One can be “programmed” in this way by life itself. Given enough trauma in childhood, whole separate selves can split off and carry out lives that the primary personality isn’t even aware of. I don’t know that Cho had multiple personalities. He could simply have been suffering from schizophrenia. However, I do think it is quite reasonable to assume that Cho had experienced some fairly serious abuse. His writings and statements, disjointed as they are, focus very much on this abuse. For some reason, no one is asking many questions about that. Nor does anyone seem to be asking questions about why Cho’s high school has produced TWO psychotic young adults who went on gun rampages within one year of each other. Last May, Michael Kennedy, a student at Westfield High School in Chantilly, Virginia, went on a shooting rampage at a police station, killing two police officers before being fatally shot himself. Authorities consider this just a “horrible coincidence”. Adding to the coincidence is that Michael’s father, Brian Kennedy, was just recently released from jail in charges related to that killing. In fact, he was due in court the day after the Cho killings.
Kennedy was another troubled loner. He suffered, say news accounts, from delusions and grandiose paranoia. Said one friend:
“He thought he was Jesus. He talked about aliens,” said Brandon Baker, a friend of Kennedy’s since sixth grade. Baker said Kennedy told him he sometimes took medication. “He was talking about how he was superhuman.”
Kennedy had also recently changed his MySpace profile name from Kennedy to “Herr Azriel,” in reference to an angel of destruction.
Just before his killing spree, Kennedy text messaged a friend to say that therapy and medication had not worked for him. The only thing he could think of was an “exorcism.”
What didn’t help things much is that Kennedy’s parents, who knew Michael was mentally ill, kept weapons around the house. A LOT of weapons:
The indictment states that Brian Kennedy illegally possessed 20 firearms, including an AK-47 and several bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. He also owned a large variety of handguns — among them a .38 Special Taurus and a 9 mm Luger Commander semi-automatic pistol.
Weapons were everywhere in the Kennedy home; the inventory list of items seized is 10 pages long. Under the mattress in the master bedroom were a Colt 9 mm handgun with one round in the chamber and a leather sheath containing a 9-inch knife. On the nightstand were a bayonet plus high-velocity ammunition for a Remington, semi-automatic shotgun.
A Smith & Wesson knife was under the left, loveseat cushion in the living room, and both a 12-gauge shotgun and a 22-caliber long rifle stood in the corner of the hallway to the basement. An M80 explosive was tucked inside a kitchen cabinet to the right of the stove, and an Atlanta Sharptec knife was stored in the ceiling above the utility-room door.
And his mom did what any concerned mother might do…she took him to a firing range to practice with his new AK.
Strangely, news accounts calling the two shooter’s connection via Westfield High a “coincidence” suggest that they were not at the school at the same time:
Cho and Kennedy lived in Centreville and graduated from Westfield High School, said Officer Courtney Thibault of the Fairfax County Police Department. She said Cho graduated four years ahead of Kennedy.
I’ve only had one cup of coffee this morning, but help me with this math. Michael Kennedy graduated in 2005 and Cho Seung-hui graduated in 2003. Probably just an oversight.
I’ve seen no evidence that these two knew each other. But I also haven’t seen much evidence that anyone has bothered to check it out.
It gets worse, of course, as these things always do. First, have a look at Cho’s literary efforts. Two very short plays that were so horribly written it does make one wonder how he made it to his senior year at Va Tech. One is called “Mr. Brownstone“. In that play, three young people at a casino complain that they can’t find anywhere safe from “Mr. Brownstone.” That name is used by band Guns-n-Roses to mean heroin, but in this case it is a math teacher who has “ass-raped probably half the kids in the school.” That, after all, says one character, is “what high school teachers do.”
When Brownstone does show up, one character asks: “I feel a satanic presence around me. Do you guys feel it?” They then sing much of the Guns -’n-Roses song. Then the main character John wins at the slot machine only to have his winnings taken by Brownstone.
In Richard McBeef, the abuser is this time “John’s” stepfather. In this play, John is only 13. While having a talk with John, Richard puts his hand on the boy’s lap and John explodes, calling him a pedophile and a “Catholic priest.” He then claims that this step-father had murdered his real father and covered it up like “the government has done to John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe.”
Really all I have done here is show that two troubled young adults came out of the same school. But what a school. Westfield High School happens to be in the second richest county in the country. In fact, the median income is over $94,000 per year. And a lot of that cash is coming from defense contractors…with a large subset of THAT being from companies who outsource for the CIA and other intelligence agencies. You may be familiar with “Booz Allen Hamilton” who is called in this article a “huge supplier of intelligence contracting.” They were a primary contractor for the officially defunct “Total Information Awareness Program” as well. Another contractor of interest to readers of this blog who is a big employer in Fairfax is Science Applications International Corporation. These are the folks who took over the remote viewing program, with help from our old friend Jolly West (from Jim Schnabel’s Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies. For more on West, you can check out this previous post.
