History, Sociopolitical Documentary hosted by John Benjamin Hickey, published by National Geographic broadcasted as part of NG Inside series in 2007 - English narration
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On November 28, 1953, on of America's greatest mysteries occurred when a Army biochemist working with the CIA fell to his death from a hotel window in New York City. Twenty-two years later it was revealed that the scientist, Frank Olson, had been drugged with LSD days before his death. In 1996, the New York District Attorney's Office opened a murder investigation into Olsen's strange death. And the strangeness surrounding Olson's death only widened ...
Germ warfare? Secret mind control programs? A National Geographic television special recounts the CIA's dirtiest deeds from insiders who have been there. The shocking documentary unleashes horrific accounts of the CIA's sick relationship with physicians and scientists whose aim it was to obtain control over the human mind and perfect the ultimate killing machine: germ microbes.
It's the height of the Cold War and the United States government is desperate to combat the spread of Communism. The CIA launches a highly classified, top secret research program into the covert use of biological and chemical agents. In simulated attacks on enemy populations, entire cities in America are contaminated with bacteria, exposing millions of Americans to germ warfare.
But the real focus of the research is on mastering the art of mind control. Psychiatrists at top academic institutions work under secret contract with the agency. Psychiatric patients, prisoners, even unwitting members of the public are exposed to a startling array of experiments designed to facilitate interrogations, induce amnesia and program in new behavior. Every psychological technique is explored, including hypnosis, electroshock therapy and lethal cocktails of drugs.
In the very top echelon of the CIA is a duo of men: Dr. Sidney Gottlieb and Frank Olson. The visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb, the former chief of the CIA's Technical Services Branch, was the CIA's master magician and gentlehearted torturer--the agency's 'poisoner in chief.' As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project, he directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents, using a team of like-minded staff doctors. Frank Olson was a former CIA scientist whose death sparked his son to find out who killed his father and why. "CIA Secret Experiments" lays out the facts about the CIA's massive stockpiling of biological weapons and tells the story of the CIA's mind control experiments.
What was the extent of these brainwashing experiments? How did the CIA become involved in such far-reaching and disturbing research? Join us as National Geographic presents: CIA Secret Experiments.
Produced & Written by Tria Thalman ; National Geographic Television Production
