Poisoner in Chief

by Stephen Kinzer

  Colby testified that despite having spent: Nicholas M. Horrock, “Colby Describes CIA Poison Work,” New York Times, September 17, 1975.

  “General Patton on steroids”: Richard Leiby, “Terry Lenzner, the Private Eye Who Has Seen It All, from Watergate to Microsoft,” Washington Post, October 9, 2013.

  “forty-odd hours of testimony”: U.S. Senate, Human Drug Testing, p. 170.

  The lithograph shows a hooded monk: “The Left Bower Smoking Tobacco Manufactured by Joseph Scheider, 100 Walker St., N.Y.,” Pickryl, https://picryl.com/media/the-left-bower-smoking-tobacco-manufactured-by-joseph-scheider-100-walker-st.

  “Joseph Scheider testified that he had ‘two or three conversations’”: U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots, pp. 20–24.

  “Sid said he was charged with implementing a program”: Lenzner, The Investigator, p. 198.

  Questioning was proceeding methodically: Ibid., pp. 198–200.

  “claimed to have forgotten virtually everything”: Streatfeild, Brainwash, p. 65.

  “When you were asked to kill Lumumba”: Testimony of “Joseph Scheider,” October 9, 1975, cited in Loch Johnson, Strategic Intelligence: Covert Action; Behind the Veils of Secret Foreign Policy (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006), p. 208.

  “My view of the job at the time”: Ranelagh, Agency, p. 343.

  “Sources said Dr. Sidney Gottlieb … returned here recently”: Bill Richards, “Ex-CIA Aide Set to Talk of Drug File,” Washington Post, September 2, 1975.

  On October 14, 1975, FBI director Clarence Kelley: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Airtel to SAC, Alexandria,” October 14, 1975, FBI Release #52-101074-13, http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/historical/sidneygottlieb-FBI1.pdf.

  The FBI tried one last gambit: Ibid.

  Once the testimony was finished, he withdrew his offer: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Doctor Sidney Gottlieb: Destruction of Government Property,” November 3, 1975, FBI Release #52-2392-28; Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Doctor Sidney Gottlieb: Destruction of Government Property,” January 14, 1976, FBI Release #52-101074-18, http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/historical/sidneygottlieb-FBI1.pdf.

  An internal FBI memo dated December 8: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Airtel to Director, FBI,” December 8, 1975, FBI Release #52-101074-16, http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/historical/sidneygottlieb-FBI1.pdf.

  “The Criminal Division of the Department of Justice”: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Airtel to SAC, Alexandria,” January 21, 1976, FBI Release #52-2392-84, http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/historical/sidneygottlieb-FBI1.pdf.

  “I argued that no, he is sufficiently high”: Katherine A. Scott, ed., Church Committee Members and Staff, 1975–1976, Oral History Interviews (Washington, DC: U.S. Senate Historical Office, 2016), p. 462.

  The Senate report, issued a few days later: U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots, p. 20.

  “They declined to identify their client”: Nicholas M. Horrock, “Bid to Cut Name in Report on C.I.A. Fails,” New York Times, November 18, 1975.

  14. I Feel Victimized

  Over a fifteen-month period the Church Committee: Moran, Company Confessions, p. 108.

  “Intelligence agencies have undermined the constitutional rights”: U.S. Senate, “Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities,” https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/investigations/ChurchCommittee.htm.

  Tucked away in the committee’s six-volume final report: U.S. Senate, Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 39–97.

  The report also summarized what the committee had discovered: Ibid., pp. 385–95.

  “did a very diligent job of Sherlock Holmesing”: U.S. Senate, Human Drug Testing, p. 124.

  “Central Intelligence Agency documents released yesterday”: John Jacobs, “CIA Papers Detail Secret Experiments on Behavior Control,” Washington Post, July 21, 1977.

  MK-ULTRA, he began, was “an umbrella project”: U.S. Senate, Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, pp. 8–15.

  “Admiral Turner, this is an enormously distressing report”: Ibid., pp. 15–16.

  “The overall agent, Mr. Gottlieb, has indicated a fuzzy memory”: Ibid., pp. 45–47.

  “I don’t see how we can fulfill our responsibility”: Nicholas M. Horrock, “80 Institutions Used in CIA Mind Studies,” New York Times, August 4, 1977.

  “As part of the ongoing investigation”: U.S. Senate, Project MKULTRA, p. 49.

