Project MKUltra was an illegal program created by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to study ways to change human behavior using drugs and other methods. The name "MKUltra" was a secret code used by the CIA. "MK" stood for the Office of Technical Service, and "Ultra" was a word chosen randomly from a dictionary. The program was strongly criticized for breaking people's rights and showing how the CIA misused its power. Critics pointed out that the program ignored people's right to agree to participate and harmed democratic values.

MKUltra started in 1953 and ended in 1973. The program used many harmful methods to affect the minds and brains of people who did not know they were being tested. These included giving large amounts of psychoactive drugs, such as LSD, without permission. Other methods included electric shocks, hypnosis, keeping people in total darkness, isolating them, and using verbal or physical abuse. These actions were not allowed and were considered illegal.

Before MKUltra, there was a program called Project Artichoke. It was managed by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and worked with the U.S. Army's Biological Warfare Laboratories. The program used people from the United States and Canada without their knowledge. MKUltra's activities were spread across more than 80 places, including colleges, hospitals, prisons, and drug companies, disguised as normal research. The CIA used fake organizations to hide its involvement, though some leaders at these places knew about the CIA's role.

The public learned about MKUltra in 1975 through the Church Committee, led by Senator Frank Church, and the Rockefeller Commission, started by President Gerald Ford. The CIA had destroyed most of its records in 1973, so investigators relied on the testimony of people who worked on the program and the few documents that remained. In 1977, a request under the Freedom of Information Act uncovered 20,000 documents about MKUltra, leading to more Senate investigations. Some information about the program was released to the public in 2001.

Background

During the early 1940s, Nazi scientists working in concentration camps like Auschwitz and Dachau during World War II performed experiments on human subjects. They tested substances such as barbiturates, morphine derivatives, and hallucinogens like mescaline on prisoners from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Jewish communities, and other groups. These experiments aimed to create a truth serum that would, as one assistant to a Dachau scientist said, "remove a person's will to resist." American historian Stephen Kinzer noted that the CIA’s MKUltra project continued these experiments, as it also tested mescaline on people without their knowledge, similar to what happened at Dachau. After the war, many Nazi scientists were hired by the U.S. government through Operation Paperclip, including some who later worked on MKUltra.

American interest in drug-related interrogation began in 1943 when the Office of Strategic Services started researching a "truth drug" to make people speak freely. In 1947, the U.S. Navy launched Project CHATTER, which tested LSD on human subjects for the first time.

In 1950, the CIA, led by General Walter Bedell Smith, began several interrogation projects, starting with Project Bluebird, later renamed Project Artichoke in 1951. Under Brigadier General Paul F. Gaynor, the goal was to see if people could be forced to commit acts like attempted assassination. Drugs such as morphine, mescaline, and LSD were given to CIA agents without their knowledge to cause memory loss. The project also explored using viruses like dengue fever as tools to disable people.

Project Artichoke was led by Sidney Gottlieb but started under CIA director Allen Dulles in 1953. Its goal was to develop mind-controlling drugs to counter Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean use of similar techniques during the Korean War. The CIA wanted to use these methods on its own prisoners and even planned to drug foreign leaders like Fidel Castro. Many experiments were conducted without subjects’ consent. Some researchers were paid by CIA-linked groups but did not know the work was for these projects.

MKUltra aimed to create a perfect truth serum for interrogating Soviet spies and explore mind control during the Cold War. A subproject called "Perfect Concussion" planned to use sound waves to erase memories but was never carried out.

Most MKUltra records were destroyed in 1973 by CIA director Richard Helms, making it hard to fully understand the program’s 150+ research projects.

MKUltra began during a time of high fear at the CIA, when the U.S. had lost its nuclear monopoly and communism was widely feared. CIA officials believed a spy had infiltrated the agency, leading to millions of dollars spent on research to control minds and extract information. Some historians say MKUltra aimed to create a "Manchurian Candidate" – a person controlled by others. Historian Alfred W. McCoy claimed the CIA tried to distract the public from the program’s real goal: improving interrogation methods.

A 1976 report by the Church Committee found that drugs in the MKDELTA program were mainly used to help interrogations but also for harassment or disabling people.

In 1964, the MKSEARCH program continued MKUltra’s work. It was split into two projects, MKOFTEN and MKCHICKWIT, and involved the U.S. Army and CIA. The goal was to find new agents for chemical, biological, or radioactive warfare. By 1971, the CIA had gathered over 26,000 people for future testing. Research also studied bird migration for chemical and biological warfare, and MKOFTEN tested drugs on animals and humans. MKCHICKWIT focused on gathering information about new drugs in Europe and Asia.

