Project MKULTRA Timeline
Chronological Overview of Events
1947-09-18: Formation of CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman. The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCIA) serves as the head of the CIA and reports to the Director of National Intelligence.
1947-1953: Project Chatter (Navy)
U.S. Navy project, first known U.S. military testing of LSD. Also tested anabasine, scopolamine, and mescaline.
1950-09-20 to 1950-09-27: Operation Sea Spray (Navy)
A 1950 secret U.S. Navy secret bio-warfare experiment in which Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii bacteria were sprayed over the San Francisco Bay Area.
1950-1970: MKNAOMI
A joint Department of Defense/CIA research program focusing on biological projects including biological warfare agents—specifically, to store materials that could either incapacitate or kill a test subject and to develop devices for the diffusion of such materials.
1951-1971: Project Bluebird/Artichoke
"Project Artichoke was a mind control program that gathered information together with the intelligence divisions of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and FBI. In addition, the scope of the project was outlined in a memo dated January 1952 that asked, ""Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against fundamental laws of nature, such as self-preservation?""
1953-01-08: Death of Harold Blauer
As part of Project Artichoke, Blauer, a professional tennis player, was nonconsensually given extremely high doses of MDA. Researchers were unresponsive to his physical complaints and requests to stop. Blauer died from this nonconsensual experiment. He was 42 years old.
1953-1973: Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA was a behavior study and control research program focused on a number of areas including psychology, hypnosis, magicianship, shamanism, sex. drugs, and electronics. Project MKULTRA interfaced with scores of universities as well as some schools and prisons, usually working through cut outs. Project MKULTRA was divided up into subprojects, of which there were approximately 149.
1953-11-28: Death of Frank Olson
Olson was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and an employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) who worked at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick) in Maryland. At a meeting in rural Maryland, he was covertly dosed with LSD by his colleague and head of MKULTRA, Sidney Gottlieb and, nine days later, plunged to his death from the window of the Hotel Statler in New York.
1955-11-01 to 1975-04-30: Vietnam War
This armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.
1961-1964: Operation Third Chance, Operation Derby Hat
Operation Third Chance in Europe and Derby Hat in Asia sought to field-test and introduce uncoventional and coercive interrogation techniques including the use of duress and drugs like L.S.D. - on foreign nationals interrogated by American forces. James R. Thornwell is thought to have been the only American soldier subjected to this.
1961-06-01 to 1961-11-01: James R. Thornwell is interrogated in France
An interrogation in France that became part of Project Artichoke.
1962-03-13: Operation Northwoods proposed
This entry marks the proposal of Operation Northwoods.
1964-07-30 to 1964-08-04: Gulf of Tonkin Bay Incidents
Incident spun and exploited by President Johnson to escalate the Vietnam War.
1968-04-30 to 1972-12-31: Project Phoenix
Was designed to identify and destroy the Viet Cong via infiltration, assassination, torture, capture, counter-terrorism, and interrogation. The CIA described it as ""a set of programs that sought to attack and destroy the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong.""
1971-03-08: COINTELPRO discovered via FBI field office break in
The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI breaks into the Media, Pennsylvania FBI field office, stealing over 1,000 classified documents, including COINTELPRO files.
Media: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens%27_Commission_to_Investigate_the_FBI
1972-09-20 to 1995-10-26: Project Stargate
CIA studies ""remote viewing"" and other ""psychic"" phenomena. Project is named ""Stargate"" in 1991.
Media: www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2.pdf
1973-01-01 to 1973-01-01: Destruction of MKULTRA records
CIA Director orders the destruction of all MKULTRA records.
1973: CIA's "Family Jewels" is commissioned.