  “The word went out to the subcommittee staff”: “Key Witness in C.I.A. Inquiry,” New York Times, September 20, 1977.

  “Because the drug testing programs involved”: John Crewdson and Jo Thomas, “Ex-CIA Aide Asks Immunity to Testify,” New York Times, September 7, 1977.

  While Senate lawyers were weighing their options: Jacobs, “Diaries.”

  For a time he served as the fire marshal: Valentine, “Sex, Drugs and the CIA.”

  “I was a very minor missionary”: U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, Plaintiff’s Confidential Exhibits, Volume III of III, p. E1383; Troy Hooper, “Operation Midnight Climax: How the CIA Dosed S.F. Citizens with LSD,” SFWeekly, March 14, 2010.

  “I insisted that the hearing be held in executive session”: Lenzner, The Investigator, p. 201.

  “the first public emergence of the distinguished-looking scientist”: New York Times, “Key Witness.”

  “Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, a key but shadowy figure”: Jo Thomas, “Key Figure Testifies in Private on C.I.A. Drug Tests,” New York Times, September 22, 1977.

  He began with a few sentences about MK-ULTRA: U.S. Senate, Human Drug Testing, pp. 170–71.

  “I would like this committee to know”: Ibid., p. 174.

  “That was a traumatic period”: Ibid., p. 185.

  “The decision was, ‘Don’t change anything’?”: Ibid., p. 188.

  the conclusion he had reported to his CIA superiors: Ibid., p. 190.

  He said that before leaving the CIA in 1973: Ibid., pp. 195–96.

  “I feel victimized and appalled by the CIA’s policy”: Ibid., p. 173.

  “There was a policy review of this project”: Ibid., pp. 179–80.

  “given the number of informal conversations that Eisenhower had”: William L. d’Ambruoso, “The Persistence of Torture: Explaining Coercive Interrogation in America’s Small Wars,” doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, 2015, p. 114, https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/37225/DAmbruoso_washington_0250E_16413.pdf?sequence=1.

  “To answer the question precisely”: U.S. Senate, Human Drug Testing, p. 204.

  “remarkable skill in answering questions”: Jeremiah O’Leary, “CIA’s Drug Tests Are Defended in Cold War Context,” Washington Star, September 22, 1977.

  “There was tangible evidence that both the Soviets”: U.S. Senate, Human Drug Testing, p. 170.

  “There was no advance knowledge or protection”: Ibid., p. 172.

  “They steered us away”: Author’s interview with Burton Wides, 2018.

  One prominent member of the Church Committee: Author’s interview with Gary Hart, 2018.

  Robert Lashbrook admitted that he had been Gottlieb’s deputy: U.S. Senate, Human Drug Testing, p. 114.

  “not the slightest idea”: U.S. Senate, Project MKULTRA, p. 62.

  “a rich variety of twits”: Mary McGrory, “Getting Absurdity Out of the CIA,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, September 24, 1977.

  15. If Gottlieb Is Found Guilty, It Would Be a Real First

  “Damn!” Secretary of Defense Harold Brown shouted: Albarelli, Terrible Mistake, p. 552.

  The intelligence historian Thomas Powers: Marks, Search for the “Manchurian Candidate,” pp. xvii–xviii.

  “Only
33 years old when he took over the Chemical Division”: Ibid., pp. 59–60.

  “Unfortunately, the files available to date”: Central Intelligence Agency, “Memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence,” September 16, 1977, Approved for Release January 5, 2002.

  Turner reported to Attorney General Griffin Bell: H. P. Albarelli, “Government-Linked ‘Suicide’ Probed,” WND, September 8, 2002, https://www.wnd.com/2002/09/15128/amp/.

  “Unwitting testing was performed”: Albarelli, Terrible Mistake, p. 577.

  “I didn’t read that book”: U.S. District Court 2nd Circuit, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” September 22, 1995, p. 546.

  “Sid is going to school in San Jose”: Margaret Gottlieb, “Autobiographical Essays.”

  “The entire place was powered by the sun”: Author’s interview with retired CIA officer “LD.”

  He and his wife: Gup, “Coldest Warrior.”

  “The transformation was complete”: Ibid.

  “Since suburbia had taken over our former haunts”: Margaret Gottlieb, “Autobiographical Essays.”