In 1957, the CIA launched Subproject 68 under MKUltra, led by psychiatrist Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal. This subproject tested methods like "psychic driving" – playing repeated messages to patients under the influence of drugs like LSD or barbiturates – and "depatterning," which aimed to erase existing behaviors and replace them with new ones. These experiments were among the most controversial parts of the MKUltra program.

Experiments on Americans

CIA documents show that the agency studied "chemical, biological, and radiological" methods to control people's minds as part of MKUltra. They spent about $10 million, which is about $87.5 million today when considering inflation.

During a Senate hearing, the CIA's deputy director said over 30 institutions and universities helped test drugs on people without their knowledge. These tests included giving LSD to people in public places without their permission.

The U.S. Army was tested with LSD in three stages. The first stage had over 1,000 soldiers who volunteered for chemical warfare experiments. The second stage had 96 volunteers who took LSD to study its use in intelligence work. The third stage included projects like "Third Chance" and "Derby Hat," which tested LSD on 16 people who did not know they were part of the experiments. These people were later questioned as part of field tests.

After retiring in 1972, Sidney Gottlieb, the MKUltra director, said the program was not useful. Files found in 1977 showed that experiments continued until Gottlieb stopped the program on July 10, 1972.

In 1938, Albert Hofmann discovered LSD at Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland. Early MKUltra leaders learned about LSD and wanted to use it for controlling minds. In the 1950s, Gottlieb arranged for the CIA to buy all available LSD for $240,000, which is about $4.2 million today. This allowed the CIA to test LSD on people in prisons, hospitals, and other places without their knowledge.

Early CIA work focused on LSD-25, which became central to many MKUltra projects. The CIA wanted to know if they could force Soviet spies to betray their countries or if the Soviets could do the same to CIA agents.

In 1976, John D. Marks obtained CIA documents through the Freedom of Information Act. These showed that in 1953, the CIA planned to buy 10 kilograms of LSD, enough for 100 million doses, to control the global supply. They later purchased some LSD from Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland.

When MKUltra began in April 1953, experiments included giving LSD to mental patients, prisoners, drug users, and prostitutes—people who could not refuse. In one case, a mental patient in Kentucky received LSD for 174 days. The CIA also tested LSD on employees, soldiers, doctors, and members of the public to study their reactions. The goal was to find drugs that could force confessions or erase memories to program people as "robot agents." Military personnel who learned about the experiments faced punishment if they spoke about them. LSD and other drugs were often given without the person's knowledge, breaking the Nuremberg Code, which the U.S. agreed to follow after World War II. Many veterans who were tested later sought legal and financial help.

In "Operation Midnight Climax," the CIA set up brothels in San Francisco to test LSD on men who would not talk about their experiences. Men were given LSD, and sessions were recorded with one-way mirrors. In other tests, people were given LSD without their knowledge and questioned under bright lights while doctors took notes. They were told they would have longer "trips" if they did not share secrets. People tested included CIA workers, soldiers, and agents suspected of working for the Soviet Union. Some suffered long-term harm, and some died. Heroin addicts were offered more heroin in exchange for taking LSD.

A Stanford psychology student named Vik Lovell invited Ken Kesey, a friend of Allen Ginsberg, to join a CIA-funded study at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital. The study examined the effects of hallucinogens like LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline on people.

The CIA used LSD in interrogations, but Gottlieb believed it could be used in secret missions. He thought LSD could be given to high-ranking officials to influence meetings or speeches. He tested LSD in normal settings without warning. At first, CIA staff participated in experiments where they observed each other. Later, outsiders were given LSD without explanation, and unexpected drug reactions became common. One agent who received LSD in his coffee became psychotic and ran through Washington, D.C., seeing monsters in cars. Experiments continued even after Frank Olson, an army chemist, was secretly given LSD by his CIA supervisor. Nine days later, Olson jumped from a hotel window, possibly due to depression caused by the drug. Olson had earlier questioned the ethics of the program and asked to leave the CIA.

Some people tested agreed to participate, but they were given even more extreme experiments. For example, seven African-American drug users at a Kentucky research center received LSD for 77 days straight.

Later, MKUltra researchers said LSD was too unpredictable and stopped using it as a "secret to unlock the universe." However, LSD remained part of the CIA's tools. By 1962, the CIA and army developed stronger drugs like BZ, which was seen as a better mind-control weapon. This caused many scientists and researchers to stop supporting LSD studies.

