MKUltra
The CIA’s secret programme of drug and behaviour-control research, 1953 to 1964, including LSD given to people who did not know.
The question What did the CIA actually do, and what do the records show?
Main timeline
Oldest first- 13 Apr 1953confirmed
CIA Director Allen Dulles approves MKULTRA
The project skipped the CIA’s usual contracts and audit procedures; Dulles noted that “security considerations precluded” usual contractual agreements. It followed the lines proposed by Richard Helms.
T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976Book I pp. 390, 405T1Senate hearing, 3 Aug 1977pp. 70, 85 - 19 Nov 1953confirmed
Frank Olson is given LSD without his knowledge
Olson, a civilian Army scientist from Fort Detrick, drank about 70 micrograms of LSD in a glass of Cointreau at a meeting of Army and CIA scientists. CIA officer Robert Lashbrook had put it in the bottle, in an experiment he and Sidney Gottlieb ran.
T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976Book I p. 394T1Rockefeller Commission, Jun 1975p. 227, unnamed - Nov 1953confirmed
Olson dies in a fall from a New York hotel window
While in New York for psychiatric treatment, he fell from a tenth-floor window of the Statler Hotel.
T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976Book I p. 394T1Rockefeller Commission, Jun 1975p. 227T1President Ford, 12 Oct 1976Sources disagreeThe Church Committee gives 27 November 1953; President Ford’s 1976 statement gives 28 November. Both are shown until a record settles it. - 1955–1963confirmed
Drugs are tested on people who don’t know, in ordinary social settings
Testing on unsuspecting people began on the West Coast in 1955 and on the East Coast in 1961. Some of it took place in safehouses in San Francisco and New York.
- 1963confirmed
The CIA’s Inspector General reviews MKULTRA
The review questioned testing on unsuspecting people and noted: “Present practice is to maintain no records of the planning and approval of test programs.” Testing on unsuspecting subjects was then prohibited.
T1Senate hearing, 3 Aug 1977pp. 4–5T1Rockefeller Commission, Jun 1975p. 228 - 1964confirmed
MKULTRA ends
The CIA’s director told the Senate that the 1963 review “led directly to the termination of this activity in 1964.” Related drug projects ran until 1967, the Rockefeller Commission found.
- Jan 1973confirmed
MKULTRA’s files are destroyed
Senator Kennedy said in 1977 the records were destroyed “at the instruction of then CIA Director Richard Helms.” The Rockefeller Commission counted 152 separate files.
T1Senate hearing, 3 Aug 1977pp. 3–4T1Rockefeller Commission, Jun 1975p. 226 - Jun 1975confirmed
The Rockefeller Commission makes the LSD testing public
Its report to the President described the testing and the death of an Army employee given LSD without his knowledge, without naming him.
T1Rockefeller Commission, Jun 1975pp. 226–228 - 26 Apr 1976confirmed
The Church Committee publishes its account
Book I of the Senate committee’s final report covers the testing of drugs on people, MKULTRA included.
T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976pp. 385–422 - 12 Oct 1976confirmed
Congress compensates Olson’s family
Private Law 94-126 paid $187,500 each to his widow and three children, $750,000 in all. President Ford said the drug “would appear to have been a proximate cause of his death.”
T1Private Law 94-126, 197690 Stat. 3006T1President Ford, 12 Oct 1976 - 1977confirmed
Seven boxes of MKULTRA records turn up
Finance files missed in 1973 and in 1975 were found at the CIA’s Retired Records Center during a Freedom of Information search. The CIA told the Senate in a letter of 15 July 1977.
T1Senate hearing, 3 Aug 1977pp. 3–5 - 3 Aug 1977confirmed
The Senate hears what the records show
149 subprojects; 185 non-government researchers; 80 institutions, among them 44 colleges or universities, 15 research foundations or companies, 12 hospitals or clinics and 3 penal institutions.
Sources disagreeSenator Kennedy’s opening statement says 86 universities or institutions; the CIA director’s statement says 80. Same hearing, both shown.
Branches
Go down oneA branch is only as strong as its weakest step so far. The count is how many sources back each step.
Frank Olson’s death
Was it suicide, as the government said?
- confirmed
Olson was given LSD without his knowledge and died days later in a fall
Carried over from the main timeline (steps 2 and 3).