Now, West died in 1999 and I have no idea if he ever even visited the Virginia branch of SAIC. I am merely giving you a sense of the flavor of the dark world of intel and defense contractors in which both Cho and Kennedy, were raised.
A final intelligence contractor of interest here is Northrup Grumman’s Intelligence Group. Not only does Northrup Grumman have a presence in Fairfax, they in fact have a “business partnership” with Cho’s alma mater, Westfield High. As you can see from that last wiki link, the school has a very high level of academic achievement, including even an Aerospace Science program. So it makes sense that a military and intelligence contractor would “partner” with them in order to help steer students into helpful directions and perhaps engage in outright recruitment. Perhaps this is how Cho’s sister ended up working for McNeil Technologies, another contractor who also has an intelligence division which provides services for clients including Northrup Grumman. She now is working on the “reconstruction” of Iraq in some unnamed capacity.
This is the world Cho grew up in. None of this proves anything about why, ultimately, Cho did what he did. He and Kennedy were both outsiders, as far as I can tell, even though Cho’s sister made it to Princeton and into a defense contractor herself. But here, with overt ties to an intelligence contractor and in the very heart of the military industrial complex, we have a not-so-secret school which has now produced two young men haunted by demons that only mass murder will quiet. With rumors of Satanism (Kennedy) and sexual abuse of children (Cho) and the uncomfortable recognition of both of these themes within that same military/intel complex, it’s time to have a longer look at these latest lone gunmen.
_______________
Gunman said he needed exorcism
By A.J.
HOSTETLER
Media General News Service
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
In the minutes before Michael Kennedy died after firing 70 rounds on Fairfax County police, the teenager told a friend that he needed an exorcism.
Virginia Commonwealth University student Daniel Sforza said he was exchanging instant messages by computer with Kennedy on Monday afternoon until about 3 p.m. Less than an hour later, police say, Kennedy ran through a police station parking lot near Chantilly with an AK-47, shooting three officers and killing one of them, Detective Vicky Armel. Kennedy, 18, died when police returned fire.
"He was very upset," Sforza said Tuesday. "What he told me was he wanted to get an exorcism because he felt like medication, therapy, doctors ... nothing helped him. There's something possessing him to make him feel so miserable. And he said, 'The last thing I can think of is an exorcism.' "
Kennedy told him nothing of his plans to gun down the officers as they left the Sully District police station, Sforza said.
Sforza said he encouraged Kennedy to do his best to figure out what would help him.
"He was always searching for an answer to his problem," Sforza said.
Police said Tuesday that they had finally reached Kennedy's parents, Brian and Margaret Kennedy of Centreville, to inform them of their son's death.
A statement issued by MacDowell & Associates, a Fairfax law firm, said the Kennedy family was in seclusion.
"They offer their condolences to the family of Detective Armel, a fine and dedicated police officer, and their prayers for the wounded officers and their families."
The statement also read: "Please remember that although Michael was a troubled young man, he was their son, who they have lost."
Neighbors said they saw little of Kennedy or his father at their residence, although the teen's younger sister frequently rode a scooter near the London Towne townhouse section where the family has lived for the past decade.
"He was quiet. He stayed indoors a lot," Mavis Powell said.
On Kennedy's MySpace.com site earlier this spring, some friends had expressed concern about his whereabouts.
Friends said Kennedy's mental health had deteriorated in the past few months and that he had delusions and hallucinations.
Sforza, who graduated with Kennedy last year from Westfield High School in Fairfax County, said that Kennedy's struggles with his mental health became apparent during their senior year.
Sforza said he would often drive to Kennedy's house to pick him up after Kennedy argued with his parents. He would listen to Kennedy's suspicious railings against the government and world conspiracies, and felt that Kennedy in turn listened to him.
"He thought he was Jesus. He talked about aliens," said Brandon Baker, a friend of Kennedy's since sixth grade. Baker said Kennedy told him he sometimes took medication. "He was talking about how he was superhuman."
Kennedy had also recently changed his MySpace profile name from Kennedy to "Herr Azriel," in reference to an angel of destruction.
On his Web site, Kennedy wrote: "sorry to all the people i hurt." It was not clear when he wrote that apology.
News of the shootings traveled quickly among Kennedy's MySpace friends, many of whom posted condolences and remembrances to his site. One who wrote within a few hours of the shooting said simply, "Rest In Peace Mike ... "
A poster named "David [expletive] Berman" wrote, "Well, you did what you always claimed wanting to do. I've never prayed for anyone before, but i'll do it for your sake tonight, praying that there is no hell."
A few expressed anger mixed with sadness.
"Ryan" posted: "What the hell man, I grew up with you.. What changed so much from when you were 4 till now?? I just can't accept that you went out and did this stuff ... especially when I just saw you saturday!"
Kennedy's personal confusion extended to his online postings. In photos, he often posed with a blue and white bandana covering part of his face.