CIA director James R. Schlesinger commissions reports related to CIA misconduct and ethical breaches, collecting them in a document called ""the family jewels""
1973-07-24: FTCA lawsuit: Pollard v. United States, 384 F. Supp. 304 (M.D. Ala. 1974) Re: Tuskegee Syphillis Study
"On July 24, 1973, the lawsuit was filed. Jurisdiction was invoked under (1) the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution; (2) the civil rights laws 42 USC Section 1981, Section 1985(3), and Section 2000(D); (3) the Federal Torts Claims Act, 28 USC 2671; (4) the federal common law, and (5) the Constitution statues, and common law of Alabama." - Fred D. Gray, civil rights lawyer in Pollard v. United States (1973)
Media: tuskegeestudy.weebly.com/pollard-v-united-states.html
1974: Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a becomes law
establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual.
1974-12-22: New York Times publishes Seymour Hersch's expose on CIA's operations against Americans
first in a series of articles includes information leaked from the CIA's ""Family Jewels."" For the first time,Project MKULTRA is recognized openly, in print.
1975-01-27 to 1976-04-30: Church Committee investigation and hearings
Church Committee is formed, hearings held, some in public, culminating in a report published April 1976
1975-06-06: Rockefeller Commission on CIA activities within the US Report
Rockefeller Commission submits report on their investigation on CIA activities within the US
1975-08-04: Pike Committee, first public hearing held
Pike Committee, first public hearing held
1976: John Marks files FOIA which leads to the discovery of a trove of "misfiled" MKULTRA documents
The Black Vault publishes a complete collection of declassified MKULTRA documents, however, they notice that many documents are missing. Those documents will be located and published in 2016.
1976: Frank Olson's survivors announce plans to sue government for wrongful death; a settlement is offered and accepted
Frank Olson's widow and children receive $750,000 and an apology from President Ford and CIA director William Colby.
1976-11-22: The General Accounting Office (GAO) admits that the US sterilized thousands of Native American women, many without informed consent.
GAO admits that the US sterilized ""more than 3,400 Indians during a four‐year period."" (NYT Nov 23, 1976). ""The Indian Health Service (IHS), formed in 1955 within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), forcibly sterilized as many as 70,000 Native women during the 1970s, often without their consent or knowledge.""
Media: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_of_Native_American_women
1977-08-03: Senate Intelligence Committee Joint Hearing
Senate Intelligence Committee Joint Hearing with Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, Project MKULTRA, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification
1977-09-20 to 1977-09-21: US Senate Hearings before the Subcommittee on Health & Scientific Research of the Committee on Human resoures
US Senate Hearings before the Subcommittee on Health & Scientific Research of the Committee on Human resoures
1978: Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is passed
establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual.
1979: Belmont Report is published
The Belmont Report was written by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission, created as a result of the National Research Act of 1974, was charged with identifying the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects and developing guidelines to assure that such research is conducted in accordance with those principles. Informed by monthly discussions that spanned nearly four years and an intensive four days of deliberation in 1976, the Commission published the Belmont Report, which identifies basic ethical principles and guidelines that address ethical issues arising from the conduct of research with human subjects.
Media: www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/index.html
1979-10-02 to 1979-10-02: FTCA lawsuit filed: Thornwell v. United States, 471 F. Supp. 344 (D.D.C. 1979)
James R. Thornwell files FTCA lawsuit against the federal government for the 1961 interrogation involving duress and covert use of LSD.
Media: law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/471/344/1805211/
1981: Nevin v. U.S., 696 F.2d 1229 (9th Cir. 1983) DISMISSED
Nevin allegedly died due to 1950's Operation Sea Spray. Judge said it could not be proven.
1981-12-18: Private Law 96-77 passed granting James R Thornwell $625,000 settlement
Private Law 96-77 passed granting James R Thornwell $625,000 settlement.
1984-06-25: James R Thornwell is found drowned in a swimming pool
James R Thornwell is found drowned in a swimming pool.
1987: US v. Stanley, 483 U.S. 669 (1987) DISMISSED
James B Stanley files FTCA lawsuit for damages resulting from unwitting exposure to LSD as part of a 1958 experiment by the US Army using servicemen as unwitting test subjects. Suit is dismissed by the US Supreme Court.
