10. Project MK-ULTRA
In 1953 the CIA launched a deadly mind-control
program.
Masked as ‘intelligence research’, they
secretly administered LSD to the public and
manipulated their mental states. The CIA’s
ultimate goal was to create a brainwashed
assassin programmed to kill.
Patients were also hypnotized and given electroshock
therapy to try and create split personalities
that could be used against the Russians in
the Cold War.
But when investigative journalist Seymour
Hersh reported illegal CIA surveillance in
1975, the American public were outraged. Further
government investigations discovered thousands
of files on MK-ULTRA and some truly disturbing
human experiments.
9. Operation Paperclip
After WW2 the USA recruited 1,600 Nazi scientists
in order to prevent their knowledge falling
into Soviet hands.
The US government claimed that any hired German
found to be a former Nazi would be excluded
from the program - but this was a sham.
Instead, hundreds of Nazi technicians were
given fake records and offered sanctuary in
the USA.
Some of these Nazis, like Arthur Rudolph and
Otto Von Bolschwing helped Hitler to ‘purge
Germany of the Jews’.
8. CIA Drug Trafficking
In 1996 investigative journalist Gary Webb
exposed the CIA for facilitating the sale
of cocaine to LA street gangs.
Webb alleged that in the 1980s the CIA targeted
drugs to African-American communities – and
millions of dollars worth of cocaine funded
the CIA’s army in Nicaragua.
Newspapers influenced by American intelligence,
like the LA Times, severely discredited his
work. With his career ruined, Webb killed
himself.
9 years later, the LA Times apologized for
falsely attacking Webb, and admitted that
his allegations had indeed been correct.
7. Operation Northwoods
In 1962 US military intelligence planned terrorist
attacks on its own country. US operatives
intended to blame these attacks on the Cuban
government to justify a war against Cuba.
The operation involved hijacking planes and
bombing US cities, to gain public support
against Cuba’s communist leader, Fidel Castro.
Operation Northwoods was rejected by the Kennedy
administration and forgotten for 40 years.
It was rediscovered in the early 90s during
a surge of interest in JFK’s assassination
and provoked outrage from the American public.
6. The NSA Files
In 2013 computer analyst Edward Snowden revealed
that the NSA was accessing tens of millions
of Americans’ online records and tracking
phone calls – under the pretence of trying
to uncover terrorist plots.
But before the scandal broke, the director
of national intelligence James Clapper lied
under oath to Congress, when he claimed that
the NSA did not collect the data of millions
of Americans.
Whistle-blower Snowden has since been charged
with theft of government property and is seeking
asylum in Russia.
5. COINTELPRO
Peace activists suspected the FBI of infiltrating
the anti-war movement - and they were right.
On March 8th 1971 they broke into an FBI office
and stole hundreds of files, which revealed
the bureau’s true motives.
The Counter Intelligence Program was an aggressive,
covert operation by the bureau to destroy
Communism and the New Left.
For nearly 2 decades the FBI sought to intimidate,
blackmail, and sometimes even assassinate
individuals who threatened to disrupt political
order.
They even targeted Martin Luther King Jr.,
wiretapping his hotel rooms and trying to
persuade him to commit suicide.
4. Operation Snow White
In the 1970s the Church of Scientology performed
one of the largest infiltrations of US government
in history. 5,000 undercover members raided
136 American agencies to steal documents critical
of the church.
In 1977 former Scientology member Michael
Meisner contacted the FBI, suspecting that
the Scientology community was involved in
criminal activities.
His suspicions were correct. In 1978 the founder
of Scientology’s wife, Mary Sue Hubbard,
and 10 other conspirators, were found guilty
of stealing classified records from the US
government.
To this day, the Church of Scientology denies
the existence of the operation.
3. Guatemala Syphilis Study
Between 1946 and 1948 the USA landed in Guatemala
City and secretly infected 1,500 people with
syphilis to test the effectiveness of penicillin.
At least 83 people died in these experiments,
which had the approval of The Rockefeller
Foundation and Johns Hopkins University.
America kept quiet for 6 decades until Professor
Susan Reverby uncovered the experiment in
2005. Both Rockefeller and Hopkins have denied
any connection.
However, government officials have since reported
that their researches used US taxpayers’
money to pay prostitutes with syphilis to
infect unknowing subjects, and bribed others
with cigarettes to be injected with the disease.
2. Gulf of Tonkin
The Vietnam War was started because of a lie.
On August 2nd 1964 America and North Vietnam
engaged in military combat in the Gulf of
Tonkin.
According to official reports, North Vietnam
also initiated an attack on August 4th, prompting
the USA to respond with military action. Only
this second attack never happened.
In 2005 it was revealed that President Lyndon
B. Johnson falsely claimed that Vietnam had
attacked the USA in order to go to war and
declare that South Vietnam was jeopardized
by 'communist aggression'.
1. Operation Mockingbird
In the 1950s the CIA launched a secret campaign
to control the media, recruiting top journalists
so they would have power over the New York
Times, CBS, and Newsweek.
By 1953 they influenced over 25 newspapers
and radio stations and could promote big business,
positive US government messages, and anti-communist
agendas.
They even attempted to buy every copy of a
book critical of the CIA, but decided against
it when the publisher revealed that this would
lead to a second edition being printed.
After a number of exposés, the US government
officially revealed in 1976 that the CIA tried
to control public opinion using covert propaganda.
