Project MKUltra was an illegal program created and carried out 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" refers to the Office of Technical Service, and "Ultra" was a word randomly chosen from a dictionary to name the project. The program was widely criticized for breaking people's rights and showing the CIA's misuse of power. Critics pointed out that the program ignored people's right to agree to participate and harmed democratic values.

Project MKUltra started in 1953 and ended in 1973. It used many methods to affect the mental health and brain activity of people without their permission. These methods included giving large amounts of psychoactive drugs, especially LSD, and other chemicals secretly. Other methods used were electric shocks, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of harm.

Project MKUltra followed another 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 did illegal things, such as testing U.S. and Canadian citizens without their knowledge. MKUltra's activities were wide-ranging, taking place at over 80 institutions, including colleges, hospitals, prisons, and drug companies, under the cover of research. The CIA used fake organizations to hide its involvement, though some leaders at these institutions knew about the CIA's role.

Project MKUltra was made public in 1975 by the Church Committee, a group in the U.S. Congress led by Senator Frank Church, and by President Gerald Ford's Commission on CIA Activities in the United States (the Rockefeller Commission). The investigations were difficult because CIA director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files to be destroyed in 1973. The Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission relied on statements from people directly involved and the few documents that survived Helms's order. In 1977, a request under the Freedom of Information Act uncovered 20,000 documents about MKUltra, leading to Senate hearings. Some information about MKUltra was made public in 2001.

Background

During the early 1940s, Nazi scientists working in concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau during World War II performed experiments on human subjects. They tested substances like barbiturates, morphine derivatives, and hallucinogens such as mescaline on prisoners from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Jewish communities, and other groups of people captured during the war. The goal of these experiments was to create a truth serum that would remove a person’s ability to resist questioning. American historian Stephen Kinzer stated that the CIA’s MKUltra project continued these earlier Nazi experiments, as shown by MKUltra’s use of mescaline on people who did not know they were being tested, similar to experiments done at Dachau. Many Nazi scientists were later employed by the United States government after the war as part of Operation Paperclip, including figures like Kurt Blome, who later worked on MKUltra.

American interest in drug-related interrogation experiments began in 1943, when the Office of Strategic Services started developing a "truth drug" to make people speak freely during questioning. In 1947, the United States Navy began Project CHATTER, an interrogation program that tested LSD on human subjects for the first time.

In 1950, the Central Intelligence Agency, under General Walter Bedell Smith, started several interrogation projects involving human subjects. The first project, called Project Bluebird, was renamed Project Artichoke in 1951. Led by Brigadier General Paul F. Gaynor, the goal of Artichoke was to determine if a person could be forced to attempt an act of assassination. Drugs like morphine, mescaline, and LSD were given to CIA agents without their knowledge to cause memory loss. The project also explored using viruses such as dengue fever as tools to disable people.

Project Artichoke was managed by Sidney Gottlieb but began under the direction of CIA director Allen Dulles in 1953. Its purpose was to create mind-controlling drugs to use against the Soviet bloc, in response to claims that the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea had used mind control techniques on U.S. prisoners during the Korean War. The CIA aimed to use similar methods on its own captives and to influence foreign leaders, including plans to drug Fidel Castro. Many experiments were conducted without the subjects’ knowledge or consent. In some cases, academic researchers received funding from CIA-linked organizations but were unaware the CIA was using their work for these purposes.

The project sought to develop a perfect truth serum for interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the Cold War and to explore other ways to control the mind. Subproject 54, called the Navy’s "Perfect Concussion" program, aimed to erase memories using sound waves, but it was never carried out.

Most MKUltra records were destroyed in 1973 by CIA director Richard Helms, making it difficult for investigators to fully understand the more than 150 research projects funded by MKUltra and related CIA programs.