1991-01-17 to 1991-02-28: Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War)
This armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.
1994-01-01 to 1995-10-31: Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments
This advisory committee focused on human radiation experiments.
Media: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Committee_on_Human_Radiation_Experiments
1994: Second autopsy performed on Frank Olson; doctors find evidence of homicide
Frank Olson's son, Eric, has father exhumed to be buried with mother, takes opportunity to order a second autopsy. Doctors find a blunt force injury on the side of Olson's head, and an injury to his chest which they say occurred prior to the fall, suggesting homicide.
1996-04-27: Former CIA Director William Colby dies by drowning
Former CIA Director William Colby dies by drowning.
1996: Eric Olson requests a new investigation into the death of Frank Olson.
In 1996, Eric Olson approached the U.S. District Attorney in Manhattan, Robert Morgenthau, to see if his office would open a new investigation. Stephen Saracco and Daniel Bibb of the office's ""cold case"" unit collected preliminary information, including a deposition of Lashbrook, but concluded that there was no compelling case to send to a grand jury.[1] In 2001, Canadian historian Michael Ignatieff wrote for The New York Times Magazine an account of Eric's decades-long campaign to clear his father's name.[1][41][42] Eric Olson asserts that the forensic evidence of death is suggestive of a method used by the CIA found in the first manual of assassination that says ""The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface.""
1997-05-16: President Clinton apologizes for the Tuskeegee Syphillis study
President Clinton apologizes for the Tuskeegee Syphillis study.
1999-06-30: Title VI of the Ethics In Government act sunsets
Title VI required the Attorney General to investigate specific allegations of federal offenses by the President, VP, individuals at specified salary levels in the Executive Office of the President and the DOJ, any Assistant AG, the Director and Deputy Director of the CIA, the Commissioner of the IRS, all such specified individuals who held office during the incumbency of the President or during the period the previous President held office (if such preceding President was of the same political party as the incumbent President), and any officer of the principal national campaign committee seeking the election or reelection of the President. The Attorney General was to decide if there is merit to the allegation within 90 days. If so, then the AG would have a special prosecutor appointed who has all the power of the DOJ office except those specific to the AG.
2001-09-11: September 11 attacks occur
Two hijacked commercial jets hit the NYC World Trade Center twin towers; one plane hits the Pentagon.
2001-09-18 to 2001-10-09: US Anthrax attacks occur
The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of ""America"" and ""anthrax"", from its FBI case name),[1] occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and to senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, killing five people and infecting seventeen others. Capitol police officers and staffers working for Senator Russ Feingold were exposed as well. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became ""one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement""
2001-10-07 to 2021-08-30: War in Afghanistan
This armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.
Media: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)
2003-03-20 to 2011-12-18: Iraq War
This entry marks the timeline of the Iraq War.
2004: Black Vault publishes collected declassified MKULTRA documents as downloadable zip files
The Black Vault publishes a complete collection of declassified MKULTRA documents, however, they notice that many documents are missing. Those documents will be located and published in 2016.
2007-01-01 to 2007-12-31: Former CIA Director William Colby's death ruled accidental
The official cause of death of former CIA Director William Colby is changed to accidental drowning. This comes after his body was found, drowned, in a river near his home.
2007-06-25: Family Jewels document is published
A declassified and sanitized Family Jewels full document is published on the CIA website.
2012-11-28: FTCA lawsuit filed: Olson v. United States, 953 F.Supp.2d 223 (D. D.C. 2013). DISMISSED
On November 28, 2012, sons Eric and Nils Olson filed suit in the US District Court in Washington, D.C.,[44] seeking unspecified compensatory damages as well as access to documents related to their father's death and other matters that they claimed the CIA had withheld from them.[45][46] The case was dismissed in July 2013, due in part to the 1976 settlement between the family and government.[47] In the decision dismissing the suit, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote, ""While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family's suit], farfetched as they may sound.""
Media: case-law.vlex.com/vid/olson-v-united-states-890018378