MKUltra and Modern Frameworks : From the Secrets of a CIA Mind Control Program to Information Control Tools

From 1953 to 1973, the CIA's MKUltra project explored the far reaches of mind control, leaving a legacy of trauma and controversy. This secret program, which used drugs, electroshock, and psychological torture on thousands of guinea pigs, often without their consent, aimed to control the human mind. Today, its shadow looms over modern debates, particularly around “frameworks” like DISARM, information management tools that some say recall MKUltra's ambitions in more subtle forms. A look back at the events, the victims, and contemporary echoes of this scandal.

A program born out of fear

In 1953, in the context of the Korean War, the CIA, under the direction of Allen Dulles, launched MKUltra to counter the alleged “brainwashing” techniques of communist forces. Led by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, nicknamed the " Black Wizard " for his expertise in poisons, the program succeeded projects like Bluebird and Artichoke, which already experimented with hypnosis and psychotropic drugs. The goal: to get ahead of America's enemies in mastering psychological manipulation.

Terrifying ambitions

MKUltra had three primary objectives. First, to program behaviors by creating agents conditioned for missions, including assassinations. Second, to extract confessions by developing truth serums for interrogations. With a view to influencing leaders, for example, by testing methods to neutralize figures like Fidel Castro. Finally, to exploit trauma by studying the effects of drugs and psychological shock for offensive applications.

These objectives led to experiments of unprecedented cruelty, carried out in the greatest secrecy.

Methods and concrete examples

MKUltra encompassed more than 150 subprojects at 80 institutions—universities, hospitals, prisons, and laboratories—across the United States and Canada. The methods were varied and often inhumane:

• Psychotropic drugs : LSD was the key substance. In Operation Midnight Climax, prostitutes lured men into secure apartments in San Francisco, where they were given LSD without their knowledge. Officers, hidden behind one-way mirrors, observed their reactions. At the Lexington Narcotics Farm, inmates were exposed to drugs like mescaline, sometimes in exchange for doses of heroin.
• Psychological techniques: At the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, Dr. Ewen Cameron practiced " psychic driving ,” subjecting patients to repeated audio messages while sedated, combined with electroshock therapy and induced comas. Val Orlikow, the wife of a Canadian MP, lost years of memories after these treatments, initially presented as a therapy for her depression.
• Mental torture: At McGill University, students, believing they were participating in harmless studies, were placed in sensory isolation, some developing serious mental health problems.

The case of Dr. Frank Olson illustrates the program's excesses. This CIA biochemist, drugged with LSD in 1953, died nine days later after falling from the 10th floor of a New York hotel. Officially ruled a suicide, his death is now suspected of being an assassination attempt to silence him, as Olson had expressed reservations about MKUltra.

The Affair of the Cursed Bread of Pont-Saint-Esprit (1951)

In August 1951, the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit was rocked by a wave of mass hallucinations, affecting an estimated 250 to 500 people, with seven deaths and dozens of internments. Officially attributed to poisoning by ergot, a fungus producing alkaloids similar to LSD, the case was linked to MKUltra by journalist Hank P. Albarelli Jr. In A Terrible Mistake (2009), he cites CIA documents mentioning “Project SPAN” involving Frank Olson, an agency scientist, and suggests that local bread or the air was contaminated with LSD to test its potential as a chemical weapon. A representative of Sandoz, the producer of LSD, reportedly denied ergot was responsible, pointing to “diethylamide.”
 

However, historian Steven Kaplan rejects this theory, arguing that the symptoms are not fully consistent with LSD and that the heat of the ovens would have destroyed the drug. Despite the lack of direct evidence, the incident, relayed by posts on X in 2025, remains a symbol of suspicions of secret CIA experiments on civilians, fueling debates on MKUltra.

