CIA PROJECT EYED LOBOTOMY, ELECTRIC SHOCK TECHNIQUES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300500005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 29, 1977
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2004/10/13 : CIA-RDP88-01315R -
A 2
WASHINGTO~i POST
O ec
ek Tee
.? By Bill Richards
Washington cost Staff writer
ir-The Central Intelligence Agency!
roposed spending . hundreds of
,.thousands of dollars to develop the!
,,,.Ilse, 'of electric shock and surgical
lobotomy techniques to aid in its-,
?-;early intelligence-g a t h e ring opera?
Mons, according to recently released;
1?; agency documents.
-Although some critics objected that'
the use of such techniques would be
o"morally wrong,"...one CIA memo
,rated Feb. 15, 1952, proposes setting.
aside $100,003 to develop "neuro?sur-
.,,gioal techniques" and another. S100.000.
-..for work on electric shock and hyp
: programs were part of a $650,000 pro- possible mechanism for??interrogation. `_'noted it would be morally wrong "un-
poal code-named by the CIA as prop '~ ?.,
The aanpte~ ;;proceecJ?d;at", tell: an :~:..less the situation is highly critical to I
.pct:" Artichoke:" I Ogg agent of criminal activities he the national Interest or involves the
;tM While 739. pages of Artichoke docU-1. knew about for-two hours. The.O.SS lives of agency personnel. "
stp;xtts which have been released by the.. Agency officials also rejected as
IA.so far show that the. agency did try and the British apparently both used !too surgical for our use" the idea
hypnotic and drug combinations on for- drugs during prisoner interrogations of injecting forms of cocaine into a
eign agents, there is no indication in during World War II. subject's brain through small drilled
the,*.a;ency's, papers that would lead to Two Russian agents were drugged . holes. :.
the conclusion' that electric shock or and then hypnotized in 1952 by Arta- The CIA did seriously investigate
lobotomies were performed. the use of isolation and sensory-de-
.....e one of several rra operatives. One of the agents
choke w.-LS_a. k
priva~tiori.'.techniaues to break down
e
JJA-UUIZLL UL
and hypnosis that he.was talking with
;gron d together under code names such .One' memo .on-'the.subject said short
ms-SM-ULTRA and AIK-SEARCH and an old friend from the Soviet republic periods of such,; -isolation bad pro-,
i fir h stretched. frorii"1949' through of Georgia and "relived" in detail dumed.LSD-type hallucinations, while.:
972 ; They were terminated, ~acording events spanning 15 years of his .life. ? Ionger.:`pei ods could ? cause irreversl.
,$ July, 1972, CIA- memo;- because The experiment left Artichock offi- ible Drain 'damage and render the
:
ig my officials felt tjiey, had lost their cials elated at the results and the in- subject'? a.. vegetable.':.:;.,.;'- : ::-, e
formation the agents divulged. The
efulness and because. some agents One isolation experiment noted in
otind them morally distasteful Artichock team was most pleased that the CIA papers was wconducted ir> y
they apparently were able to erase the A95 rg ..1 ehers _':1t I anada's c-
.?.~ X953 Internal CIA memo describes memory of the interrogation from the Gill .=~jUniversity -TJie:.;';pxperimerit,
t ie; -purpose of the : Artichoke pro minds of the Russians with the drugs %vhicli;~vas,run for theCanadian army ;l
o'of the e as attempting to gain; control ,and hypnosis. paid graduate students,$20 a day to
-of will of those being experiment-
uponwhile at the same time study- '. ' Another CIA document described remain in an. isolation':chamber for.
ed in" "every conceivable technique that a visit by an Artichoke "A Team" to up to seven days.. Several students.,
can be brought to bear to prevent an unnamed overseas military area- complailned weeks later of being un-
others from extracting information possibly Korea-in May, 1952. The able to concentrate, the CIA document
from our people or gaining control team conducted interrogations ? of said. Lr~: . ~aa
foreign defectors and double agents
of the will of, our people..'. .>?:.. ; ;, using "Artichoke techniques" - but
found the results disappointing, ac -
Approved For'P,6et? $/' f43r'!S(?F$s'RDP 101315R000300500005-2
lies
'Thus far the inlelligence A agency A major concern of the Articoke,
has released only the most sketchy project officials was "disposal" of
financial records, which do not give those who were unwillingly ques-
any more than a hint at the actual i tioned and presumably knew wat
operations conducted under the mind- their interrogators were after..
control programs. But the latest series The electric shock and .lobotomy
of documents shows by far the most suggestions were made, according to
detailed view of the programs. Among the CIA documents, to ``dispose" of
the items contained in the latest these interrogation subjects;, One re-
documents: port- notes that "A Team" :members
? The Artichoke program examined
everything from. aspirin to snake tox-
in to see .if tey. could be used in
some combination to gather: intelli-
gence.
As far back as 1943 the Office'of
Strategic Services, predecessor-to the
CIA, fed a marjuana-type substance
yea
rejected the lobotomy solution as tn-
humane and "against all concepts- of
`fair play' and the American, way of
life." Such a technique would also In-
vite "horrible reprisals,",. the -team warned.
A CIA official, commenting In an-
other memo on the $100,000 proposal
to implement the lobotomy suggestion -