UPDATE UPDATE: PART 3 NOW ONLINE

Part 1 is here! Stay tuned for part 3, which goes deeper into the rabbit hole...

Also, sources are cited in the comments.

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Unwitting Testing

The CIA had an official policy of 'terminal experiments', which essentially meant surreptitious administration of drugs to discover how subjects would react when they were not aware they were being experimented on. The justification was that it was the only way to truly discover the reactions of the mind under stress and exposed to various mind control chemicals. The policy was upheld even after it led to deaths. One high profile fatality was that of Dr. Frank Olson, a scientist from the Army Chemical Corps' Special Operations Division. During a joint Army-CIA gathering at Deep Creek Lodge in the woods of Northern Maryland, Sidney Gottlieb added LSD to the drinks of the few men in attendance, and did not inform them until the effects started to begin.

Dr. Frank Olson was one of these men, and unlike his peers, he was not able to handle the effects of the psychedelic. His colleagues described his reaction as 'psychotic'. He survived the trip, but entered a deep depression and ended up jumping out a window of the window of a New York hotel a week later.

The death of Dr. Olsen prompted an internal review by the CIA of surreptitious testing, but the policy was resumed just a few months later. One CIA document, issued nearly a decade after Olsen's death, affirmed the internal consensus of unwitting administration of drugs:

“(Officers) argued for the continuation of unwitting testing, using as the principal point that controlled testing cannot be depended upon for accurate results. General Carter, Mr. Kirkpatrick, and I do not disagree with this point.”¹⁸

Another aspect of unwitting testing involves experimentation of children. Although most of MK-ULTRA experiments on minors has been covered up, a New York Times article from 1995 reveals a disturbing glimpse, stating that:

“About 9000 Americans, including children and newborns,were used in 154 radiation tests sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission, the Energy Department's Cold War predecessor, Government officials said today... Some participated with little or no knowledge of risks they faced.”¹⁹

Although this wasn't under the official MK-ULTRA umbrella, it has been documented that radiological methods to control human behavior were pursued and these tests were likely done with cooperation.²⁰

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Entrapment

One program uncovered during the internal CIA review by centered around George White, a CIA associate who formally worked for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The CIA considered White's position ideal, as it gave him unrestricted access to a variety of drugs without suspicion. Under CIA auspices, George White set up 'safehouses' in New York and later San Francisco, fully equipped with covert video and audio surveillance equipment. The goal was to study the use of prostitutes for covert intelligence.²¹

“TSS officials wanted to find out everything they could about how to apply sex to spying, and the prostitute project became a general learning and then training ground for CIA carnal operations. After all, states one TSS official, "We did quite a study of prostitutes and their behavior.... At first nobody really knew how to use them. How do you train them? How do you work them? How do you take a woman who is willing to use her body to get money out of a guy to get things which are much more important, like state secrets. I don't care how beautiful she is—educating the ordinary prostitute up to that level is not a simple task.” - John Marks

In addition to studying the use of prostitutes for clandestine use, the safehouses were used to administer drugs to the unwitting solicitors, after which the various effects would be recorded.

The official story of 'Operation Midnight Climax', as it became known, was the study of prostitutes, unwitting johns and drugs in a controlled situation. The San Francisco Weekly wrote:

"How test subjects were chosen by the agents varied. In the case of the Telegraph Hill safe house, working girls would pick up johns in North Beach bars and restaurants, then bring them back for experimentation and observation. Other times, White and his wife would host dinner parties where guests might get dosed with a hallucinogenic cocktail without their knowledge. And seemingly random San Franciscans like Kelley were victimized for no other reason than their paths crossed with White and his men at the wrong time. White wrote in his diary how he slipped acid to unsuspecting civilians at local beaches, and in city bars and restaurants."²²

At least a couple CIA veterans were willing to discuss the use of these safehouses for a more sinister operation: entrapment. John Marks' research of the over 20,000 declassified documents into MK-ULTRA shortly after their release in the mid 70's revealed the following shocking information:

“Gottlieb did not limit his interest to drugs. He and other TSS officials wanted to try out surveillance equipment. CIA technicians quickly installed see-through mirrors and microphones through which eavesdroppers could film, photograph, and record the action. "Things go wrong with listening devices and two-way mirrors, so you build these things to find out what works and what doesn't," says a TSS source. "If you are going to entrap, you've got to give the guy pictures [flagrante delicto] and voice recordings. Once you learn how to do it so that the whole thing looks comfortable, cozy, and safe, then you can transport the technology overseas and use it." This TSS man notes that the Agency put to work in the bedrooms of Europe some of the techniques developed in the George White safehouse operation.”²³

James Keehner, a former CIA psychologist, recalled his involvement in one entrapment case, in which he analyzed a nurse who had 'offered her body' for her country:

"We wanted her to sleep with this Russian... Either the Russian would fall in love with her and defect, or we'd blackmail him. I had to see if she could sleep with him over a period of time and not get involved emotionally. Boy, was she tough!"²⁴

Keehner noted that he became disillusioned with entrapment cases, but that other officers 'got their jollies' from this type of work. Regarding his typical assignment, Keehner stated:

"I was sent to deal with the most negative aspects of the human condition. It was planned destructiveness. First, you'd check to see if you could destroy a man's marriage. If you could, then that would be enough to put a lot of stress on the individual, to break him down. Then you might start a minor rumor campaign against him. Harass him constantly. Bump his car in traffic. A lot of it is ridiculous, but it may have a cumulative effect."

Knowing that some officers got their 'jollies' from entrapment operations, and that safehouses were installed in the United States, the question “Were entrapment techniques ever used against United States officials or other domestic people of importance?” is logically raised.

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Personality Assessment

Although MK-ULTRA was originally devoted to biological mind control, it quickly evolved into a program dedicated to understanding all aspects of the human psyche. George White's experiments tested how people reacted to entrapment, and other experiments tested how different types of people responded to alcohol. It is with this context that the CIA contacted Psychologist John Gittinger to become an instrumental part of MK-ULTRA.

Gittinger had developed the Personality Assessment System, a test which would be administered to give fascinating insights into a person's personality and had distinct variables that separated his work from other known personality tests at the time such as the famous Weschler exam. Like Ewan Cameron, Gittinger received funding through the Human Ecology Society to research what type of personality would be likely to defect from their country, both to target foreign agents and to weed out domestic ones.

At one point, Gittinger traveled to work with George White to use his test on prostitutes and homosexuals to refine his assessment test to figure out what type of sexual orientation someone likely had, and to figure out who had sexually deviant tendencies. One of Gittinger's colleagues stated that he knew of cases where the Personality Assessment System was used to identify targets for entrapment, both heterosexual and homosexual.²⁵

One particularly useful application of the Personality Assessment System was to identify people who would be easily hypnotized. It has likely been used extensively to hand-pick subjects and employees on sensitive projects within and beyond MK-ULTRA, assessing peoples personalities to discover who would retain secrecy and loyalty.

Interestingly, Gittinger was familiar enough with his test that he was able to observe someones behavior and then retroactively apply the attributes to determine their personality type. By observing how a man held his cigarette, handled his alcohol, or interacted with women, Gittinger could profile that person and determine their weaknesses and propensity for exploitation through entrapment or other means.

John Marks details how Gittinger himself helped pick out the members of a fascist police force in Uraguay, targeting members who would be more inclined to torture.

One logical application of the Personality Assessment System is the ability to assign certain people to a program that required secrecy, by determining how loyal an agent or asset would be to the Agency.

Thanks for reading, and remember to stay tuned for part 3: MK-ULTRA and Hypnotism!