SENATE PANEL TO FOCUS ON A LINKED TO C.I.A. DRUG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100120119-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 119
• Publication Date: September 20, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/08/20: CIA-RDP99-00498ROO0100120119-0
"-AR TICLE APPEARED
ON PA GE I
THE NEW YORK TIDIES
20 September 1977
Senate=Panel.:to Focus on
It was written by Mr.`Crewdsort.::'
- - : - . '. 'Special to The Yew York mm,. C
L Ikea to C.I.A. _Drug
WASHINGTON, Sept. -19-A Senate Charter Violations Hinted
subcommittee reportedly has concluded Several' questions remain unresolved,
that of the scores of scientific projects and among them these stand out, How
undertaken by the Central- Intelligence many individuals were subjected to the
A
i
it
2
r
gency
s
n
5yea
quest for control
- of the human. mind none represented a
greater potential abuse of, governmental
authority or medical ethics than the agen-
cy's testing of LSD-25 and other psycho.
chemicals on unsuspecting subjects,. - -
? After- an. -..examination of - the :'sparse'
public record and a score of. interviews
with past and - present.-Federal: officials
end others,: some new details, have
emerged of the agency'shighly :secretive
and long-running. drug-testing program,.
the advisibility of 1.which seemed. uncer
Lain to the agency itselfat times.'.;,
The new- details- include -.: an-`unusual
'elationship between the r. and a sen-
.
.
or narcotics official-:4-relationship that charter prohibiting domestic operations?
vas not known to at least .one Commis- And most important, why did the C.I.A.
loner of Narcotics. continue its inherently risky tests of
C.I.A-'Safehouses' Used -psychochemicals on' what the agency
Documents made public -by- the C.I.A. termed ."unwitting' subjects after the
:hus far contain scant information about I 1953 death of Frank. Olson, an Army
he experiments, part of a larger opera- scientist who developed a psychotic reac-
ion known' by the' crytonym MX Ultra, lion and committed suicide after having
end the documents . have.raised more been given a glass of liqueur that he did
iuestions than, they have answered. . , not know contained LSD?
Tomorrow; the, :Senate . Subcommittee The Kennedy subcommittee's search for
~n Health and Scientific Research, headed ` answers has been difficult, hampered by
the C.I.A's destruction in 1973 of a large
y Senator Edward M.. Kennedy, will portion of the MK Ultra: documents and
_egin two days cf hearini:s the-panel: by the intervening deaths of several of
,opes will illuminate the C:LA.'s oblique
eferences to "realistic tests of-'certain
evelopmert items not suited to ordinary
tboratory facilities."
The documents show that the tests were
arried out" in New- York City 'and San.
rancisco- betweetr--1953r'and . 19681. in
I.A..-"safehouses," mainly: apartments
ad motel.roo s;.that.were-secretly.rent.
I for the agency-by are ;official of the
c l- Federal-- Bureau.--: oI: Narcotics, since
tpplanted by the--Drug Enforcement Ad-
inistratiom.
Prostitutes, perhaps'men: as" well as
omen,. may have been -employed- to lure
e subjects to - the safehouses,., where
ey . were offered, cocktails ` laced'. with
,rious chernicals.whiileunseen'C.LA. of
vials ' '" observed; - .photographed and
-orded their reactions-
tests? Were the C.I.A. operatives who
slipped them the- drugs trained in their
proper use? Were qualified medical per.;.
sonnel on hand ih' the event of an adverse
re action, and did any occur? . Y:.
Was any attempt made beforehand to
insure ? that the subjects were in good
physici}1:.and _psychologiralhealth? -were
follow-up examinations conducted after-
ward to determine, whether any harm to
the;yictims had resulted?
Were the C.I.A. 'safehouses used, as
some officials have suggested, to intro-
duce foreign intelligence agents into corn-
0
promising situations, something ..that
would have directly violated the C
LA
'sl
t e projects key figures, - especially
George H. White,- the flamboyant Federal
narcotics official who, served as liaison
"to the C.LA. testing program.
But not all of those deeply- Involved
in the safehouse project-are dead,. and
tomorrow the Kennedy subcommittee will
bear from Sidney Gottlieb, the man to
whom Mr. White reported and, at the
time he retired in 1973, the chief of the
C.I.A.'s technical services division;, with
administrative-, ? responsibility : fqr -: MK
i? . Top-Secret Operation
MK Ultra and its predecessor projects,
code-named Bluebird and Artichoke were
among the most. sensitive intelligence
operations ever undertaken by this coun--
Extraordinary measures were adopted
to' insure that hostile nations remained
unaware of their 'parameters, and' the
C.I.A.'s concern about adverse reaction
at home, both within the. scientific com-
munity and without, led it' to disguise
its' role :as they source- of funding, ? and
to -misstate the true intention of some
. No
took
New
Und
of
mus
amp
unde
Pri
we
Arm
in o
subc
a g
Mich
A Problem of Supplies. '
In the early= 1950's, when the C.I.A.
first became interested in. the properties
of the newly developed LSD and other
relatively, exotic substances;' the agency
was faced at once with.the problems of
how to obtain such chemicals and how
to determine their effect on individuals
who were unaware, as the target of an
intelligence operation would be, that they
had just ingested some. -
For - assistance the C.LA:' turned-- to
George White, a senior official in the Bu-
reau of Narcotics who had a wartime
intelligence background as a lieutenant
colonel. Mr. White was described by one
former colleague as "sort of a curiosity
in law-enforcement- "and by, another- as
a "maverick." ... :. -
An outspoken man who never lost the
affection .for. publicity he first acquired
as, a youthful newspaper reporter in Cali-
fornia, Mr.' White alternately -distressed
his superiors with his bluntness and im-
pressed them with the superb police work
of-which he was capable.--
Wouldn't Poison Friends"!
One--longtime : friend,-who- asked that
he not be identified, recalled that while
the C.I.A. experiments were "under way
-Mr. White once showed him some--glasrt
ampules filled with a clear :liau4-1 -?-
had come- from a Swiss Ona,:~- .uucal
concern. -? .
Mr. White, the '.?~':.td said, told him
that he had s:fr ed some- of the liquid
into cocktails at a drinking session with
two men of his acquaintance? but that
it was "a minimal dose--he wouldn't try.
to poison his friends.".. - - -'.- .' - .
According to Mr. White's papers, now
In the possession of a small California!
college, the C.I.A. sought to enlist his
cooperation in a most unusual way,
proposing that he continue his service
with the Bureau of Narcotics but enter
Into a formal, though secret relationship,.:
Approved For Release 2007/08/20: CIA-RDP99-00498ROO0100120119-0 it before.
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