Project MKUltra (sometimes called the CIA's mind control program) is the code name given to a program of experiments on humans, sometimes illegal, designed and undertaken by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. The experiments on humans were intended to identify, develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogation and torture in order to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind control.
The operation began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, reduced in scope in 1964, further reduced in 1967, and officially halted in 1973. The program was involved in many illegal activities, including the unintentional use of citizens of the US and Canada as their test subjects that led to controversy regarding their legitimacy. MKUltra used numerous methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, among other forms of psychological torture.
The scope of the MKUltra Project was broad, with research conducted in 80 institutions, including 44 universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies. The CIA operated through these institutions using front-line organizations, although at times senior officials of these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.
The MKUltra Project was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the United States Congress and a Gerald Ford commission to investigate CIA activities in the United States. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all MKUltra files in 1973; The Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission investigations were based on the sworn testimony of direct participants and the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms' destruction order.
In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents related to the MKUltra project, which it led to Senate hearings later that year. In July 2001, some information that survives MKUltra was declassified.
