Re: Why We Haven't Been to Mars Yet

On August 3, 1977 Senator Ted Kennedy gave the following prepared talk
regarding the CIA's MK-ULTRA experiments

* * * *

Some 2 years ago, the Senate Health Subcommittee heard chilling
testimony about the human experimentation activities of the Central
Intelligence Agency. The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over
30 universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive
testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests
on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native
Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the
administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations."

At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities.
The Agency itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific
sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific
observers. The tests subjects were seldom accessible beyond the first
hours of the test. In a number of instances, the test subject became
ill for hours or days, and effective followup was impossible.

Other experiments were equally offensive. For example, heroin addicts
were enticed into participating in LSD experiments in order to get a
reward -- heroin.

Perhaps most disturbing of all was the fact that the extent of
experimentation on human subjects was unknown. The records of all
these activities were destroyed in January 1973, at the instruction of
then CIA Director Richard Helms. In spite of persistent inquiries by
both the Health Subcommittee and the Intelligence Committee, no
additional records or information were forthcoming. And no one -- no
single individual -- could be found who remembered the details, not
the Director of the CIA, who ordered the documents destroyed, not the
official responsible for the program, nor any of his associates.

We believed that the record, incomplete as it was, was as complete as
it was going to be. Then one individual, through a Freedom of
Information request, accomplished what two U.S. Senate committees
could not. He spurred the agency into finding additional records
pertaining to the CIA's program of experimentation with human
subjects. These new records were discovered by the agency in March.
Their existence was not made known to the Congress until July.

The records reveal a far more extensive series of experiments than had
previously been thought. Eighty-six universities or institutions were
involved. New instances of unethical behavior were revealed.

The intelligence community of this Nation, which requires a shroud of
secrecy in order to operate, has a very sacred trust from the American
people. The CIA's program of human experimentation of the fifties and
sixties violated that trust. It was violated again on the day the bulk
of the agency's records were destroyed in 1973. It is violated each
time a responsible official refuses to recollect the details of the
program. The best safeguard against abuses in the future is a complete
public accounting of the abuses of the past.

I think this is illustrated, as Chairman Inouye pointed out. These are
issues, are questions that happened in the fifties and sixties, and go
back some 15, 20 years ago, but they are front page news today, as we
see in the major newspapers and on the television and in the media of
this country; and the reason they are, I think, is because it just
continuously begins to trickle out, sort of, month after month, and
the best way to put this period behind us, obviously, is to have the
full information, and I think that is the desire of Admiral Turner and
of the members of this committee.

The Central Intelligence Agency drugged American citizens without
their knowledge or consent. It used university facilities and
personnel without their knowledge. It funded leading researchers,
often without their knowledge.

These institutes, these individuals, have a right to know who they are
and how and when they were used. As of today, the Agency itself
refuses to declassify the names of those institutions and individuals,
quite appropriately, I might say, with regard to the individuals under
the Privacy Act. It seems to me to be a fundamental responsibility to
notify those individuals or institutions, rather. I think many of them
were caught up in an unwitting manner to do research for the Agency.
Many researchers, distinguished researchers, some of our most
outstanding members of our scientific community, involved in this
network, now really do not know whether they were involved or not, and
it seems to me that the whole health and climate in terms of our
university and our scientific and health facilities are entitled to
that response.

So, I intend to do all I can to persuade the Agency to, at the very
least, officially inform those institutions and individuals involved.

Two years ago, when these abuses were first revealed, I introduced
legislation, with Senator Schweiker and Senator Javits, designed to
minimize the potential for any similar abuses in the future. That
legislation expanded the jurisdiction of the National Commission on
Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research to cover all
federally funded research involving human subjects. The research
initially was just directed toward HEW activities, but this
legislation covered DOD as well as the CIA.

This Nation has a biomedical and behavioral research capability second
to none. It has had for subjects of HEW funded research for the past 3
years a system for the protection of human subjects of biomedical
research second to none, and the Human Experimentation Commission has
proven its value. Today's hearings and the record already established
underscore the need to expand its jurisdiction.

The CIA supported that legislation in 1975, and it passed the Senate
unanimously last year. I believe it is needed in order to assure all
our people that they will have the degree of protection in human
experimentation that they deserve and have every right to expect.


* * * *

A precursor of the MK-ULTRA program began in 1945 when the Joint
Intelligence Objectives Agency was established and given direct
responsibility for Operation Paperclip. Operation Paperclip was a
program to recruit former Nazi spies, scientists and experts in
torture and brain washing, some of whom had just been identified and
prosecuted as war criminals during the Nuremberg Trials.

Several secret U.S. government projects grew out of Operation
Paperclip. These projects included Project CHATTER (established 1947),
and Project BLUEBIRD (established 1950), which was later renamed to
Project ARTICHOKE in 1951. Their purpose was to study mind-control,
interrogation, behavior modification and related topics.

Headed by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, the MK-ULTRA project was started on the
order of CIA director Allen Dulles on April 13, 1953 largely in
response to Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean use of mind-control
techniques on U.S. prisoners of war in Korea. The CIA wanted to use
similar methods on their own captives. The CIA was also interested in
being able to manipulate foreign leaders with such techniques which
could also be adapted to manipulate domestic leaders when needed.

Experiments were often conducted without the subjects' knowledge or
consent

QUESTION: Could these techniques have been used against those present
at the July 17, 1969 party at Martha's Vineyard, that later resulted
in the death of Mary Jo Kopekne?

Why didn't Simmons, the chaffeur drive the pair? He brought Senator
Kennedy to the party? What were his plans if Kennedy wasn't
returning? Why did he insist on Kennedy taking his keys and driving
Mary Jo himself?

The Senator said he had no recollection of events leading up to the
accident. What if that were literally true? What if Simmons or
another temporary helper of that group brought mind altering drugs to
the party with the intent of causing the Senator's death? or at the
very least, discredit him?

Again, without this event occuring THAT DAY - either well before or
well after - Kennedy would obtain a HUGE political bounce from the
moon landing - and people would scant remember that Nixon was actually
President that day.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Why We Havent Been to Mars Yet
    ... Intelligence Agency. ... The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over ... testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests ... It seems to me to be a fundamental responsibility to ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Why We Havent Been to Mars Yet
    ... Intelligence Agency. ... The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over ... testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests ... It seems to me to be a fundamental responsibility to ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Why We Havent Been to Mars Yet
    ... Intelligence Agency. ... The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over ... testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests ... It seems to me to be a fundamental responsibility to ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Why We Havent Been to Mars Yet
    ... the Senate Health Subcommittee heard chilling ... Intelligence Agency. ... The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over ... testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests ...
    (sci.space.policy)