The single teen claimed he was a "proud parent," into knowledge and "militant hippism." He said he was a soldier with a graduate- or professional-school education and an annual salary of $250,000 or higher.
High school classmates knew Kennedy as someone who played video games and felt harassed because of his appearance and dark clothes, according to Christine Craig, another friend and Westfield graduate. Craig, who now lives in Florida, stayed in touch with Kennedy through his Web site.
"mike had alot of friends and was a good person, he tried to reach out for help but the inevitable happened," Craig wrote in an e-mail.
Sforza called Kennedy a talented artist, although he said some would consider his subject matter "dark." They met as juniors, when Sforza took a photography class that Kennedy, who worked on the school's literary magazine, sat in on.
After graduation, Kennedy attended Northern Virginia Community College and worked at a drugstore, Sforza said. He considered Kennedy one of his best friends.
"I know what he did was horrible, but he was just so confused."
A.J. Hostetler is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Times-Dispatch staff writers Kiran Krishnamurthy and Rex Springston contributed to this report.
For the latest developments on the shootings in Fairfax and to hear audio reports from the Culpeper community, go to ManassasJM.com or PotomacNews.com. To share your thoughts on this tragedy, go to http://editorsnotes.mgblogs.com/.
Kennedy
Indicted in Federal Court
Weapons, drug charges for father of teen who killed
Armel, Garbarino.
By Bonnie Hobbs
April 12, 2007
Michael Kennedy
Vicky Armel
Michael Garbarino
The darkest day in the 67-year-history of the Fairfax County Police Department was May 8, 2006. That's when a teen with a history of mental illness armed to the hilt with high-powered weapons and a slew of ammunition fatally shot Det. Vicky Armel and MPO Mike Garbarino.
Armel, 40, died at the scene, and Garbarino, 53, succumbed nine days later. Both left spouses and children.
The assailant, 18-year-old Michael Kennedy of Centreville, was killed in the ensuing gunfire. And now, the man authorities believe gave Kennedy access to all those weapons — his father — has been charged in federal court.
"OBVIOUSLY, he'll have his day in court," said Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully). "And from what I know, I think he needs to be held accountable. What's impossible for me to comprehend is how he could have kept weapons in the house available to his son."
An agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) arrested Brian Harold Kennedy, 50, last Thursday, April 5, at a home on Hawthorne Lane in Falls Church. He was indicted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on eight drugs-and-weapons offenses.
The indictment details Brian Kennedy's marijuana use for the past decade and states that, "as an unlawful user of a controlled substance, [he's] prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms and ammunition." If convicted, he could be sentenced to as much as 65 years in prison.
"Frankly, I'm glad to see [this development]," said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-37th), who was a close friend of Garbarino's. "If Michael Kennedy had managed to acquire those weapons of his own volition, there'd be no other involvement. But this wasn't an all-Michael Kennedy crime. He was responsible for pulling the trigger and the evil done that day. But, certainly, I'd characterize his father as criminally negligent — and, thankfully, he'll pay a price for this."
The nightmare began May 8, 2006, around 3:40 p.m., when Michael Kennedy carjacked a van and drove into the rear lot of the Sully District Police Station. Unarmed, Garbarino was inside his cruiser after his shift, preparing to leave on vacation. Suddenly, from a few yards away, Kennedy fired more than 20 rounds at him with an AK-47 rifle.
Garbarino was struck five times; yet though gravely wounded and in pain, he radioed other officers, alerting them to the danger. He provided suspect information, directed responding officers and told the police helicopter where to land.
Armel went outside to respond to the carjacking and, when she reached her cruiser, Kennedy arrived and began shooting at Garbarino. Drawing Kennedy's fire away from Garbarino, she and Kennedy exchanged gunfire, and a bullet from his 30.06-caliber rifle pierced her ballistic vest and struck her in the chest.
ARMED WITH FIVE handguns, an AK-47 assault weapon, a high-powered rifle and more than 300 rounds of ammunition, Kennedy fired 70 rounds-plus before other officers killed him. Later that night, armed with a warrant, Det. Craig Paul and other police officers searched Kennedy's home at 6200 Prince Way for three hours, seizing a veritable arsenal of weapons and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition.
The indictment states that Brian Kennedy illegally possessed 20 firearms, including an AK-47 and several bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. He also owned a large variety of handguns — among them a .38 Special Taurus and a 9 mm Luger Commander semi-automatic pistol.
Weapons were everywhere in the Kennedy home; the inventory list of items seized is 10 pages long. Under the mattress in the master bedroom were a Colt 9 mm handgun with one round in the chamber and a leather sheath containing a 9-inch knife. On the nightstand were a bayonet plus high-velocity ammunition for a Remington, semi-automatic shotgun.
A Smith & Wesson knife was under the left, loveseat cushion in the living room, and both a 12-gauge shotgun and a 22-caliber long rifle stood in the corner of the hallway to the basement. An M80 explosive was tucked inside a kitchen cabinet to the right of the stove, and an Atlanta Sharptec knife was stored in the ceiling above the utility-room door.