Other experiments tested giving barbiturates through one arm and amphetamines through the other. Barbiturates made people sleepy, and amphetamines were given once the person began to sleep. Other drugs tested included heroin, morphine, mescaline, psilocybin, scopolamine, alcohol, and sodium pentothal.

A 1955 MKUltra document listed goals to find drugs that could improve thinking, mimic diseases, or create happiness without negative effects.

Experiments on Canadians

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sent experiments to Canada by hiring Donald Ewen Cameron, a Scottish psychiatrist who developed the idea of "psychic driving." The CIA found this concept interesting. Cameron hoped to treat schizophrenia by removing patients' memories and retraining their minds. He traveled weekly from Albany, New York, to Montreal to work at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University. From 1957 to 1964, he was paid $69,000 (equivalent to about $766,936 in 2024 dollars) to conduct MKUltra experiments there. The money for these experiments came from a CIA front group called the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology. Internal CIA documents show Cameron did not know the funds were from the CIA.

In addition to LSD, Cameron tested other drugs that cause paralysis and used electroconvulsive therapy at much higher levels than normal. His "driving" experiments involved placing subjects in drug-induced comas for weeks or even months. During this time, he played repeated sounds or simple phrases on tape recorders. Many of the people he experimented on had come to the institute for common issues like anxiety or postpartum depression. Many suffered lasting harm, including memory loss, inability to speak, forgetting their parents, and losing control of bodily functions.

During this time, Cameron became a well-known figure in the field of psychiatry. He served as the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association and held leadership roles in both the American and Canadian Psychiatric Associations. He also worked as a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal from 1946 to 1947.

Cameron's work was similar to that of William Sargant, a British psychiatrist who conducted experiments on patients without their consent at hospitals in London and Sutton. Sargant also worked as a consultant for MI5, but no evidence shows his experiments were connected to intelligence agencies.

In the 1980s, some of Cameron's former patients sued the CIA for damages. A Canadian news program called The Fifth Estate covered their stories. These experiences were later shown in the 1998 television miniseries The Sleep Room.

In her book The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein argues that Cameron's research for the MKUltra project was not about mind control but about creating a scientific method to extract information from people who resisted questioning. She describes this as a form of torture.

Alfred W. McCoy writes that Cameron's experiments, building on earlier work by Donald O. Hebb, provided the scientific basis for the CIA's two-step psychological torture method. This method involved first confusing the subject and then creating a situation where the subject could end the discomfort by giving up.

Secret detention camps

In the early 1950s, the United States operated in parts of Europe and East Asia, including Japan, West Germany, and the Philippines. In these areas, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established secret detention centers, called "black sites," to avoid legal consequences for their actions. The CIA captured individuals suspected of working for enemy countries and others they considered not important. These people were forced to endure harsh treatment, such as being given mind-altering drugs, receiving electric shocks, and being exposed to extremely hot or cold temperatures. They were also kept in environments with no light, sound, or physical contact. These methods were used to study how to control human behavior and break people's mental strength.

Project Bluebird

In October 1950, during the Korean War, North Korean prisoners of war held by the United States were said to have been part of experiments under Project Bluebird, which came before the MK-ULTRA program. According to documents released by the National Security Archive between 2024 and 2025, these experiments included the use of different drugs and special questioning methods. The goal of these experiments was described as "controlling a person so completely that they would follow orders even if it went against their own survival instincts."

Revelation

In 1973, during a time of fear caused by the Watergate scandal, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files to be destroyed. Because of this order, most CIA documents about the project were removed, making it hard to fully investigate MKUltra. However, about 20,000 documents survived the destruction because they were stored incorrectly in a building for financial records. These documents were found later in 1977 through a FOIA request and were studied during Senate hearings in 1977.

In December 1974, The New York Times reported that the CIA had done illegal activities in the United States, including experiments on citizens during the 1960s. This report led to investigations by the U.S. Congress, called the Church Committee, and by the Rockefeller Commission, which looked into illegal actions by the CIA, FBI, and military intelligence agencies.

In the summer of 1975, reports from the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission revealed for the first time that the CIA and the Department of Defense had tested psychoactive drugs like LSD and mescaline on people without their knowledge. These tests were part of a program to learn how to influence human behavior. The reports also said that at least one person, Frank Olson, died after being given LSD. Much of what the committees learned about MKUltra came from a 1963 report by the Inspector General’s office, which had survived the 1973 destruction orders. However, this report had few details. Sidney Gottlieb, who had led MKUltra before retiring, was interviewed but said he remembered little about the program.

The Church Committee, led by Senator Frank Church, concluded that no subjects had agreed to the experiments. The committee also said the experiments raised questions about the lack of rules for such research.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford issued an executive order to stop drug experiments on people without their written consent. Later presidents, including Carter and Reagan, expanded this rule to cover all human experiments.