The project began during a time of high fear at the CIA, as described by English journalist Rupert Cornwell, when the United States had lost its monopoly on nuclear weapons and concern about communism was strong. CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton believed a spy had infiltrated the agency at a high level. The CIA spent millions of dollars studying ways to control the mind and extract information from people who resisted questioning. Some historians believe one goal of MKUltra and related projects was to create a person who could be controlled like the fictional "Manchurian Candidate." American historian Alfred W. McCoy claimed the CIA tried to shift public attention to these programs to hide their real goal: effective interrogation methods.

A 1976 report by the Church Committee found that in the MKDELTA program, "Drugs were used mainly to help with interrogations, but MKULTRA/MKDELTA materials were also used to harass, discredit, or disable people."

In 1964, the continuation of the MKULTRA program was named MKSEARCH. This project was split into two parts, MKOFTEN and MKCHICKWIT. Funding for MKSEARCH started in 1965 and ended in 1971. It was a joint effort between the U.S. Army Chemical Corps and the CIA’s Office of Research and Development to find new weapons, focusing on substances that could disable people. The goal was to develop, test, and evaluate ways to use biological, chemical, and radioactive materials to influence human behavior for secret operations.

By March 1971, over 26,000 people had been identified as potential agents for future use. The CIA studied bird migration patterns for research on chemical and biological warfare at Pennsylvania State University. MKOFTEN tested the effects of drugs on animals and humans, while MKCHICKWIT focused on gathering information about new drug developments in Europe and Asia.

In January 1957, the CIA launched a subproject of MKUltra to expand its research. Subproject 68, conducted at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal by psychiatrist Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, was one of the most controversial parts of the MKUltra program. This subproject aimed to test methods for controlling human behavior, such as "psychic driving" and "depatterning." Psychic driving involved playing recorded messages to patients under the influence of drugs like LSD or barbiturates, often focusing on themes like self-improvement or identity.

Experiments on Americans

CIA documents show that they studied chemical, biological, and radiological methods to control minds under MKUltra. They spent about $10 million, which is about $87.5 million today when adjusted for inflation.

During a Senate hearing, the CIA’s deputy director testified that over 30 institutions and universities helped test drugs on unknowing citizens, including people from all social levels, Native Americans, and foreigners. Some tests involved giving LSD to people without their knowledge in social situations.

The Army was tested with LSD in three phases. Phase one included over 1,000 soldiers who volunteered for chemical warfare experiments. Phase two tested 96 volunteers to study LSD’s potential use in intelligence work. Phase three involved 16 people who were not informed they were part of the experiments. These individuals were given LSD and then interrogated during field tests.

After retiring in 1972, Sidney Gottlieb, the director of MKUltra, called the program useless. Files found in 1977 showed that experiments continued until Gottlieb ordered the program to stop 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 mind control. In the 1950s, Gottlieb arranged for the CIA to buy all available LSD for $240,000, which would be about $4.2 million in 2024. The CIA distributed LSD to prisons, hospitals, and other institutions to observe how people reacted without their knowledge.

Early CIA efforts focused on LSD-25, which became central to many MKUltra programs. The CIA wanted to know if they could force Soviet spies to defect or if the Soviets could do the same to U.S. operatives.

Documents from 1976 showed the CIA planned to buy 10 kilograms of LSD in 1953, enough for 100 million doses. This purchase aimed to prevent other countries from controlling LSD supplies. The CIA bought some LSD from Sandoz Laboratories in Switzerland.

When MKUltra began in 1953, experiments included giving LSD to mental patients, prisoners, drug users, and prostitutes—people who could not resist. One patient in Kentucky received LSD for 174 days. The CIA also tested LSD on employees, military personnel, doctors, and members of the public. The goal was to find drugs that could force confessions or erase memories to program people as “robot agents.” Military personnel who participated were threatened with court-martial if they spoke about the experiments. LSD and other drugs were often given without consent, breaking the Nuremberg Code, which the U.S. agreed to follow after World War II. Many veterans later sought legal and financial help for the harm caused by these experiments.