Quantities of a "leafy green substance," a glass pipe and other drug paraphernalia — including a smoking device created from prescription bottles and clear, plastic tubing — were also confiscated. Police seized, as well, directions to Potomac Ridge Behavioral Health Center and two bills addressed to Michael Kennedy from the Woodburn Mental Health facility.
Jim Rybicki, U.S. District Court spokesman, said he didn't know why the elder Kennedy wasn't arrested until now — nearly a year after the tragedy and the weapons seizure. He also doesn't know what entity currently has possession of all those firearms and their ammunition.
But he said the ATF "was out there on the day of the shooting. Frequently, federal authorities will work side by side with local authorities when weapons are involved [in a crime], and they did in this case because of its scale and the number of rounds expended."
According to ATF spokesman Mike Campbell, "We got involved in the case pretty much from the beginning of the incident and have been working on it ever since."
THE FEDERAL INDICTMENT handed down against Brian Kennedy last week states that, when his son Michael went on his deadly rampage, May 8, 2006, he was in unlawful possession of seven of his father's weapons, plus their ammunition. The weapons were the AK-47, four .22-caliber revolvers, the .38-caliber Special Taurus and a Springfield 30.06-caliber, bolt-action rifle.
Regarding Brian Kennedy's arrest, Sen. Cuccinelli said, "It won't bring Mike and Vicky back but, at least, there's some measure of justice for [the person who allegedly] contributed to what happened. Lawbreakers shouldn't be gun owners and aren't allowed to be, by law; and I think it's appropriate for federal prosecutors to reach out on behalf of the community and deliver justice."
Cuccinelli said many area residents were relieved that Brian Kennedy was charged. Likewise, Supervisor Frey believes Fairfax County police are "pleased that the federal prosecutor's office worked so hard on their behalf. Whatever the outcome, I think it'll make them feel better."
From what friends and family have said about Michael Kennedy, said Frey, the teen's mental-health problems were obvious to those who knew and loved him. But in such instances, he said, "There need to be reasonable measures for safety."
"Clearly, he needed help," continued
Frey. "We can't change that. But if we could send the
message that guns and mental illness don't mix, that
would be a positive step. I know his parents blamed the
system for not helping him, but I don't. He was an adult
and, unless someone's going to file for an involuntary
commitment, confinement isn't going to happen."
However, said Frey, "Simple steps — like seeing that he
didn't have access to high-powered weapons — is
something the family could have done. But it failed him
in that regard. It wasn't as if they didn't know he had
problems. But to have that kind of firepower in a house
where you have a son showing signs of mental illness —
and particularly if you also have a 9-year-old girl —
puts the whole family at risk."
Leslie and Dan Jenuleson, Neighborhood Watch Coordinators for Sully Station II — the community adjacent to the Sully District Police Station — organized vigils for both Armel and Garbarino after the shootings. And both are glad Brian Kennedy's been charged.
"We're very supportive of the pursuit of justice in this tragic situation, and we want the facts laid out about the situation on the homefront that led Michael Kennedy to the course of action he took," said Dan Jenuleson. "It's very sad that three people had to lose their lives, and it has a domino effect on their families and the police families."
Stressing that residents shouldn't take the security of Fairfax County life for granted, Jenuleson said people should recognize that "individuals and threats are out there. So they should be more aware of their surroundings and, if they see something suspicious, report it."
LESLIE JENULESON believes Brian Kennedy's prosecution brings "some closure" to the police and is probably a "big relief" for them. "I think it gives the community peace," she said. "Many people were wondering, 'What about the parents? Where were the parents, and why'd the kid have so many guns?'"
She said it also reminds parents "they are responsible for their children's actions. Teach them right from wrong. We all need to reach out to our children, treat them with respect and show them we care."
The indictment contends that Brian Kennedy smoked marijuana with his son, and Leslie Jenuleson said it's never a good idea for parents to do drugs with their children. "I worked with adolescents at a drug-rehab center in Pennsylvania, and most of them got started from family or friends," she said. "I think this was a big, wake-up call to the community to pay more attention to their kids and, if they need help, get it for them."
As for the weapons, Cuccinelli said there's nothing wrong with law-abiding citizens owning guns. "But we assume those folks will make rational decisions," he said. "In this case, it was like giving car keys to a drunk."
"Brian Kennedy knew about his son's mental illness," said Cuccinelli. "And under those circumstances, I think he had an obligation to the community to keep the community safe — and he failed. Mike Garbarino and Vicky Armel were killed because of it. He didn't pull the trigger, but he sure provided it."
Nominee played big role in outsourcing intelligence
Posted 1/4/2007 10:30 PM ET
By Matt Kelley and Richard Willing, USA TODAY
Mike McConnell
WASHINGTON — J. Michael "Mike"
McConnell, in line to become the nation's top
intelligence official, has been a leading figure in
outsourcing U.S. intelligence operations to private
industry, records and interviews show.