  “I have accumulated a number of honors”: “David Gottlieb, 1911–1982,” https://www.apsnet.org/publications/phytopathology/backissues/Documents/1983Articles/phyto73n01_32.pdf; P. D. Shaw and R. E. Ford, “David Gottlieb, 1911–1982,” Mycologia, 75 (2), March–April 1983, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3792802?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.

  issued a public “Statement on MK-ULTRA”: Central Intelligence Agency, “Statement on MKULTRA,” March 1, 1984, https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP86M00886R000800010039-4.pdf.

  “Years later, a television reporter ambushed Gottlieb”: Albarelli, “Mysterious Death”; Crazy Rulers of the World (film).

  “I’m so happy you don’t have a weapon”: Author’s interview with Eric Olson, 2018.

  “what would happen if a scientist were taken prisoner”: Albarelli, Terrible Mistake, p. 593.

  “Your father and I were very much alike”: Author’s interview with Eric Olson.

  “There was a tautness to him”: Ibid.

  “You say that you’ve been through a change of consciousness”: Ibid.

  “Look, if you don’t believe me”: Albarelli, Terrible Mistake, p. 594.

  As the family was rising to leave: Ibid.

  “I didn’t have the confidence then in my skepticism”: Ibid.

  “I don’t know if we’re going to find out”: Brian Mooar, “Digging for New Evidence,” Washington Post, June 3, 1994.

  “I would venture to say that this hematoma”: National Geographic Channel, CIA Secret Experiments (film), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Afjf2ZgGZE.

  Starrs later wrote that it was “the most perplexing”: Starrs and Ramsland, Voice for the Dead, p. 144.

  It is unsigned: Thomas, Secrets and Lies, p. 17.

  “The contrived accident is the most effective technique”: Central Intelligence Agency, “A Study of Assassination,” https://archive.org/details/CIAAStudyOfAssassination1953.

  “The death of Frank Olson”: “Family Statement on the Murder of Frank Olson,” https://frankolsonproject.org/descent/; Stephanie Desmon, “In Reburial, Olsons Hope to Lay Saga of Father to Rest,” Baltimore Sun, August 9, 2002.

  Gottlieb appears dapper and white-haired: National Geographic Channel, CIA Secret Experiments.

  it was Lashbrook: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” April 19, 1983, p. 192: “Who put the LSD?” “Dr. Lashbrook.” “Under your instructions?” “Yes, under my general instructions.”

  Gottlieb also makes extended appearances: Wormwood (film).

  In 2017, Stephen Saracco: Science Channel, CIA Drug Conspiracy (film), https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/deadly-intelligence/full-episodes/cia-drug-conspiracy.

  He charged that, at the Agency’s direction: Thomas, Journey into Madness, pp. 257–63; Thomas, Secrets and Lies, pp. 185–90; Kristin Annable, “‘She Went Away, Hoping to Get Better’: Family Remembers Winnipeg Woman Put through CIA-Funded Brainwashing,” CBC News, December 15, 2017, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/mkultra-cia-velma-orlikow-1.4449922; Toronto Star, May 25, 1990.

  “I really can’t remember that level of detail”: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” April 19, 1983, p. 10.

  Did he conduct research into the effects: Ibid., p. 333.

  “I may be having a mental block”: Ibid., p. 213.

  “My memory is hazy about that”: Ibid., p. 70.

  “I don’t remember what Mr. Helms’s job was”: Ibid., p. 132.

  “What Dr. Gottlieb has done is to show a reckless disregard”: Ibid., p. 44.

  “You are badgering the witness!”: Ibid., p. 41.

  “You are doing nothing but abusing this man”: Ibid., p. 207.

  “MK-ULTRA was a project to investigate”: Ibid., p. 107.

  He admitted that he had felt “somewhat abused”: Ibid., p. 204.

  “quite angry” when the CIA declassified: Ibid., p. 43.

  “I was very upset that a human being had been killed”: Ibid., p. 206.

  Gottlieb admitted that some CIA officers had been “disinclined”: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” May 17, 1983, p. 263.

  “I find it very difficult to answer that question”: Ibid., p. 363.

  “Did you ever consider you should adopt something analogous”: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” April 19, 1983, p. 149.

  The CIA agreed to pay the Orlikow family: Helen L. McGonigle, “The Law and Mind Control: A Look at the Law and Government Mind Control through Five Cases,” Smart, August 15, 1999, https://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/articles-books/the-law-and-mind-control-a-look-at-the-law-and-goverment-mind-control-through-five-cases/.

