THE EXPOSURE OF WATERGATE/MKULTRA/COINTELPRO


According to testimony by Senator Edward Kennedy in 1977,

“Some 2 years ago, the Senate Health Subcommittee heard chilling testimony about the human experimentation activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over 30 universities and institutions were involved in an ‘extensive testing and experimentation’ program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens ‘at all social levels, [high and low], native Americans and foreign.’ Several of these [tests involved] the administration of LSD to ‘unwitting subjects in [social] situations.’ ... The Central Intelligence Agency drugged American citizens without their knowledge or consent. It used university facilities and personnel without their knowledge.” 78

As an example of the hubris wrought by institutions veiled in secrecy, given unlimited funds and staffed with amoral people we can only refer to the statement made by George White in a letter to MKUltra director Sidney Gottleib:

“I toiled wholeheartedly in the vineyards because it was fun, fun, fun! Where else could an American boy lie, cheat, rape and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All Highest?” 79

After Watergate, more information hit the papers, COINTELPRO was uncovered by a group of people who have never been apprehended, in spite of a six-year FBI investigation. The COINTELPRO program was secret until 1971, when an FBI field office was burglarized by a group calling themselves the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI.

 

77 “Intracerebral Radio Stimulation and Recording in Completely Free Patients,” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, October, 1968.
78 Testimony of US Senator Edward Kennedy, Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence, US Senate, 95th Congress, 1977.
79 (letter to Sidney Gottleib) See also Sex, drugs and the CIA, by Douglas Valentine posted at http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine0621.html 

These people broke into an FBI office in Pennsylvania, rifled through the filing cabinets and leaked to the press documents detailing the abuses suffered by a wide variety of activists, including a long-term plan to destroy Martin Luther King Jr.:

“Agents tapped his phone, bugged his rooms, trumpeted his supposed commie connections, and his sexual proclivities, and sicced the Internal Revenue Service on him. When it was announced in 1964 that King would receive a Nobel Peace Prize, the FBI grew desperate. Hoping to prevent King from accepting the award, the Bureau mailed him a package containing a tape of phone calls documenting King’s extramarital affairs and an anonymous, threatening letter (shown here in censored form). In barely concealed language, King was told to commit suicide before the award ceremony or risk seeing his “filthy, abnormal fraudulent self” exposed to the nation. Fortunately, King ignored the FBI’s advice. He accepted the award and lived four more years until his assassination.” 80

Some of the largest COINTELPRO campaigns targeted the Socialist Worker’s Party, the Ku Klux Klan, the “New Left” (including several anti-war groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), Black Liberation groups (such as the Black Panthers and the Republic of New Africa), Puerto Rican independence groups, the American Indian Movement, and the Weather Underground. Later, Director Hoover declared that the centralized COINTELPRO was over, and that all future counterintelligence operations would be handled on a case-by-case basis.81


In addition, the MKULTRA documents hit the press and a number of books were written about the subject, most notable were’ “The Search for the Manchurian Candidate” by John Marks, “Bluebird" by Colin A. Ross MD, and “A Nation Betrayed" by Carol Rutz. At this point victims began to come forward with claims of being horribly abused in these programs, one of the most famous is a woman named Candy Jones who described in stunning detail a tale of corruption and abuse.82

 

80 Martin Luther King, Jr., “Statement on Joseph Alsop and J. Edgar Hoover’s charge of alleged Communist infiltration of the Civil Rights Movement,” 23 April 1964 and Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate, Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans, Book III, Final Report. 14 April 1976
81 “Me and My Shadow”: A History of the FBI’s Covert Operations and COINTELPRO - Part 1. Produced by Adi Gevins, Pacifica Radio. 1976. Rebroadcast by Democracy Now! Wednesday, June 5, 2002. See also Paul Wolf’s website for a detailed archive of official COINTELPRO documents and transcripts of the Church Committee hearings: http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm
82 Donald Bain, . The Control of Candy Jones. Chicago, Playboy Press, 1976. (Reissued in 2002 by Barricade books as The CIA’s Control of Candy Jones with a new introduction by Bain)

 

When Jimmy Carter became President in 1976 he promptly moved to introduce a modicum of control, he instituted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act establishing an 11 member secret court to oversee the surveillance activities of our covert agencies. As an example of the limited reporting requirements for the court we have the first report issued to Vice President Mondale from Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti in 1979:

This report is submitted pursuant to Section 107 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, Title 50, United States Code Section 1807. During calendar year 1979, 199 applications were made for orders and extensions of orders approving electronic surveillance under the Act. The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court issued 207 orders granting authority for the requested electronic surveillances. No orders were entered which modified or denied the requested authority.83


Pointedly Carter’s reform measure did not do anything to insure that the American public would be protected in the future from abuse and testing at the hands of the intelligence arm of the military-industrial complex. Carter’s move to reform the CIA was to appoint an outsider as head of the agency, Admiral Stansfield Turner. After Turner took over as Director of the CIA 800 “rogue” agents were let go, though most all of them found work in various false front companies that had been set up in the previous years. 84

 

Both the Rockefeller Commission and the Church Committee revealed a long standing pattern of both developing new psychological, pharmaceutical and radiological technologies, to influence individuals and groups and long standing pattern of behavior whereby politically disruptive citizens were systematically targeted, harassed and destroyed. Yet there have, to date, been no provisions instituted which would stop this behavior, nor is there any guarantee that these kinds of covert programs ever actually ceased.

