by Michaela Sylvia
Intercontinental competition and national security concerns during the Cold War pressured the U.S. to execute a series of unjust programs and experiments that imposed upon the rights of its citizens. Such programs included mind control experiments conducted by the CIA, bioweapons experiments, drug experiments at Edgewood Arsenal, radiation experiments, and CIA-operated programs to influence the media. Each of the aforementioned programs exemplifies how the Cold War climate motivated the U.S. to take drastic measures at the expense of its people.
Many of the Cold War programs were extremely inhumane and are largely unknown to the public, and thus might sound like the work of conspiracy theorists or TV producers. (Some of the experiments even inspired the popular Netflix series Stranger Things.) Despite how incredible the following governmental undertakings may seem, each of them actually occurred and made a significant impact on Cold War history.
The Cold War
The end of World War II marked the start of the Cold War era. The Cold War was the forty-five year long ideological and methodological battle for world domination between America and the Soviet Union. At the root of the conflict were the countries’ opposing political and economic systems. The United States operated under a capitalist system, whereas the Soviet Union was communist. Following WWII, many European countries were suffering from political upset. While America wanted these countries to become capitalist, the Soviets hoped to convert them to communism. The conflict has been dubbed the “Cold War” since much of the fighting was indirect and “took place in political games, not armed warfare.” “The option of all-out warfare had been taken off the table by the presence of nuclear weapons.”
Competition between the U.S. and the Soviets was central to the Cold War. In what is known as the Arms Race, the two countries raced to develop more advanced nuclear capabilities. Similarly, in the Space Race, the U.S. and the Soviets competed in the field of space technology. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed that it would be “the goal of his administration to land an American on the moon before the end of the decade.” At this point in the Cold War, the Soviets had already launched Sputnik in 1957 and “sent the first human into space.” The U.S. retaliated by landing Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969. Throughout the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviets relied upon espionage to learn what the other was scheming or how they were progressing in these technological advancements. In the U.S., the principal spy organization involved was the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA.
During the Cold War, the U.S. grew concerned that the Soviets would surpass them in terms of technological advances. Additionally, the U.S. grappled with the increasing fear that the Soviets would utilize their newly developed technology and the Cold War would eventually turn hot. In order to prevent the U.S.S.R. from dominating, the U.S. took steps to guarantee its role as a global superpower.
Central Intelligence Agency Mind Control Experiments
Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union motivated the U.S. to conduct a series of unethical mind control experiments on its own citizens.
From 1953 to 1964, the CIA performed unethical mind control experiments in a program called MKULTRA. MKULTRA intended to test vulnerabilities to behavioral modification drugs. Specifically, the CIA conducted experiments using lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, and other psychochemical drugs. Additionally, the experiments employed several abusive techniques including electroconvulsive shock, sensory isolation, and drug induced sleep for periods of many days.
Furthermore, the MKULTRA experiments involved testing on “an undetermined number of people without their knowledge or consent.” According to the director of the CIA, “over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an ‘extensive testing and experimentation’ program which included covert drug testing on unwitting citizens.” Some MKULTRA test subjects consented to treatment for mental impairments but were not aware that the treatment was part of an experiment. The CIA believed that the test subjects must be unaware of the experiments in order to yield more realistic results and so as not to “result in a false sense of accomplishment and readiness.” After all, according to CIA director Richard Helms, if these drugs and techniques were to be implemented in real situations, the victims would be unwitting.
Additionally, in a 23-year program codenamed Project Artichoke, the CIA conducted unprincipled mind control experiments similar to those of MKULTRA. Project Artichoke was the “Agency cryptonym for the study and/or use of ‘special’ interrogation methods and techniques.” Like MKULTRA, Project Artichoke involved the use of drugs and chemicals. In addition, Project Artichoke included several hundred hypnotic experiments and the psychological harassment technique of “‘total isolation.’” Many of the Project Artichoke experiments were performed in Agency buildings and used staff volunteers as test subjects.
Eventually, the CIA destroyed the records of all LSD activities.