McConnell, a retired Navy vice admiral, led the National
Security Agency from 1992 to 1996 before joining Booz
Allen Hamilton Inc., a consulting firm based in McLean,
Va.
White House officials confirmed McConnell's appointment to replace Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte but declined to be identified by name because the nomination has not been formally announced.
McConnell's nomination and confirmation by the Senate would come amid two current trends in intelligence gathering: the emphasis on technology, and the heightened role of private contractors in analyzing data and preparing reports that once might have been written by government intelligence officers.
"The mission has expanded, the money is there, and there just aren't enough (intelligence officers) to do the job without outside help," says Stephen Marrin, a former CIA analyst who teaches intelligence studies at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa.
It is unclear how many private contractors are employed by the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Budgets and hiring figures are classified.
Last year, Negroponte started an audit of the number of private contractors used by all 16 intelligence agencies. That count was started because of concerns about how outsourcing affected intelligence, and it is continuing, says Chad Kolton, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The CIA also began a study last September to determine whether contractors were hurting the agency's work by luring away CIA officers with higher salaries. The CIA did not return a call Thursday seeking an update on that study.
Booz Allen is a "huge" supplier of intelligence contracting, Kolton said. Contract details are classified.
Ralph Shrader, Booz Allen Hamilton's chairman and CEO, says McConnell's experience as NSA director and a private contractor make him a good choice. McConnell "will work very hard to do the right thing," Shrader says.
"He's someone who can solicit lots of opinions, collect them all up, and produce something that takes the needs of the entire country into consideration," Shrader says. "He's very hands-on."
Booz Allen has received at least $50 million in Pentagon contracts since November 2005, records show. Some involve remnants of the Pentagon's "Total Information Awareness" program. Congress killed the program in 2003 amid concerns it would invade the privacy of ordinary Americans.
The $63 million contract signed with Booz Allen in 2002 called for the firm to develop a single system to collect and search through huge databases of government, personal and business records for signs of terrorist activities. McConnell signed that contract on Booz Allen's behalf.
Work on that contract has continued, according to federal contracting records, which show the Pentagon paid Booz Allen about $2 million under that contract during 2006, most recently on Sept. 26.
Spokesmen for the White House, Pentagon, Booz Allen and Negroponte's office all have declined to comment on the contract.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says he will question McConnell about the program and intelligence contracting.
"It's a critical concern," says Wyden, who led the efforts to kill TIA in 2002.
Contributing: David Jackson
MKULTRA: Not Just for Paranoids Anymore
In all of these cases, these subjects have clearly demonstrated that they can pass from a fully awake state to a deep H (hypnotic) controlled state via the telephone, via some very subtle signal that cannot be detected by other persons in the room and without the other individual being able to note the change. It has been shown clearly that physically individuals can be induced into H by telephone, by receiving written matter, or by the use of code, signals or word and that control of those hypnotized can be passed from one individual to another without great difficulty. It has also been shown by experimentation with these girls that they can act as unwilling couriers for information purposes and that they can be conditioned to a point where they can believe a change in identity on their part even on the polygraph. – Project ARTICHOKE Document from 1953
In order to appreciate the posts which follow, you’ll need a little background on MK-Ultra, the CIA’s longrunning program researching techniques of mind control. Most of the documents for MK-Ultra and related programs, like Artichoke, ended up in the shredder, though a few boxes survived.
But I suppose I need to warn everyone ahead of time: when you get into discussions of mind control, especially when researching via internet, you get a lot of unverifiable information such as claims by alleged victims of these programs or alleged “insider” information. The problem is that much of what such victims claim is well within the realm of possibility, even if we confine ourselves to the programs for which we have surviving government documents. There is almost nothing in the accounts of people claiming to have been used by MKULTRA style programs which are not verified at least as an area of interest of these mind control programs. Deliberately created multiple personalities, voices in the head, harassment by electro-magnetic devices, induced hallucinations, “missing time” and even brain implants. ALL of these are documented as having at least been attempted in these CIA programs. So a few comments before I continue, especially directed toward those who think they might be victims of such programs.
1. Just because these programs really existed (and almost certainly still do), does not mean that any of these things are happening to you personally. If you believe they are happening to you, you may be suffering from a mental illness such as paranoid schizophrenia.
2. However, it might also be true that these things have happened or are happening to you.
3. There is no way for me to know, or anyone else to whom you may share such stories, whether number 1 or number 2 applies in your case. I apologize in advance for not taking any person’s story as gospel truth. All I can say is that it might be true, but I don’t know you and have no way to verify your story.
4. Either way, I would not recommend the internet as a starting point for sorting out what is going on with your mental health. If you are delusional, you will begin to incorporate this material into your delusions. If you are an MKULTRA victim, you still run the risk of coming to distrust your own memories when you read accounts such as this, wondering if you simply incorporated these stories into your own fuzzy memories.
