CIA'S DRUG TESTS ARE DEFENDED IN COLD WAR CONTEXT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100120117-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 117
• Publication Date: September 22, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/08/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100120117-2 STAT
All IICLE A '1 I_..4,9,S
OAr, T i GE. i - -
THE'WASHINGTON STAR (Green Line)
22 September 1977
51 nea -P,-'sts -
Aie. and
` ' By Jeremiah O'Leary
The.-man who ran the CIA's covert mind-control
and behavior-modification schemes has defended-
the program as indispensable at the time but said
..that one case involving the suicide of a CIA em-
ploye caused him much anguish.
Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, who was the agency's scien-
tific chief from 1951? until his retirement in 1973,
testified before a Senate subcommittee yesterday
under a grant of immunity from prosecution. - -?.?
i Gottlieb was heard but not seen by an audience
that filled-the Senate hearing room while the mys-
terious former boss of the CIA projects testified in
a smaller room nearby. .
Senators said Gottlieb's physicians had con-
vinced them his health is precarious and the sena-
tors had therefore agreed to question him
privately while allowing the audience to listen over.
a public address. hookup.
Soures said Gottlieb had a speech impairment,
.but it could hardly be detected over the public ad
GOTTLIEB DID demonstrate remarkable skill
at answering questions from Chairman Edward M.
Kennedy, D-Mass, and other members of the
Health subcommittee with words so vague that the
senators found themselves with very- little sub-
stance when Gottlieb was finished.
Gottlieb also. said he. resented being "victim-
ized" by the CIA as the mastermind of the. agen
cy's drug project now that it has become subject to-
controversy- and-investigation. -But he maintained
the project was indispensable at the time.' :.. ;;
"The .context in. which this investigation was
'started-,. about 1952," ho; said, '.was- that of the
height of the'Cold War-: ?c with the- CIA organiz-
.- ing its. resources to'liberate- Eastern Europe by
paramilitary means.. . "There was tangible evidence that both the Sovi--
ets and the Red. Chinese might be using techniques
of altering human, behavior which were not under-
.stood by the- United States and which would have
implications of national survival.". r.,-? >;
HE SAID HE suffered personal anguish and con-
sidered resigning, in November 1953 after-- the,.
suicide of Frank Olson, a CIA employe who was
unwittingly given a dose of LSD as part of the dug-.-
testing program. But Gottlieb decided not to quit
when he" became convinced the. administration of
drugs did riot bause Olson to leap to his death from;
-.a New York hotel window.;..-r, ,, .-.. < :. r.. r ~
He caused a stir when he men ion
once "asked to determine whether any of President
Nixon's traveling party were drugged during a trip
to an unfriendly foreign country in 1971.
According to Gottlieb, Nixon was not drugged
but some members of the party exhibited peculiar
symptoms, including outbreaks of crying at inap-
propriate moments. He said the symptoms af-
fected Dr. Walter Tkach, the White House physi-
cian. =
The records show that in 1971 records show that
Nixon traveled only to the Azores, Bermuda and
the Bahamas, none considered to be. unfriendly.
countries.
Reporters pursued Gottlieb a fair distance away
:,from the Senate Office Building trying to get more
"particulars on his testimony, but he did not iden-
tify the country he meant.
r.. ONE OFFICIAL who was involved in most of
Nixon's trips - said that two years after the 1972
journey to Moscow he heard that some members
of the White House medical department had be-
-come ill on the return flight. But this person said =
he probably would have known it if anyone had
been ill on, the Moscow trip, at which the SALT I' -
agreement was signed.
A source, who declined to be named, said he did
not believe the Russians would try to drug anyone.,
-.in'the President's party on the same trip which re-
- suited in the arms limitation agreement. --.
Gottlieb said all the drug - programs were
;cleared - with CIA, directors but he did not know
how much information Congress had about what
was going on. He said he considered the-drug test
ing to be in the highest national interests because '-
there was tangible evidence that the Russians and
the Red Chinese might be using techniques for altering human behavior. ; . _
BEFORE GOTTLIEB finished -what he had" to
say and left to return to his retirement home in
California, he came asa close as he ever has to
justifying what the CIA did in the United States,.
He said:,
"I"understand that one of 'the principal interests' .
Of this committee is the degree of protection that..
was afforded to the subjects used in those experi
.ments where human subjects were used. As far as
-the Bureau of Narcotics project is- concerned, my.
;impression was that there was no advance knowl
edge or protection. of the, individuals concerned..' -
Harsh as it may seem in retrospect, it was felt that-
.in an issue where national survival might be con-
cerned such a procedure and such a risk was- a.,
reasonable one to take."
The senators tried to find out from Gottlieb what
'the CIA got in return for all the money it spent on`
MK-ULTRA and the other drug-testing oro;e - :l
He never really claimed success r,r ad.i:te fail-
ure. Kennedy therefore own summing up as
he. closed the book on the CIA's- drug-testing ex
,periments-
r He- said; "The' bulk. of,, the-:. research- led no-:
'where. ., _ r.., .;r:_ s: _.
6,i
Approved For Release 2007/08/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100120117-2
STAT