In 1977, during a Senate hearing, Admiral Stansfield Turner, then CIA director, said that about 20,000 pages of records had survived the 1973 destruction orders because they were stored in the wrong place. These files included information about funding for MKUltra projects but had few details about the experiments.

In 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said that Frank Olson’s death, which happened nine days after he was given LSD without his knowledge, was linked to the experiments. The CIA later admitted the tests had no clear scientific purpose and that the people monitoring the experiments were not qualified scientists.

In Canada, the issue became public in 1984 on a CBC news show. It was found that the CIA had funded experiments by a Canadian doctor, and the Canadian government had later given money to continue the work. This made it harder for victims to sue the CIA, as had happened in the United States. The Canadian government later paid $100,000 to each of 127 victims. The doctor, Ewen Cameron, died in 1967 after a heart attack. His family destroyed his personal records about MKUltra after his death. A 1986 report said Canadian officials were not fully aware of Cameron’s experiments.

In 1994, the U.S. General Accounting Office reported that between 1940 and 1974, the Department of Defense and other agencies tested harmful substances and radiation on hundreds of thousands of people.

Based on this report and other sources, the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs concluded that in the 1985 case CIA v. Sims, the U.S. Supreme Court supported the idea that the CIA could keep some MKUltra details secret under FOIA Exemption 3. This allowed the CIA to avoid sharing information, and courts later used this reasoning to protect the agency from FOIA requests.

Death of Frank Olson

Several deaths have been linked to Project MKUltra, including that of Frank Olson. In 1951, Olson was a scientist working for the U.S. Army, studying chemicals and biological weapons. At that time, some sources believed that a 1951 event in France, where many people became sick, was caused by a type of fungus called ergot, which contains a chemical related to LSD.

In 1953, Olson left his job as head of a division at a military research facility in Maryland due to a serious moral conflict about his work. His concerns included:
• The creation of materials for assassinations by the CIA
• The use of biological weapons in secret operations
• Testing biological weapons in areas with people
• Working with former Nazi scientists under a program called Operation Paperclip
• Research into controlling minds using LSD
• Using drugs during secret interrogations under a program called Project Artichoke

In November 1953, Olson received LSD without his knowledge or permission as part of a CIA experiment. He later fell from a 13th-floor window and died a week later. A CIA doctor claimed to have been asleep in another room when the fall happened. At the time, Olson’s death was reported as a suicide caused by a mental health crisis. An internal CIA investigation said that the head of MKUltra, Sidney Gottlieb, had given Olson LSD with his prior knowledge, though Olson and others in the experiment were not told what the drug was until 20 minutes after taking it. The report noted that Gottlieb should have been reprimanded for not considering Olson’s known risk of suicide, which may have worsened due to the LSD.

In 1975, Olson’s family received $750,000 from the U.S. government and formal apologies from President Gerald Ford and CIA Director William Colby. However, these apologies focused only on the lack of informed consent about the LSD experiment.

In 1977, a Senate committee wrote about the events. In 1994, Olson’s body was exhumed, and injuries to his head suggested he was knocked unconscious before falling from the window. This contradicted the CIA’s earlier claim that his death was a suicide. The medical examiner called the death a "homicide."

Since 2001, Olson’s family has argued that the official story about his death is incorrect. They believe Frank Olson was murdered because, after his LSD experience, he might have shared classified information about CIA programs.

Some claims include:
• The 1951 event in France was part of a CIA program called MKDELTA
• Olson was involved in that event
• He was later killed by the CIA

In 2012, the Olson family sued the U.S. government for Frank Olson’s death. In 2013, the case was dismissed partly because of a 1976 settlement between the family and the government. The judge who dismissed the case wrote that the lawsuit could not proceed due to the prior agreement.

Legal issues involving informed consent

Discoveries about the CIA and the Army led many people or their families to file lawsuits against the federal government for conducting experiments without getting permission from the participants. Even though the government tried hard, and sometimes succeeded, in avoiding legal responsibility, some people did receive money through court decisions, private agreements, or special laws. Frank Olson's family received $750,000 through a special law passed by Congress, and both President Ford and CIA director William Colby met with Olson's family to publicly apologize.

Before these discoveries, the CIA and the Army had worked to hide evidence that could harm them, even as they secretly gave money to affected families. One person, James Stanley, an Army sergeant, filed a lawsuit about drug experiments, but it was not successful. The government claimed Stanley could not sue because of the Feres doctrine, a rule that limits lawsuits against the military.