Forgotten victims

The often unwilling guinea pigs included CIA employees, prisoners, psychiatric patients, and ordinary citizens. At Edgewood Arsenal, soldiers were exposed to experimental drugs, some suffering permanent impairments. In Canada, Cameron's experiments destroyed the lives of dozens of patients, many of whom were unaware of their CIA connection. Lawsuits, such as those filed by Canadian families in the 1980s, have secured partial compensation, but the victims remain largely unaccounted for.

Revelations and impact

The program remained secret until 1974, when The New York Times revealed its existence. The Rockefeller and Church Commissions of 1975 exposed the abuses, and in 1977, 20,000 pages of documents, escaped destruction ordered by Richard Helms in 1973, confirmed the extent of the scandal. The CIA acknowledged that MKUltra lacked scientific rigor and had caused irreversible damage, but few officials were punished.

Similar programs in France: DGSE, DGSI and other bodies

No French program equivalent to MKUltra, involving systematic experiments in mind control with drugs or psychological torture, has been officially documented or declassified. However, French intelligence services, such as the DGSE (Directorate General for External Security) and the DGSI (Directorate General for Internal Security), have been involved in intelligence gathering and counterintelligence activities that raise questions about their methods. The DGSE, created in 1982 and succeeding the SDECE (Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage), focuses on external intelligence and clandestine operations, including economic espionage and counterterrorism. In " Dictionnaire du renseignement  “ by Hugues Moutouh and Jérôme Poirot, the chapter " Manipulate - manipulation " by Gorka Inchaurraga, indicates that all intelligence services, including the DGSE, use manipulation techniques to obtain information or poison adversaries, often through persuasion or disinformation.

The DGSI, created in 2014 and successor to the Renseignements Généraux (RG) and the DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire), focuses on internal security, including the fight against terrorism and foreign interference . It actively monitors information manipulation, such as disinformation campaigns on social media, that aim to destabilize France. An incident reported by Mediapart in 2019 suggests that the DGSI manipulated statements in a report on the Karachi attack to favor one theory (an Al-Qaeda attack) over another, illustrating perception management practices. While these actions fall under the umbrella of disinformation rather than mind control in the MKUltra sense, they demonstrate a desire to influence public narratives.

Outside of intelligence services, debates on mental manipulation in France have focused on cults. In 2000, the National Assembly considered creating a crime of mental manipulation to punish cult abuse , defined as the exercise of serious pressure or techniques that impair judgment, but abandoned the idea due to concerns about civil liberties. This debate, analyzed by Arnaud Esquerre in " Mental Manipulation and State Devices: Sociology of Cults in France” shows that the French state has targeted groups accused of psychological control, without ever linking these practices to official intelligence programs.

There is no concrete evidence that the DGSE or DGSI conducted experiments comparable to MKUltra, such as the use of drugs or hypnosis on guinea pigs. However, speculation persists, fueled by works of fiction such as Marc Dugain's L'Emprise, which portrays the DGSE and DGSI as rivals manipulating political actors, or by unverified testimonies on forums such as X. These hypotheses lack documentary basis, and French archives, unlike those of the CIA, remain largely inaccessible. The activities of the DGSE and DGSI, while secret, appear to be limited to more conventional forms of manipulation, such as disinformation or persuasion, within the framework of their legal missions.

Neurosensory reprogramming in sport: an ethical heir?

Neurosensory reprogramming techniques, popularized in elite sport, illustrate a modern and ethical application of neuroscience, contrasting with the abuses of MKUltra. Paul Doroshenko, a physiotherapist, osteopath, and fitness trainer, is a pioneer in this field, notably through the Allyane method , which combines mental imagery, proprioception, and low-frequency sounds to optimize performance. In biathlon, where shooters must aim with an elevated heart rate (sometimes 160-180 beats per minute), reprogramming helps automate movements under stress. For example, German Justus Strelow, known for his precision shooting, revealed in 2024 that his training incorporated techniques for maintaining consistency despite a strong heartbeat , an area where Doroshenko has worked to stabilize motor patterns under high intensity. 

