AGENCY POLICY WITH RESPECT TO MKULTRA-RELATED QUERIES CONCERNING INSTITUTIONAL INVOLVEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000100020059-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2004
• Sequence Number: 59
• Publication Date: April 17, 1978
• Content Type: MF

'!'UNCLASSIFIED ^ INTERNAL
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Approved For ReleakW fi /1 W W f*W6 &Og -
SUBJECT: (Optional) "~-- --
OLC 7a- 73
Agency Policy with Respect to MKULTRA-Related Queries C n`ce Tonal
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO. LL fnvoTvement
Anthony A. Lapham
OGC 78-2441
S
General Counsel
DATE
17 April 1978
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
Acting Legislative
Counsel
Lyle:
S
2.
In connection with your
12 April memo concerning MKULTRA
related inquiries,
F
3.
has
as prepared the attached, with
which I agree . It is true that our
present policy is a bit awkward
,
but I do not see how we can modify
it as you propose without abandon-
5.
ing it altogether.
S
6.
Tony La am
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
362 610 SEA Wv Fo3AR"se 2 /OE( FI?& 81Mp~g 8ttR OOO200 5 UNCLASSIFIED
LZJ IZ-J USE ONLY L
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OGC 78-2441 {/
17 April 1978 ,'~+
MEMORANDUM FOR: Anthony A. Lapham
SUBJECT : Agency Policy with Respect to MKULTR'A-Related
Queries Concerning Institutional Involvement
REFERENCE : OLC Memo dated 12 April 1978, Same Subject
1. The Office of Legislative Counsel has suggested a rethinking of the
Agency policy of neither confirming nor denying the involvement in CIA-
sponsored drug testing of particular institutions in response to Freedom of
Information Act and congressional inquiries. That policy is not solely a
creation of this Office, but is derived from the Agency's general policies
regarding information concerning employment and other relationships and
from the Director's position, as stated to the Senate Select Committee on Intel-
ligence and the Senate Human Resources Subcommittee on Health and Scientific
Research on 3 August 1977, that the Agency has "a moral obligation to the
researchers and institutions to protect them from any unjustified embarass-
ment or damage to their reputations which revelation of their identities might
bring." Given these general and specific bases for protecting the institutions
which were in fact involved, I see no alternative but to continue to hew con-
sistently to the present format for responses of this nature.
2. A total of 84 institutions, both academic and nonacademic, were
notified of their involvement in September 1977. In November 1977, in order
to determine which institutions had publicly acknowledged their involvement
or otherwise desired no further confidentiality, we wrote to each and requested
its views on the question of public disclosure of its identity. A follow-up
letter renewing this request was sent in March 1978, to those which had not
yet responded. Since the ultimate determination is the Agency's to make, that
letter informed the remaining institutions that we would assume a desire for
continued protection unless a response to the contrary was received by
15 April 1978. A total of 41 institutions have informed us of no objection on
their part to disclosure, 28 have objected to disclosure, and 15 have not
responded. The end result is that we shall acknowledge involvement of
41 institutions, while continuing to protect 43.
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3. To begin now to inform requesters, congressional or otherwise,
that institutions of interest to them were not involved would make farcical
the Agency's efforts to protect these institutions. By way of example, were
OLC to send its proposed response to Senator Gravel informing him that the
University of Montana was not involved, the response to a follow-on request
concerning Montana State College would, except for that institution's lack of
objection, have to be a "neither confirm nor deny" letter. The obvious
conclusion to be drawn from the two letters, one positive and one waffling,
would be that the State College was involved. The point or the manner of
applying the case-by-case approach suggested to replace the Agency's
current policy is not clear. If a requester should ask for this information
concerning each academic institution in a particular state, only one of which
was involved, would we answer no to the others and "neither confirm nor
deny" the one? What if the requester resorted to a series of letters, each
concerning a particular school, rather than a single list? The fact that Senator
Gravel does not represent Montana illustrates these requests are not limited
geographically to the state of residency. Thus, what would be the response
to a state by state canvas? Would we answer negatively to all states without
an involved institution, but "neither confirm nor deny" as to any state in
which even a single institution was involved? Under what circumstances
would we ever do anything other than confirm no involvement and neither
confirm nor deny when there was involvement? And given no such circum-
stances why play this game at all and not merely confirm involvement?
4. It is to be noted that the suggested response to Senator Gravel
itself recognizes the validity of the principles upon which "glomarization"
is based, and illustrates the difficulties of the alternative approach, since
it refuses to confirm or deny the use of the Victorian Hotel in San Francisco
as an Agency safehouse, presumably in the context of suspected unwitting
drug testing there. Juxtaposed with the negative response as to the University
of Montana, the clear implication is that the hotel was indeed used by CIA.
I have discussed this matter with Ernie Mayerfeld who agrees the current
policy should remain unchanged.
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