5. If you are currently in psychological distress due to such issues, I urge you to walk away from this site and other, similar sites. Find a therapist you trust. Avoid those who specialize in these matters as some of them I am coming to suspect are bad guys seeking to push various agendas. Find a therapist who will hear your stories without judgment and deal with their effects on you. Get yourself healthy. Then, come back here and help me nail the bastards.
6. Finally, it is possible that government bad guys can INDUCE schizophrenia type symptoms…i.e. cause a nervous breakdown. In that case, the ultimate cause of your breakdown can be saved for later investigation. GET STABLE BEFORE YOU GET ACTIVE. I’m very serious here…I have known people to crack up under such investigations. (In fact, as we will see, on at least one occasion the Air Force intentionally fed disinformation to a UFO researcher which ultimately put him in a psychiatric hospital. I’ll have a future post called “William Moore is an Evil Scumbag” or something along those lines with more details. Until then, you can read the overview of his case at wikipedia.)
Sorry for the long digression. If your mental health is in good shape, none of the above was needed, but I couldn’t proceed without putting it in.
I’m going to use as my primary source for this post the book Bluebird : Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists by Colin Ross. Ross is a specialist in Dissociative Identity Disorder, (formerly called multiple personality disorder) and so his book focuses on that particular subproject of MK-Ultra. However, it is an excellent overview because he bases all of it on existing government documentation and rarely speculates beyond what those documents reveal. He does an excellent job of cross referencing these documents and has several helpful tables and lists in appendices which lay out the projects and the main players behind them. Ross himself I’m not so sure about, as he goes out of his way to excuse the CIA for all of this and blames only the psychiatrists involved. The CIA, he says, is all that stands between him and the gulag and should continue mind control research. Though, one supposes, without the use of psychiatrists. Or something…it’s a very muddy position and maybe he’s just issuing such disclaimers to avoid getting “suicided.” Who knows….(To add to the somewhat bizarre nature of Ross’s book (despite the great information) I could not help but notice that prominently situated after the table of contents on an otherwise blank page is a 44 character alphanumeric code beginning KD2358LEB21891… and continuing in that fashion. I have no idea what it is or why it is there. If any codecrackers out there want a shot at it, send me an email and I’ll give you the whole code. I’m not printing the whole thing because I don’t know wtf it’s about. I even wrote to ask but got no reply.)
I will specifically be pointing out verified programs in the known MKULTRA literature which could, in theory, be used to … oh, I don’t know … convince someone they were being abducted by aliens, for example.
The quote which led this post shows that at the very least, the CIA had learned how to hypnotize someone so effectively that he or she could perform tasks about which they remain unaware. In addition, notice the reference to inducing a trance state via very subtle signals given verbally, by gesture or even over the phone. Notice also that the transition to trance state is so subtle that others observing the subject will not notice.
Here’s another example, again taken directly from MKULTRA files, in this case called “Hypnotic Experimentation and Research, 10 February, 1954.”
Miss ___________ was then instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms in any fashion) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss _____________ (now in a deep hypnotic sleep) and failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss ___________. She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to “kill” ____________ for failing to awaken. Miss _______ carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded pneumatic pistol) gun at ________ and then proceeding to fall into a deep sleep. After proper suggestions were made, both were awakened and expressed complete amnesia for the entire sequence. Miss __________ was again handed the gun, which she refused (in an awakened state) to pick up or accept from the operator. She expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened. (Ross p. 37)
If you are starting to think that this sort of hypnotic technique is being utilized in many ways beyond “alien abductions” I’m inclined to agree with you. The recent DC sniper case comes to mind. The sheriff was sent a letter which demanded that he publicly say a nonsense phrase (”We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.”). Soon after, both snipers were found sleeping soundly in their car. In fact, I am now convinced that this sort of technique is in fairly widespread use but will have to save that discussion for future posts.
