CIA MIND-CONTROL PROJECT INCLUDED ASSASSIN-MAKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400410023-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: January 7, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

AR itCLE AP E-R D
01 PAGE A,~t-_ved For Release 2bFi' ibZ'6iW-PD $-01315R000400410023-+ 4 `/~ ., > =
C1 d-Contro a-w ject
Amin
IncludedAssassin-Makina'
United Press International
The CIA once developed a secret
mind-control plan to induce an unwit-
ting foreign official to assassinate one
of?his country's leaders or, "if neces-
sary," an American official abroad,
newly released documents show.
The plan was part of Operation Arti-
choke, the intelligence agency's 23
year program of experimenting with
exotic poisons and drugs for use in
-mind and behavior control.
.The three-page, 25-year-old memo-
randum detailing the assassination
plan, was obtained by a citizens'
group sponsored by the Church of
Scientology under a Freedom of Infor-
mation suit.
The church has been feuding for
years with the FBI, the Internal Reve-
nue Service and a number of other
federal agencies over its tax-exempt
status.
Recent congressional investiga-
tions have found that the CIA plotted
the assassination of-Cuban leader
Fidel Castro and some other foreign
leaders.
'he CIA says none of the plans was
carried out. And it. called the mind
control plans purely hypothetical.
The newly released, censored
memo shows, "The Artichoke team
visited (blank) during period 8 Janu-
ary.to 15 January 1954..'
"The purpose of the visit was to
give an evaluation of a hypothetical
problem, namely: Can an individual
of (blank) descent be made to per-
form an act of attempted assassination'
involuntarily under the influence of
Artichoke?"
"Essential elements" of, the prob-
_I "It was proposed that an individual
of (blank) descent, approximately 35
years old, well-educated, proficient in-
English and well-established socially
and politically in the (blank) govern-
ment be induced under Artichoke to
perform an act, involuntarily, of at-
tempted assassination against a
prominent (blank) politician or, if
necessary, against an American offi-
cial.,
A handwritten footnote indicates
the plan was "similated only."
"Because the subject-is a heavy
drinker," it continued. "it was pro-
posed that the individual could be
surreptitiously drugged through the
medium of an alcoholic cocktail at a
social'party, Artichoke applied and
the subject induced to perform the act
of attempted assassination at some
later date.
. After the act of attempted
assassination was performed, it was
assumed that the subject would be
taken into custody by the (blank) gov-
ernment and thereby `disposed of.'
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Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400410023-1