Perhaps the most disturbing of all was the fact that the extent of experimentation on human subjects was unknown. The records of all these [LSD] 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.
Later, in 1977, one individual filed a Freedom of Information Act request in order to uncover additional documents regarding the covert activities. “20,000 incorrectly-filed budgetary documents” were revealed as a result of the request. These records were uncovered in March of 1977, however they were not disclosed to Congress until July of that year. The CIA’s destruction of experimental records suggests the unethical nature of its mind programs. Presumably, the Agency destroyed the documents in order to eliminate any evidence of their unethical activities involving human experimentation.
Ultimately, competition with Asian nations incentivized the U.S. to perform its Cold War mind control experiments. To begin with, the CIA instituted MKULTRA to “counter perceived Soviet and Chinese advances in brainwashing techniques.” Additionally, the CIA vindicated its mind control experiments using an apocryphal story that “POWs of the Korean War had been ‘brainwashed’ by their captors.” In reality, an investigation could not confirm any instances of brainwashing among prisoners of war released from North Korea.
Further, the CIA’s second motive for its mind control experiments was its search for the “Manchurian Candidate” due to elevated tensions during the Cold War. The “Manchurian Candidate” was thought to be “the assassin whose mind [is] controlled by a hostile government.” In other words, the CIA hoped to invent a means of programming an assassin who would be less susceptible to interrogation. In one Manchurian experiment, Security operator Morse Allen “simulated the ultimate experiment in hypnosis”:
Allen’s “victim” was a secretary whom he put into a deep trance and told to keep sleeping until he ordered otherwise. He then hypnotized a second secretary and told her that if she could not wake up her friend, “her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to ‘kill.’” Allen left a pistol nearby, which the secretary had no way of knowing was unloaded. Even though she had earlier expressed a fear of firearms of any kind, she picked up the gun and “shot” her sleeping friend. After Allen brought the “killer” out of her trance, she had apparent amnesia for the event, denying she would ever shoot anyone.
However, Project Artichoke assassination plots were “’simulated only,’” and never actually tested.
In conclusion, the CIA violated the rights of American citizens by using them as test subjects in abusive mind control experiments. Not only were many of these experiments performed without consent, but the drugs utilized in these experiments, including LSD, have been recognized to result in agitation and suicidal tendencies in certain cases. In this series of experiments, the CIA displayed a blatant disregard for the welfare of its citizens for the purpose of competing with the Soviets and their communist allies.
Army Bioweapons Experiments
In response to national security concerns, the U.S. Army conducted extensive bioweapons research that violated the rights of citizens.
To start with, the purpose of the Army’s experiments was to assess the United States’ vulnerability to biological weapons. According to the U.S. government, “[f]undamental to the development of a [bioweapons] deterrent strategy was the need for a thorough study and analysis of our vulnerability to overt and covert attack." In anticipation of a Soviet bioweapons attack, the U.S. staged over two hundred internal attacks. Although the “test agents [used in the domestic attacks] were far less harmful than those that would be used in war, [they] still posed health risks.” Thus, in performing these domestic attacks, the Army potentially endangered U.S. citizens.
For instance, in a bioweapons experiment in New York City, the Army exposed subway commuters to bacteria in order to monitor its spread. In this particular study, the Army filled light bulbs with the bacteria Bacillus subtilis, and charcoal, a simulated chemical agent. They then shattered the bulbs on sidewalk ventilating grills as subway trains entered the station. Over one million commuters were exposed to the bacteria and charcoal. The Army believed Bacillus subtilis to be a relatively harmless bacteria, however it is unclear whether the testing posed health risks. “The Army said no one was made ill,” however it failed to take appropriate measures and “conceded that it did not monitor anyone exposed” following the experiment.
In addition, beginning on September 26, 1950, the Army targeted San Francisco in another notable bioweapons experiment known as Operation Sea Spray. The six-day Operation involved a U.S. navy minesweeper ship spraying the bacteria Serratia marcescens into the air two miles off the northern California coast. Similar to the New York Subway experiment, at the time of Operation Sea Spray, “the U.S. military thought that Serratia couldn’t harm humans.” However, one week after the test, eleven San Francisco residents were admitted to a Stanford University hospital due to urinary tract infections. The infections were later identified to be symptoms of a Serratia outbreak.