In Operation Midnight Climax, the CIA set up brothels in San Francisco to study men who might be too embarrassed to talk about their experiences. These men were given LSD, and sessions were filmed using one-way mirrors. In other experiments, people were given LSD without their knowledge and interrogated under bright lights while doctors took notes. Subjects were told their LSD trips would last longer if they refused to share secrets. Those tested included CIA employees, military personnel, and Cold War suspects. Some suffered long-term harm, and a few died. Heroin addicts were bribed with more heroin to take LSD.

At the request of a Stanford student, Ken Kesey participated in a CIA-funded study at a veterans’ hospital. The project tested hallucinogens like LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline on people.

The CIA used LSD in interrogations, but Gottlieb believed it could be used in secret operations. He tested LSD in normal settings without warning, even giving it to CIA staff. 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 and later jumped to his death from a hotel window, possibly due to depression from the drug. Olson had previously questioned the morality of the program and asked to leave the CIA.

Some subjects agreed to participate but were subjected to more extreme tests. For example, seven African-American participants at a research center in Kentucky received LSD for 77 consecutive days.

MKUltra researchers later found LSD too unpredictable and stopped using it as a mind-control tool. However, by 1962, the CIA and military developed stronger hallucinogens like BZ, which were seen as better for mind control. This shift led to less interest in LSD research by scientists and private groups.

Other experiments involved giving barbiturates through one arm and amphetamines through the other. Barbiturates were administered first, and amphetamines were given once the person began to sleep. Other tests used heroin, morphine, temazepam (code-named MKSEARCH), mescaline, psilocybin, scopolamine, alcohol, and sodium pentothal.

A 1955 MKUltra document outlined goals to find drugs that could enhance thinking, mimic diseases, or create euphoria without

Experiments on Canadians

The CIA brought experiments to Canada by hiring Scottish psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron, who developed the idea of "psychic driving." The CIA found this concept interesting. Cameron wanted to treat schizophrenia by removing memories and changing how the mind worked. 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 (about $766,936 in 2024 dollars) to conduct MKUltra experiments. The money for these experiments came from the CIA through a group called the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology. Internal CIA documents show Cameron did not know the funds were from the CIA.

Cameron tested drugs like LSD and paralytic medications, as well as electroconvulsive therapy with much higher power levels than usual. His "driving" experiments involved putting subjects into drug-induced comas for weeks or even months while playing repeated noises or simple messages. Many patients at the institute had common issues like anxiety or postpartum depression, but many suffered lasting harm, such as memory loss, speech difficulties, and incontinence. Some patients forgot their parents or believed their interrogators were their parents.

During this time, Cameron held important roles, including chairman of the World Psychiatric Association and president of the American and Canadian Psychiatric Associations. He also served on the Nuremberg medical tribunal from 1946 to 1947.

Cameron’s work was similar to that of British psychiatrist William Sargant, who conducted experiments on patients without their consent at hospitals in London and Sutton. Sargant worked with MI5, but there is no evidence his research was linked to intelligence agencies.

In the 1980s, some of Cameron’s former patients sued the CIA for harm caused by his experiments. A Canadian TV program called The Fifth Estate reported on these cases. A 1998 TV miniseries titled The Sleep Room was based on the patients’ experiences and legal battles.

Naomi Klein suggests in her book The Shock Doctrine that Cameron’s research for the MKUltra project aimed to create a scientific method for extracting information from people who resisted questioning, which she describes as a form of torture. Alfred W. McCoy writes that Cameron’s experiments, building on earlier work by Donald O. Hebb, provided the foundation for the CIA’s two-step psychological torture method: first confusing the subject, then forcing them to relieve pain by giving up information.

Secret detention camps

In the early 1950s, in areas controlled by the United States in Europe and East Asia, such as Japan, West Germany, and the Philippines, the CIA established secret holding facilities. These places were used to avoid legal consequences for the U.S. The CIA captured individuals suspected of working for enemy groups and others considered not important. These people were forced to endure painful treatments, including the use of mind-altering drugs, electrical shocks, exposure to very hot or very cold temperatures, and being kept in environments with no light, sound, or physical contact. These methods were used to study how to control or harm human minds.