In 1987, the Supreme Court supported the government's defense in a 5–4 decision that dismissed Stanley's case: United States v. Stanley. The majority said that deciding if a lawsuit would affect military discipline would require judges to examine military matters. Justice William Brennan disagreed, saying that protecting military discipline should not stop the government from being held responsible for serious rights violations. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor also wrote a separate dissent, agreeing with Brennan.

In another case, Wayne Ritchie, a former U.S. Marshal, claimed in 1990 that the CIA added LSD to his food or drink at a 1957 Christmas party. This led to his attempted robbery at a bar and his arrest. The government admitted it had used drugs on people without permission and said Ritchie's behavior matched someone on LSD. However, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said Ritchie could not prove he was a victim of the MKUltra program or that LSD caused his actions, and she dismissed the case in 2005.

In Canada, a class action lawsuit about the Montreal experiments was approved by the Quebec Superior Court in 2025. The court gave the right to represent others to a survivor, who was admitted to the Allan Memorial Institute at age 15, and to a family member of a deceased patient.

Notable people

Confirmed experimenters:
• Harold Alexander Abramson
• Donald Ewen Cameron
• Sidney Gottlieb
• Harris Isbell
• Martin Theodore Orne
• Louis Jolyon West
• George Hunter White

Alleged experimenters:
• Jim Jones
• Charlie Siragusa

Allen Ginsberg first used LSD in an experiment at Stanford University. During the experiment, he could choose records to listen to (he selected a reading by Gertrude Stein, a Tibetan mantra, and music by Richard Wagner). He described the experience as causing "a slight paranoia that lasted through the mid-1960s until I learned from meditation how to overcome it." Ginsberg later became a strong supporter of psychedelic drugs in the 1960s. After hearing rumors that the experiment was funded by the CIA, he wrote, "Am I, Allen Ginsberg, the product of one of the CIA's lamentable, ill-advised, or triumphantly successful experiments in mind control?"

Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, reportedly volunteered for MKUltra experiments involving LSD and other psychedelic drugs at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Menlo Park while he was a student at nearby Stanford University. His experiences with LSD inspired him to promote the drug outside of the MKUltra program, which influenced the early ideas of the hippie movement.

Harold Blauer was an American tennis player who died after receiving injections of 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He had chosen to stay at the institute to address his depression following a divorce.

Robert Hunter was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his work with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Along with Ken Kesey, Hunter reportedly volunteered for early MKUltra experiments at Stanford University. Participants in these experiments were paid to take LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline and then describe their experiences. These experiences helped shape Hunter’s creative work.

James "Whitey" Bulger, an organized crime boss, claimed he received weekly injections of LSD and underwent testing while in prison in Atlanta in 1957.

Ted Kaczynski, an American domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber, was said to have participated in a voluntary psychological study that some sources claimed was part of MKUltra. As a sophomore at Harvard, Kaczynski took part in a study described by author Alston Chase as a "purposely brutalizing psychological experiment," led by Harvard psychologist Henry Murray. Kaczynski spent 200 hours as part of the study.

Sirhan Sirhan’s attorney, Lawrence Teeter, believed that Sirhan was "operating under MKUltra mind control techniques" when he assassinated Robert F. Kennedy.

Charles Manson has been connected to MKUltra by author Tom O’Neil, beginning with his time in prison, when Manson participated in drug-induced psychological experiments run by the federal government. These experiments may have continued through his later connection to the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco after his release in 1967.

In popular culture

MKUltra is often linked to conspiracy theories because of its secretive nature and the fact that many records about it were destroyed. This has led some people to believe that the CIA's human experiments may still be happening today.

• The sixth and final book in John Burdett's Bangkok detective series (2003–2015), The Bangkok Asset, includes MKUltra as a main topic. The story shows how the program affected people, including the development of soldiers with special skills.
• The 2009 movie The Killing Room is a thriller based on real events from MKUltra, a secret government program that tested people in stressful situations.

• The BYU TV show Granite Flats (2013–2015) was inspired by the CIA using an MKUltra experiment on a character, Lt. Frank Quincy (played by Scott Christopher), to turn him into someone without a sense of right or wrong.
• Screenrant writer Kara Hedash noted that some story elements in the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–2025) were influenced by MKUltra experiments.
• Wormwood, a 2017 six-part docudrama on Netflix directed by Errol Morris, follows the life of scientist Frank Olson and his role in Project MKUltra.
• Will Wood's 2020 album The Normal Album includes a song titled "BlackBoxWarrior – OKULTRA," which describes the experience of someone who was a victim of MKUltra.