Finally, the Army orchestrated considerable research experiments with the aim of developing vaccines and antidotes. In this series of experiments, the Army exposed approximately 2,200 people to biological pathogens in order to develop immunizations and antidotes. Experimental pathogens included Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis and Tularemia. Unlike the New York Subway experiment and Operation Sea Spray, the participants in these experiments were volunteers and were allegedly “adequately informed” of the experiments.
At this point in the Cold War, Communists had won the Chinese Civil War, and in 1959, Cuba had fallen to communism under Fidel Castro. Thus, the current pressures of the Cold War drove the U.S. to expose innocent civilians to various strains of bacteria without any certainty of the potential health effects. The Army conducted these experiments in the interest of the common good, and did not take appropriate consideration of the individual test subjects’ safety. Therefore, the Army’s bioweapons experiments were unethical and exhibit how, during the Cold War, the United States often valued national security over the rights of individual citizens.
Edgewood Arsenal Drug Experiments
As U.S.-Soviet tensions escalated during the Cold War, fear of military confrontation pushed the U.S. to impose upon the rights of its citizens in drug studies at Edgewood Arsenal.
From 1952 to 1975, the United States performed extensive testing at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland and four other locations in order to develop incapacitating agents to be used in war. The studies focused on the development of nerve agents, such as VX. Additionally, the Edgewood experiments tested psychochemicals and irritants, such as LSD and tear gas.
Furthermore, participants in the Edgewood studies included Army and Air Force personnel. As in many of the aforementioned programs, the U.S. conducted its experiments at Edgewood without the participants’ consent. Evidently, “[s]ome service members have testified before congressional committees that they were not fully informed of the risks involved” in the experiments. This detail contributes to the immorality of the studies, as test subjects were not given the opportunity to decide for themselves whether to participate.
In summary, the United States’ fear of direct conflict with the Soviets prompted it to execute hazardous and unethical studies at Edgewood Arsenal. The fact that VX, a nerve agent originally developed at Edgewood, was later sought by Saddam Hussein is a testament to the studies’ iniquity. At the time of the experiments, the United States was in “a very tense confrontation with the Soviet Union, and there was information that was sometimes accurate, sometimes inaccurate, that they were procuring large amounts of LSD, possibly for use in a military situation.” These speculations encouraged the U.S. to perform its own experiments in order to stay on par with Soviets, even though these experiments were rarely in the best interest of its citizens.
Radiation Experiments
Anticipation of potential nuclear warfare with the Soviet Union pressed the United States to perform a series of unjust radiation experiments.
Firstly, the U.S. directed a nuclear testing program known as Operation Crossroads. In 1946, the U.S. conducted Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in order to study the effects of nuclear weapons on naval warships. The Operation included two shots: Able and Baker. The sailors responsible for decontaminating the ships following the shots were unprotected and thus at a high risk of contaminating their “skin, clothing, and presumably, their lungs” with radioactive material.
Additionally, the U.S. conducted a series of radiation studies involving plutonium injections. Prior to the plutonium injection studies, a team of scientists was assembled to work on the atomic bomb in a research effort known as the Manhattan Project. Following the development of the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project began to experiment on humans. The Project hoped to study the effects of plutonium on humans so that scientists could gain a better understanding of how to protect Manhattan project researchers, soldiers, and American citizens exposed to nuclear weapons. In the plutonium studies, scientists injected plutonium into eighteen men, women, and children. The test subjects did not consent to the injections, and the injections were not performed with “therapeutic intent.” At the time of the experiments, scientists did not have as much knowledge about the effects of radiation as they do now. However, that is not to say that they were entirely unaware of the dangers of radioactive material.