Revelation

In 1973, during a time of government concern caused by the Watergate scandal, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed. As part of this order, most CIA documents about the project were destroyed, making it impossible to fully investigate MKUltra. A group of about 20,000 documents survived because they were stored in the wrong place and were found after a FOIA request in 1977. These documents were studied during Senate hearings in 1977.

In December 1974, The New York Times reported that the CIA had carried out illegal activities in the United States, including experiments on American 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, as well as other methods, on people without their knowledge. These tests aimed to learn how to influence human behavior. The reports also stated 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, said he remembered little about the program when interviewed by the committee.

The congressional committee, led by Senator Frank Church, concluded that the subjects of these experiments had not given their permission. The committee noted that the experiments raised questions about the lack of rules for such research.

Following the committee’s recommendations, President Gerald Ford issued an Executive Order in 1976 that banned drug experiments on people without their written consent, signed by someone not involved in the study. Later, Presidents 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 the CIA had found about 20,000 pages of records that 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 themselves.

In 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said on the Senate floor that Frank Olson’s death, which happened nine days after he was given LSD without his knowledge, was linked to the experiments. The CIA admitted the tests had little scientific purpose, and the people monitoring the experiments were not qualified scientists.

In Canada, the issue became public in 1984 on a CBC news show, The Fifth Estate. It was revealed that the CIA had funded experiments by a Canadian doctor, and the Canadian government had also given money to continue the work. This made it harder for victims to sue the CIA, as had happened in the U.S. 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 after his death. A 1986 report found that 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 the CIA had conducted experiments without proper oversight.

In the 1985 court case CIA v. Sims, the U.S. Supreme Court supported the idea that the CIA could keep certain information secret under the Freedom of Information Act, even if the details seemed harmless. This decision allowed the CIA to avoid sharing many MKUltra records, and lower courts have used this reasoning to protect the agency’s information.

Death of Frank Olson

Frank Olson was a scientist who worked for the United States Army in the 1950s. He studied chemicals and biological weapons. In 1951, he was involved in research related to a poisoning event in France called the Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning. At the time, experts believed the event was caused by ergot, a type of fungus that contains a chemical called lysergic acid, which is used to make LSD.

In 1953, Olson left his job as acting chief of a division at a military research facility in Maryland because he had serious ethical concerns about his work. These concerns included:
– The creation of materials for assassinations by the CIA
– The use of biological weapons in secret missions
– Testing biological weapons in areas with people
– Working with former Nazi scientists through a program called Operation Paperclip
– Research into using LSD to control people’s minds
– Using psychoactive drugs during interrogations under a program called Project Artichoke

In November 1953, Olson was given LSD without his knowledge or permission as part of a CIA experiment. He died one week later after falling from a 13th-floor window. A CIA doctor claimed to have been asleep in a hotel room when the fall happened. At the time, Olson’s death was reported as a suicide linked to a mental health crisis. The CIA’s own investigation said that the head of Project MKUltra, a scientist named Sidney Gottlieb, had given Olson LSD with his prior approval, though neither Olson nor others in the experiment knew the drug’s true nature until after it was taken. The report noted that Gottlieb should have been reprimanded for not considering Olson’s known history of suicidal thoughts, which may have been worsened by the drug.

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 only addressed the lack of informed consent about the LSD experiment.

In 1977, a Senate committee wrote about the events. In 1994, Olson’s body was examined again, and evidence showed he had been knocked unconscious before falling from the window. This contradicted the CIA’s earlier claim that his death was a suicide. The medical examiner described the death as a “homicide.”

Since 2001, Olson’s family has argued that Frank Olson was murdered because he became a security risk after his LSD experience. They believe he knew about classified CIA programs and might have shared secrets.