The possibilities for what can happen after a subject is put into a trance state are not limited by complexity. Consider this description of a fairly elaborate scenario from a 1951 experiment:
________ was instructed that upon awakening, she would proceed to ________ room where she would wait at the desk for a telephone call. Upon receiving the call, a person known as ‘Jim’ would engage her in normal conversation. During the course of the conversation, this individual would mention a code word to ________. When she heard this code word she would pass into a SI (special interrogation) trance state, but would not close her eyes and remain perfectly normal and continue the telephone conversation. She was told that thereafter upon conclusion of the telephone conversation, she would then carry out the following instructions:
___________being in a complete SI state at this time, was then told to open her eyes and was shown an electric timing device. She was informed that this timing device was an incendiary bomb and was then instructed how to attach and set the device. After ______ had indicated that she had learned how to set and attach the device, she was told to return to a sleep state and further instructed that upon concluding of the aforementioned conversation, she would take the timing device which was in a briefcase and proceed to the ladies room. In the ladies room, she would be met by a girl whom she had never seen who would identify herself by the code word “New York.” After identifying herself, ______ was then to show this individual how to attach and set the timing device and further instructions would be given the individual by ___________ that the timing device was to be carried in the briefcase to _______ room, placed in the nearest empty electric-light plug and concealed in the bottom, left-hand drawer of ___________ desk, with the device set for 82 seconds and turned on. ___ was further instructed to tell this other girl that as soon as the device had been set and turned on, she was to take the briefcase, leave ______ room, go to the operations room and go to the sofa and enter a deep sleep state. _____________ was further instructed that after completion of instructing the other girl and the transferring to the other girl of the incendiary bomb, she was to return at once to the operations room, sit on a sofa, and go into a deep trance state. (Ross p. 37)
Again, it is chilling to speculate on the possible uses to which such techniques could be used…for what defines this age of chaos so well as “suicide bombers” and “lone crazed gunmen”? But that, too, will have to wait.
Hypnosis was not the only possible technique for mind control studied under MK-Ultra. As Ross says,
Drugs, magnetic fields (extremely important in our discussion), sound waves, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and many other methods were studied… (p 38)
Another aspect to MK-Ultra style projects is the deliberate creation of amnesia or “false memories” to screen the subject from wondering about “missing time.” After one person was interrogated under “Project Artichoke”,
A false memory was introduced into the Subject’s mind without his conscious control of the process, which took 15 to 20 minutes. (report of ARTICHOKE Operations, 20 to 23 January, 1955 as cited in Ross, p. 27)
In one proposal to the CIA, a hypnotist discusses hypnotizing of “our own people” so that they will be conditioned against providing information,” even though subjected to hypnosis or drugging. If preferable, he may be conditioned to give false information rather than no information. (Handwritten note in ARTICHOKE files cited in Ross, p. 40. Underlining in original.)
In one experiment, they quickly created an entirely separate identity in a woman subject.
A CIA Security Office employee was hypnotized and given a false identity. She defended it hotly, denying her true name and rationalizing with conviction the possession of identity cards made out to her real self. Later, having had the false identity erased by suggestion, she was asked if she had ever heard of the name she had been defending as her own five minutes before. She thought, shook her head and said, “That’s a pseudo if I ever heard one.” Apparently, she had a true amnesia for the entire episode. (Untitled ARTICHOKE document in Ross, p. 33.
Other aspects of the MKULTRA projects which will interest us include the work with hallucinogens such as LSD and psilocybin (mushrooms). A variety of such drugs were tested as aids for interrogation and in inducing hypnotic trances and dissociative states. Often subjects of these experiments were unwitting. Sometimes they were children.
Sometimes they were children.
In one experiment is summarized by Ross (p. 78):
… they gave LSD or psilocybin to 50 boys age 7 to 15. The children took these hallucinogens daily for weeks or months at a time. The dosage of LSD was 150 micrograms, a hallucinogenic dosage level of the drug equivalent to a strong adult street dose. In another study, children given LSD were 6 to 12 years old. Some of Dr. Bender’s child subjects received LSD daily for a year or longer.
Ross goes on to emphasize that there’s no direct evidence the above experiment was funded by CIA but was evidence of the “permissive nature” of the psychiatric community toward such clearly abusive practices.
One feature of the alien abduction phenomenon that is now standard fare are implants. Maybe it is aliens doing the implanting, but that does not mean humans aren’t capable of the same. Ross discusses experiments in which operators could gain such control as to basically be able to “steer” a cat around a room or stop a charging bull in its tracks by pressing a remote control linked to a receiver buried in the bull’s brain. Such technology was investigated so that animals could be used as delivery devices for chemical or biological agents or bombs.
You will not be surprised to learn, I suppose, that experiments with brain implants were also done on children. In one 11-year old boy, implants even caused him to switch gender identity. He began to identify as a female despite his biologically male body and previous lack of gender confusion. Ross describes several other cases in which brain implants were used on children.
And this was what they were up to 50 years ago. I hear tell technology has advanced since then. I hear rumors that they even have TV’s that play in color….
Naturally, Ross discusses how all of the above were utilized in attempts to create “Manchurian Candidates”, people who had “alter” personalities created within them who carried out tasks unknown to the conscious subject. This goes well beyond even the experiments in hypnosis outlined above and included the deliberate creation of an entirely separate identity, with its own personality, likes and dislikes and political and religious orientations.
The only scientist to publicly confirm the creation of “Manchurian Candidates” was George Eastabrooks. While it is possible Eastabrooks was exaggerating his own successes, here is one example of what he said he could do:
I will take a number of men and will establish in them through the use of hypnotism the condition of split personality. Consciously they will be ardent Communists, phanatical adherence (sic) to the party line, ready and eager to submit to any discipline which the party may prescribe. Unconsciously they will be loyal Americans just as grimley (sic) determined to thwart the Communists at every turn in the road.