  “The word Bluebird totally confuses me”: U.S. District Court 2nd Circuit, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” September 22, 1995, p. 648.

  “Was he your deputy?”: U.S. District Court 2nd Circuit, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” September 21, 1995, p. 492.

  He said he had never set foot in Paris: U.S. District Court 2nd Circuit, “Deposition of Sidney Gottlieb,” September 22, 1995, p. 557.

  “It never happened”: Ibid., p. 610.

  “Assuming that a jury would find”: U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, Gloria Kronisch, Executrix of the Estate of Stanley Milton Glickman, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. United States of America, Sidney Gottlieb, in his individual and in his official capacities, Richard Helms, in his individual and in his official capacities, and John Does, unknown agents of the Central Intelligence Agency, no. 97–6116, July 9, 1998, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1364923.html.

  “If Gottlieb is found guilty, it would be a real first”: Sarah Foster, “Meet Sidney Gottlieb—CIA Dirty Trickster,” WND, November 19, 1998, https://www.wnd.com/1998/11/3426/.

  Gottlieb met one of his old college friends: Gup, “Coldest Warrior.”

  “Money is tight these days”: Margaret Gottlieb, “Autobiographical Essays.”

  The journalist Seymour Hersh … visited Gottlieb: Author’s interview with Seymour Hersh, 2018.

  “A lot of Sid’s later life was spent atoning”: Gup, “Coldest Warrior.”

  “I felt that he was on a path of expiation”: Ibid.

  Gottlieb died on March 7, 1999: Weiner, “Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies.”

  “We were in a World War II mode”: Ibid.

  The CIA officer who had been Gottlieb’s boss: Gup, “Coldest Warrior.”

  “He was unquestionably a patriot”: Weiner, “Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies.”

  “Given his altruistic hobbies”: Davidson, “Polarity of Sidney Gottlieb.”

  “Besides the case I was pursuing”: Author’s interview with Sidney Bender, 2018.

  “He was concerned that he might never find”: Albarelli, “Mysterious Death.”

  “gradually
became depressed”: Gup, “Coldest Warrior.”

  Margaret asked the funeral home not to disclose: Thomas, Secrets and Lies, p. 37.

  “Gottlieb’s two worlds came together”: Gup, “Coldest Warrior.”

  “Anyone who knew Sid knew he was haunted”: Regis, Biology of Doom, p. 231; Thomas, Secrets and Lies, p. 36.

  With Gottlieb gone, the already sluggish pace: CIA, “Interview with Richard Helms.”

  “Helms was a liar”: Author’s interview with Frederick Schwarz, 2018.

  “Those who had talked to Gottlieb in the past few years”: St. Clair and Cockburn, “Pusher, Assassin and Pimp.”

  16. You Never Can Know What He Was

  A seven-thousand-pound bull elephant: Streatfeild, Brainwash, p. 67; Tusko: The Elephant Who Died on LSD (film), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy1fD-0ZwtU.

  he set off an intense controversy: Philip J. Hilts, “Louis J. West, 74, Psychiatrist Who Studied Extremes, Dies,” New York Times, January 9, 1999.

  “I sleep with the lights on 24 hours a day”: Kyle Scott Clauss, “Whitey Bulger Disciplined for Pleasuring Himself in Prison,” Boston, February 26, 2016, https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2016/02/26/whitey-bulger-masturbating/.

  One Boston lawyer with experience representing gangsters: “The Defense That Sank Whitey Bulger,” Daily Beast, August 13, 2012, https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-defense-that-sank-whitey-bulger.

  “It was the custom in those days”: U.S. Senate, Joint Hearings before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Committee on the Judiciary: Biomedical and Behavioral Research (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1975), pp. 253–54.

  “Anyone closely associated with Harold”: J. Falliers, “In Memoriam: Harold A. Abramson, M.D., 1899–1980,” Journal of Asthma, vol. 18, no. 1 (1981), https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/02770908109118319?journalCode=ijas20.

  “he was found dead under mysterious circumstances”: Jim Lewis, “Val Orlikow, 73, Was Victim of CIA Brainwashing Tests,” Toronto Star, May 25, 1990.

  “To the patients of Dr. Ewen Cameron”: “MK-ULTRA Violence,” McGill Daily.

  A brief note in the local newspaper: “California—Ventura Country—Miscellaneous Obituaries,” www.genealogybuff.com/ucd/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/1929.