The family also claimed:
– The 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit event was part of a CIA program called MKDELTA
– Olson was involved in that event
– The CIA murdered him

In 2012, the Olson family sued the U.S. government over Frank Olson’s death. In 2013, the case was dismissed partly because of a 1976 settlement between the family and the government. A judge named James Boasberg wrote about the dismissal in the court decision.

Legal issues involving informed consent

The discoveries about the CIA and the Army led some people or their family members to file lawsuits against the federal government for performing experiments without getting permission from the participants. Even though the government tried hard to avoid being held legally responsible, some people who filed lawsuits received money through court decisions, agreements outside of court, or laws passed by Congress. 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.

Earlier, the CIA and the Army had worked to keep information that could harm their reputation secret, even while quietly giving money to affected families. One person who was part of an Army drug experiment, James Stanley, an Army sergeant, filed a lawsuit, but it was not successful. The government claimed Stanley could not sue because of the Feres doctrine.

In 1987, the Supreme Court agreed with the government's defense in a 5–4 decision that ended Stanley's case: United States v. Stanley. The majority said that checking how much a lawsuit might affect military discipline and decisions would require judges to get involved in military matters. In a different opinion, Justice William Brennan argued that protecting military discipline should not stop the government from being held responsible for serious violations of people's rights. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing a separate dissent, also disagreed with the majority's decision.

In another case, Wayne Ritchie, a former United States Marshal, said in 1990 that the CIA put LSD in his food or drink during a 1957 Christmas party, which led him to try to rob a bar and get arrested. The government admitted that it had drugged people without their permission and that Ritchie's behavior was typical of 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 related to the Montreal experiments was allowed 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, where he could choose which records to listen to (he selected a reading by Gertrude Stein, a Tibetan mantra, and music by Richard Wagner). He said the experience caused "a slight paranoia that lasted through all my acid experiences until the mid-1960s, until I learned through meditation how to overcome it." He 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 regrettable, poorly planned, or successfully carried-out experiments in mind control?"

Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is said to have volunteered for MKUltra experiments involving LSD and other mind-altering 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 the context of the MKUltra experiments, which influenced the early development of hippie culture.

Harold Blauer was an American tennis player who died from injections of 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He had chosen to enter the institute after becoming depressed 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 is said to have been an early volunteer in MKUltra experiments at Stanford University. Participants in these experiments were paid to take LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline, then describe their experiences. These experiences helped shape Hunter's creative work.

James "Whitey" Bulger, an organized crime boss, claimed he was given weekly injections of LSD and tested while in prison in Atlanta in 1957.

Ted Kaczynski, an American domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber, is said to have been a subject of a voluntary psychological study that some sources claim was part of MKUltra. As a sophomore at Harvard, Kaczynski participated in a study described by author Alston Chase as a "purposely harsh psychological experiment," led by Harvard psychologist Henry Murray. In total, Kaczynski participated in the study for 200 hours.

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

Charles Manson has been connected to MKUltra by author Tom O’Neil, starting 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 he was released from prison in 1967.

In popular culture

MKUltra is often linked to conspiracy theories because of its secretive nature and the fact that many records about the program 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 describes how the program's effects are shown to involve creating soldiers and spies with abilities beyond normal human limits.
• The 2009 movie The Killing Room is a thriller that is based on the real-life MKUltra program. It follows volunteers who are placed in stressful situations as part of the experiment.
• The BYU TV show Granite Flats (2013–2015) is based on the CIA using an MKUltra experiment on a character named Lt. Frank Quincy (played by Scott Christopher). The story shows the CIA trying to turn him into an assassin without a sense of right or wrong.
• A Screenrant writer named Kara Hedash wrote that some parts of the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–2025) were inspired by MKUltra experiments.
• Wormwood, a 2017 six-part docudrama miniseries on Netflix directed by Errol Morris, is based on 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 experiments.