SCHOOL TOPIC POWERPOINT:
PROJECT MKULTRA
Nick Richardson class of 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
 Goals
 Techniques
 Techniques(continued)
 Ethical/moral issues
 Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
Project Mkultra was a covert psychological
research operation investigating behavioral
engineering.
 Coordinated by senior CIA officials as well as the
Army’s Chemical Corps
 Project began in 1950’s, and was officially
discontinued in 1973.

GOALS
Project Goals included researching hypnosis,
torture, or behavioral engineering by either
conventional, or chemical means.
 Researching the possible application of reliable
“truth agents” (Drugs capable of forcing the
subject to tell the truth)
 Researching the reliability of information given
under the influence of drugs and torture.

TECHNIQUES
Hypnosis: Experimented with hypnotically
induced anxieties.
 Electronics: Research experimented with bioelectric sensors.
 Drugs: CIA efforts were mostly focused on LSD

They also attempted a technique of connecting a
barbiturate IV to one arm and an amphetamine IV into
another.
TECHNIQUES(CONTINUED)

Psychic Driving:

Psychic Driving was a concept that worked to erase
existing memories and reprogram the psyche. Doctors
experimented with various:
Paralytic Drugs
 Electroconvulsive therapy
 Tape loops.

ETHICAL/MORAL ISSUES
After the operation was uncovered, a number of
subjects to the project filed lawsuits against the
federal government for conducting experiments
without informed consent.
 Issues arose throughout the government
concerning if the practices of the project should
be considered unethical.

CONCLUSION

Project Mkultra was a top secret CIA program
that aimed to manipulate humans through
behavioral modification techniques including
drugs, hypnosis, and torture. After being
officially disbanded in the 1970s, it has since
been the subject of several legal and ethical
debates.