessor who knew Kelly well said
Kelly probably knew a great deal
about the fund's CIA ties.
"My understanding was that he
(Kelly) was one of the founders
of the organization," said the pro-
fessor, who asked not to be
named. "I honesty don't know if
he was getting funds from the
CIA, but he knew his way well
around Washington.
"Many of these people were
duped, and as I understand it,
there were prominent people as-
sociated with the Human Ecology
Fund.
"There were many organiza-
tions the CIA funded, but the peo-
ple did not know they were in-
volved," he said.
"The thing had a good sound to
it, the society (for the investiga-
tion of human ecology) sounded
like it was trying to do good
work," the professor said. "And
the people connected with it were
shocked to learn it was funded by
the CIA."
There is no evidence Kelly's re-
search involved mind control or
behavior modification. But the
documents do not say how the
CIA used the study about how
scholars make decisions.
when contacted by phone at-her
Silver Spring, Md., apartment.
"My husband is dead." .
But many of Kelly's former col-
leagues were willing to talk. One
of them who knew him well was
Brendan Maher, a Harvard psy-
chology professor who studied un-
der Kelly during the 1950s.
Maher edited a book about Kel-
ly published in 1969: Clinical
Psychology and Personality: The
Selected Papers of George Kelly.
Maher said he did not think a
CIA connection was consistent
with Kelly's character.
"He was the most straightfor-
ward man I have ever met," he
said in an interview at Harvard.
"He was a man of considerable
integrity. He was very honest,
straightfoward. He told you
exactly what he thought.
"He was opposed to all forms
of behavior modification," Maher
said. "I cannot conceive what
could come out of it would be
secret or how it would be usefuft
to the CLir-"
Maher *dmitted, however, that
one paragraph in the CIA-funded-
project that described its focus
"is consistent with many things
that hppear in his books."
"I'm a little surprised," 'said
Appel of the University of Texas
at Austin. "He was a very free
and autonomous person, one who'
is not likely to be involved with
the establishment."
A.W. Landfield, professor of
psychology at the University of
Nebraska who studied under Kel-
ly, said he didn't know of-his for-
mer professor ever engaging in
classified research and noting the
library there that houses archives'
for Kelly's books and papers. '
"There is nothing here that
would have any bearing on that.
"He was a fine scholar, and he
was a bit formal," Landfield said.
"He had d lot of wit and humor i'n
his ? writings. And I always
thought he was a man of good
character. He was highly talent-
ed. He was kind of like a Renais-
sance man."
3
berg and the CIA," he said. "And
I have no personal records of this
at all."
"We don't have any control it
he is doing something over the
summer on his own time," said
Thomas Sweeney, Ohio State's as-
sociate vice president for re-
search. "But if the university is a
party to the contract, the Institu-
tion would have no way of know-
ing about it."
"We have elaborate procedures
in which if any humans are sub-
jects of research, those projects
must be approved by a commit-
tee," Sweeney said, adding dis-
closure policy then would have
been the same as it is now for
faculty members wishing to do
research with an intelligence or-
ganization.
Ohioi State officials said they
are not aware of any CIA-funded
research currently being conduct-
ed at the university.
A `straightforward man'
Gladys Kelly, the scholar's
widow, declined to comment on
her husband's past research.
Mrs. Kelly went with him dur-
ing his sabbatical and the CIA
apparently cleared the research-
er's wife to help.
"I don't want to have anything
to with this," Mrs Kelly said
Ohio State reaction
Novice Fawcett, Ohio State's
president from 1956 to 1972, said
he couldn't recall any research
being done for the CIA. "Offhand,
I 'cannot remember research ac-
tivities involving faculty mem-
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