T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976Book I p. 394T1Rockefeller Commission, Jun 1975p. 227StartStrength so far:confirmed· 2 sources on this step - confirmed
1976: the government compensates the family
$750,000 under Private Law 94-126. The President’s statement says Olson “jumped from a 10th floor window”.
= HoldsStrength so far:confirmed· 2 sources on this step - unverified
1994: an exhumation finds a head injury from a blow before the fall
Attached only as the family’s allegation, as a federal court summarised it in 2013: a forensic scientist linked a hematoma to a blow before the fall, and the New York District Attorney reopened the file in 1996 and changed the cause of death to “unknown”. The forensic report and the DA’s file are not attached yet.
T1Olson v. United States, 2013pp. 5–6, citing the complaint▼ WeakerStrength so far:unverified· 1 source on this step - disputed
Key claim: Olson was killed, not a suicide
In 2013 a federal court dismissed the sons’ suit as untimely and barred by the 1976 settlement, without ruling on what happened. The judge wrote that “the public record supports many of the allegations that follow, farfetched as they may sound.” The 1975–76 government records say he jumped.
= HoldsStrength so far:unverified· 2 sources on this step
Bullshit meter
- 1994: an exhumation finds a head injury from a blow before the fall. Unverified.
- Key claim contradicted by tier 1? Partly. The 1975–76 government accounts say he jumped, but they come from the government whose employees gave him the drug (ruling 2), so the step is held at Disputed for reviewers.
Fluff meter: possibly planted
- Can’t be traced to an original record. Absent: traced to the court record.
- First appeared from new or anonymous accounts. Not measured.
- Coordinated identical wording. Not measured.
- Cited source doesn’t exist. Absent.
- Later contradicted. Not measured.
● present · ○ absent · – not measured. Lists signals only. It never accuses anyone.
Personal interest meter
- Dr Harold Abramson, who saw Olson in New York for treatment, had LSD research funded indirectly by the CIA. T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976Book I p. 394
- The 1975–76 accounts, that he jumped come from the government whose CIA employees gave him the drug. T1President Ford, 12 Oct 1976
“Has a documented interest” only, each one sourced. Never an implication of guilt.
Correlation meter
- Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, in the 1977 hearing (main timeline) and the 1986 Cooper opinion (Montreal branch). T1Senate hearing, 3 Aug 1977p. 59
- Sidney Gottlieb, in the Church Committee’s account of the Olson experiment (main timeline step 2 and the Olson branch). T1Church Committee, Book I, 1976Book I p. 394
Links to other cases appear once those cases exist.
Who worked on this
This case was assembled by the site from public records. Contributions are not open yet. Nothing here is invented, so the counts are zero.
This is the first published version of the case.
Sources
- T1“Project MKULTRA, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification”, joint hearing, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, 95th Congress, 3 Aug 1977. www.intelligence.senate.gov · copy read: www.prisonlegalnews.org
- T1Church Committee Final Report, Book I: Foreign and Military Intelligence (S. Rept. 94-755), 26 Apr 1976, pp. 385–422 (reprinted as Appendix A of the 1977 hearing). www.intelligence.senate.gov · copy read: aarclibrary.org
- T1Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (Rockefeller Commission), June 1975, pp. 226–228. www.ojp.gov
- T1Private Law 94-126, 90 Stat. 3006, “For the relief of Alice W. Olson, Lisa Olson Hayward, Eric Olson, and Nils Olson”, 12 Oct 1976. www.govinfo.gov
- T1Gerald R. Ford, Statement on Signing the Bill Providing for the Relief of the Survivors of Dr. Frank R. Olson, 12 Oct 1976 (American Presidency Project). www.presidency.ucsb.edu
- T1Opinion of George Cooper, Q.C., regarding Canadian Government Funding of the Allan Memorial Institute in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Department of Justice Canada, May 1986. publications.gc.ca · copy read: archive.org
- T1Olson v. United States, Civil Action No. 12-1924 (JEB), D.D.C., memorandum opinion, 17 Jul 2013 (953 F. Supp. 2d 223). www.govinfo.gov
- T1Orlikow v. United States, Civ. A. No. 80-3163, 682 F. Supp. 77 (D.D.C., 19 Jan 1988). www.courtlistener.com
- NO TIEROur own text search of the OCR text of the 1977 hearing, the Rockefeller report and the Cooper opinion for “MONARCH” (0 matches). OCR, so not proof of absence. Not a source tier.