In football, Doroshenko has used these approaches to correct imbalances, such as in players with asymmetry between right and left leg kicks, by reprogramming muscle activations through proprioceptive exercises and alpha sounds (7-14 Hz) to harmonize the cerebral hemispheres. A notable case is that of French athlete Christine Arron, whose slow reaction time at the start of races was a handicap. Doroshenko, working with coaches, employed mental imagery and neurosensory stimulation techniques to improve her interpretation of the starter's signal, reducing her reaction time. These efforts contributed to her success, including her victory in the 100 meters at the 1998 European Championships. 

The Allyane method, supported by studies such as that of Chatain, Dorochenko and Friggeri (2018) on shoulder deficits, shows significant functional gains, but its application to sport remains a cutting-edge field, reserved for trained professionals.

Access to sources and archives

While most of the material has been destroyed and what is known is only a small fraction of what was done, declassified documents on MKUltra are accessible through several sources. The Library of Congress maintains the reports of the Church and Rockefeller committees, available in its reading rooms or through databases such as ProQuest. Researchers can use the online catalog.loc.gov with terms such as “MKUltra” or “Church Committee” to locate references, although some documents require a physical visit. The CIA FOIA Reading Room offers thousands of pages, including the Memorandum on MKULTRA project (Document #0005444836).

The Black Vault offers a comprehensive digital collection, while the National Security Archive compiles memos and testimonies. These resources, although fragmented by the partial destruction of the archives, allow for the reconstruction of MKUltra's history.

Modern Frameworks: MKUltra's Legacy?

MKUltra's ambitions resonate with current debates about information manipulation. Articles in France-Soir's Understanding Frameworks describe “frameworks” such as DISARM, a tool designed to counter disinformation but criticized for its potential to restrict freedom of expression. These frameworks, which structure information management, evoke, according to France-Soir's Resisting Frameworks , a “normatization” reminiscent of MKUltra's mind-control techniques. In 2025, discussions on X link these tools to recent scandals, such as revelations about government agencies' censorship of online content, suggesting that the spirit of MKUltra may live on in technological forms.

David A. Hughes and the Pandemic Echoes of KUBARK

In “Covid-19, Psychological Operations, and the War for Technocracy” (2024), academic David A. Hughes argues that Covid-19 pandemic measures adopted techniques from the KUBARK manual, derived from MKUltra, to manipulate populations on a large scale. He compares lockdowns, social isolation, and fear mongering (such as “no one is safe until everyone is vaccinated“) to KUBARK's methods, which used stress and sensory deprivation to induce submission. 

Hughes cites statements by Ursula von der Leyen on mandatory vaccination or the marginalization of the unvaccinated as tactics aimed at standardizing behavior, evoking MKUltra's mind-control goals. He sees it as a psychological operation to establish a global technocracy, a thesis shared by figures such as Jean-Dominique Michel, who denounces “systemic corruption” in pandemic management. However, these parallels, while provocative, remain speculative, as no document establishes a direct link between KUBARK and health policies. 

Historian Alfred W. McCoy, in A Question of Torture (2006), confirms the lasting influence of MKUltra techniques on psychological operations, but without linking them to the pandemic. Hughes's theses fuel debates on modern manipulation, while highlighting the need for critical vigilance.

A troubled legacy

Officially closed in 1973, MKUltra continues to fuel speculation. Testimonies, such as those of Brice Taylor, suggest derivative programs, although their credibility is debated. In France, the absence of declassified documents on similar programs limits conclusions, but the activities of the DGSE and DGSI in disinformation and counter-interference highlight the persistence of influence techniques. Advances in neurosensory reprogramming, although ethical, and analyses such as Hughes's, remind us that the line between optimization and manipulation remains tenuous. 

MKUltra remains a warning: how far can power go to control minds? The archives and victims' stories remind us of the urgent need to protect freedoms against all forms of manipulation, whether chemical, psychological, or digital.