What is MK-Ultra and why is it making headlines |
What is MK-Ultra and why is it making headlines
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) has amplified her push to uncover the details of CIA’s Project MK-Ultra with claims this week that the agency took relevant documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The program started in 1953 and over the next two decades used 80 institutes across the country, including 44 colleges or universities, to test behavioral drugs and modification theories, according to the New York Times.
The Cold War project reportedly explored potential truth serums, interrogation enhancement methods and psychological warfare tactics.
Most famously, researchers reportedly used human subjects to study the impact of LSD and a “knockout drop” referred to as K, as outlined in testimonies provided during a 1977 Senate hearing.
Luna is planning to resume congressional hearings on the topic following a February article from the Daily Mail noting that a new report on the intelligence service studying mind control was added to the CIA reading room last year.
Here’s what to know about the program:
Criminals and cancer patients used as research subjects
Testimonies provided to Congress in 1977 outline the repeated use of criminals and cancer patients as subjects in the behavioral modification research led by the CIA.
Former CIA Director Stanfield Turner said 8,000 documents show tests took place on “criminal sexual psychopaths confined at a ‘state hospital’” and terminal cancer patients.
Turner did not lead the agency during years in which the program was active, but did lead an effort to investigate those responsible for actions taken during........