These men will again have no knowledge of anything that occurs in the hypnotic state - will have no knowledge of ever having been hypnotized and can only be hypnotized by such persons as the original operator may choose. consciously they will associate with the Communists and learn all the plans of the organization. Once every month or at such time is advisable they will be contacted by a member of our intelligence department, hypnotized, and as loyal Americans will tell what they know. This sounds unbelievable, but I assure you, it will work. (Ross p. 164)
In fact, Eastabrooks said he had done just this during World War 2. In addition, as you probably now expect, Eastabrooks also had a history of experimenting on children. In the thirties (pre-CIA, obviously) he did hypnotic experiments on children in two schools in upstate New York. He also corresponded with J. Edgar Hoover about using hypnosis to interrogate juvenile delinquents.
According to Ross, “The deliberate creation of multiple personality in children is an explicitly stated plan in the MKULTRA Subproject Proposal submitted for funding on May 30, 1961.” Here is a quotation from that subproject, though this particular quote does not mention children so I am uncertain if it is clearly the case that this quote applies to working with children.
In working with individual subjects, special attention will be given to disassociative states, which tend to accompany spontaneous ESP experiences. Such states can be induced or controlled to some extent with hypnosis and drugs…The data used in this study will be obtained from group ESP experiments which have yielded significant results, high scoring subjects from special groups such as psychotics, children and mediums, and from psychological tests…
The experimenters will be particularly interested in disassociative states, from the abaissment de niveau mental to multiple personality in so-called mediums, and an attempt will be made to induce a number of states of this kind, using hypnosis. (Ross, from an unnumbered introductory page).
I think you can see where this is going. Hallucinogens, hypnosis, amnesia, screen memories and no lack of nerve in utilizing children for these experiments. Even the interest in ESP (if that was not simply a cover for some of this) will feature prominently in our discussion as we look at issues such as Puharich and the Nine, and the Scientologists of Stargate.
This has been a fairly brief introduction to MKULTRA and a poor one at that, but we will return in more detail to various aspects of MKULTRA as we continue our discussion of government manipulation of the UFO and abductee phenomenon. For now, just to give you a bit more of an idea as to how this ties in, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Louis Jolyon West. West was a bigwig in MKULTRA circles. We will learn more about him in our next post, but here’s a partial list of some papers published by Dr. West:
Sleep deprivation
Lysergic acid diethylamide: It’s effects on the male asiatic elephant (the elephant died, by the way)
Brainwashing
Hypnosis and experimental psychopathology
Sensory isolation
Psychiatry, brainwashing and the American character
Psychobiology of racial violence
Dissociative reaction
Hallucinogens
Flight from violence: Hippies and the green rebellion
Hippie culture
Campus unrest and the counter culture
Contemporary cults: Utopian images, internal reality
Cults, liberty and mind control
Persuasive techniques in contemporary cults
(all taken from Ross, pp. 107-108)
I’ll leave you for now with a quote from Dr. West:
Unpublished studies by the writer have led him to a greatly expanded concept of dissociation. Dissociative phenomena are found in everyday life. Such manifestations include “highway hypnosis”, states of “fascination” in flyers, hypnagogic and phantasy hallucinations, transient anaesthesias, and many other examples. These reactions have many features in common with a variety of clinical disorders including “sleep paralysis”, trance states, Gilles de la Tourette’s disease, latah, “Arctic hysteria”, and a number of other disturbances in addition to the well-known dissociative reactions of the text-books.
There is considerable experimental evidence pointing to the significant role played by dissociative mechanisms in the production of the various phenomena of hypnosis. In fact, hypnosis may be considered to be a pure-culture, laboratory-controlled dissociative reaction. Of the entire phenomenology of the various states described above, there is not one single manifestation which cannot be produced experimentally in the hypnotic subject. Thus, through the use of hypnosis as a laboratory device, the dissociative mechanisms can be studied with a high degree of objectivity.
Of increasing interest at the present time are the actions of a variety of new drugs which alter the state of psychological functioning. Some of these agents produce disturbances of perception and integration (mescaline, lysergic acid, etc). Others produce alterations of autonomic reactivity through inhibition of central (hypothalmic?) functions, so that “emotional responsiveness” is diminished (reserpine, chorpromazine, etc.). The effects of these agents upon the production, maintenance, and manifestations of dissociated states has never been studied. (Ross, p. 110).
West wrote those words in 1956. Eight years previously, he had been appointed Chief Psychiatrist at Lackland Airforce Base in San Antonio. Within a few years, a young boy in that city would begin having a series of bizarre, hallucinatory experiences in a park not ten miles from Lackland. The experiences would profoundly shape his life. And he, in turn, would profoundly shape American culture with the book which sealed the deal on the birth of a new archetype…the “grey” alien.
His name was Whitley Strieber, and he will be the subject of the next post.