Until the 1970s, government scientists and physicians made use of unwitting Americans in order to discover the effects of [radiation] exposure. Scientists already knew that radiation was dangerous. Newspaper accounts had graphically detailed the radiation poisoning of women in New Jersey who painted the dials of watches with radium, who died horribly while they were still young. The hands of Nobel laureate Marie Curie, the discoverer of radium, were chronically covered with radiation burns, and she died of radiation-induced leukemia in 1934. Many people who worked with x-rays died of various forms of leukemia.
In other words, the government was not ignorant of the risks that accompanied its experiments.
Given the rapid development of nuclear weaponry during the Arms Race, including the detonation of the Soviets’ first atomic bomb in 1949, the United States wanted to be prepared for an attack. In order to best prepare itself, the U.S. deemed it necessary to learn about the effects of radiation. In doing so, the government violated the rights of its citizens by deliberately endangering their health by exposing them to radiation.
Central Intelligence Agency Influence on the Media
Lastly, the U.S. violated Americans’ right to free press by influencing the media during the Cold War.
To begin with, in the early years of the Cold War, the United States government launched a covert campaign to influence the media known as Operation Mockingbird. The purpose of the CIA’s propaganda campaign was to “[promote] the views of the CIA within the media.” Such views included Anti-Soviet and right-wing ideologies. At least twenty-five news organizations were involved in the CIA’s propaganda campaign, including the New York Times, Newsweek, Associated Press, and The Miami Herald. For instance, in order to cultivate the belief that “the Bolsheviks were doomed to fail and without popular support,” The New York Times inaccurately “reported four times that Lenin and Trotsky had made plans to flee Russia, three times that they had actually fled the country; three times that Lenin had been imprisoned; once that he was about to retire; and once that he had been assassinated.” As part of the Operation, “Journalists would plant fabricated stories, and cover international events with a purpose of casting the CIA’s agenda in a positive light.” Ultimately, “the cost of disinforming the world [through the CIA’s covert media campaigns] cost American taxpayers an estimated $265 million a year by 1978,” since approximately 3,000 CIA employees were involved in propaganda activities. Thus, the CIA’s influence in the media was unjustified because it violated citizens’ rights to free, unbiased press and forced them to pay unnecessary tax dollars.
Rising U.S.-Soviet tensions prompted the CIA to coordinate Operation Mockingbird. In undergoing the Operation, the CIA imposed on the rights of American citizens by limiting their access to impartial news sources and burdening them financially. Instead of taking individuals into consideration, the government selfishly foisted its ideas upon citizens in order to guarantee support for its questionable Cold War behaviors.
Some may argue that the U.S. did not actually fear for its national security, and instead, that the sole purpose of its Cold War programs was to dominate the rest of the world in terms of its weapons capabilities. However, although world domination was the ultimate goal of the Cold War, it was not the only reason for America’s various programs. The U.S.S.R. was also interested in world domination and the U.S. had reason to believe that the Soviets would use whatever means necessary to achieve that goal. The U.S. feared the application of those means as a potential threat to its national security.
One also could argue that the government’s programs were justified because they were implemented in pursuit of knowledge that would benefit the country as a whole. However, according to the Presidential Advisory Committee at the time, “one ought not to use people as a mere means to the ends of others.” In using humans as test subjects, the government’s experiments violated this “basic moral principle,” and were therefore unjustified.
Conclusion
Intercontinental competition and concerns about national security characterized the unique climate of the Cold War. These extenuating circumstances pressured the U.S. to perform mind control experiments like MKULTRA, biological weapons experiments in New York City and San Francisco, experiments at Edgewood Arsenal, and radiation experiments. The Cold War conditions even led the CIA to implement an Anti-Soviet propaganda campaign. The programs listed above are merely a few of the many condemnable experiments run by the government during the Cold War era.
While it is difficult to believe that inhumane experiments like these occurred outside of sci-fi novels and Stranger Things, it is even harder to believe the many cases of unethical human experimentation that take place today. Since 1997 and continuing through the Obama administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has performed experiments in which humans are exposed to cancer-causing pollutants like PM2.5 in exchange for little compensation. In several hospitals, including Boston Children’s Hospital, there have been recent claims of drug experiments on children without consent. Citizens should be educated about the existence of these experiments in order to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future.