 

The only practical change engendered by the disclosures of the 1970s was to drive these kinds of operations further into the shadows. That such research and experimentation may still be occurring is evidenced by a DOD directive, issued by the Secretary of the Navy on November 6, 2006 that specifically requires prior approval of the Under Secretary of the Navy before conducting “severe or unusual intrusions, either physical or psychological, on human subjects (such as consciousness altering drugs, or mind-control techniques).” 85

83 1979 FISA report can be obtained at the Federation of American Scientists website: http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/1979rept.html. 
84 William Blum, The CIA: A Forgotten History, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, Zed Books Ltd. 1986; Alan Moore Bill Sienkewitz, Shadowplay-The Secret Team, Forestville CA, Eclipse Books, 1987 and Leslie Cockburn, Out of Control, New York, Atlantic Monthly Press 1987.
85 SECNAV Instruction 3900.39D, Subj: “Human Research Protection Program”, November 6, 2006. www.fas.org/irp/DODdir/navy/secnavinst/3900_39d.pdf

 


Non-Lethal Weapons Research Today


There is a long history that illustrates US Intelligence operations had tragic results for many involved. There was, however, no public debate surrounding these black operations because they were classified under the guise of national security. MKULTRA, Project PANDORA, plutonium testing, and many more projects conducted by the DOD and the CIA were exposed by committees led by Senators Rockefeller and Church in the 1970s.86 However, tighter restrictions on human experiment including accountability and transparency did not occur until 1997, when President Clinton instituted revised protocols on human experiments.87


Official reports insist that the research involving experiments during the 1950s through the 1970s was destroyed. Yet, the scientists involved went without punishment, free to continue their careers.88


Given the levels of ongoing EMF technology research today, and the recent retroactive approval of torture approved by the Military Commissions Act, it may be that human testing is occurring under post-9/11 national security protocols. Can we accept that all the psychological research conducted with government funding up to the 1970s was simply destroyed? At this time, the American public has no way to answer this question. The current administration classifies more information than any previous US administration.89 Unclassified documents have even been recalled and re-classified.90


In the 1980s nuclear radiation experiments on humans became public knowledge and Russian tests making use of the electromagnetic spectrum were exposed.91 Countries around the world passed laws and signed treaties in response to the danger of weapons that could adversely effect human behavior or manipulate human cognition. The Russians banned all EMF weapons in 2001.


These treaties have roots in the human radiation experiments of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In effect, these treaties declared a basic tenant of human rights and cognitive liberties.92


In the quest for global military superiority, the US stepped up funding for the concept of the “Future Warrior” beginning in the late 1990s with the use of advanced nano-technology.93 The idea was to streamline the military, improve soldier performance, control the fighting in real-time and avoid soldier mortality. Toward this end, the concept was to enhance the ability of soldiers in the field to interface with computer systems by using their own brain waves.94

 

86 The Church and Rockefeller Committee reports can be accessed through the Assassination Archives and Research Center: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/contents.htm

87 Memorandum of March 27, 1997--Strengthened Protections for Human Subjects of Classified Research. [Federal Register: May 13, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 92)] [Page 26367-26372].
88 Scientific American talks about the work of Jose Delgado and states that Dr. Delgado stopped doing research as late as the 1990’s, see: John Horgan, “The Forgotten Era of the Brain”, Scientific American, September 26, 2005.
89 Declassification in Reverse: The US Intelligence Community’s Secret Historical Document Reclassification Program, Matthew M. Aid. Located at the George Washington University National Security Archive, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB179/#report. 
90 Executive Order 12958, originally signed by Clinton after Wen Ho Lee, a Los Alamos scientist was accused of giving the Chinese information, was amended by George W. Bush pm March 25, 2003. The amendment can be accessed at the White House website, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030325-11.html. 
91 The United Nations and Disarmament: 1945-1985 by the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs. (1985) New York, UN Publication Sales
92 For a comprehensive listing of treaties and international conferences surrounding these concerns, see the Sunshine Project at http://www.sunshine-project.org/, See Also: Human Rights: Beyond the Liberal Vision, Judith Blau and Alberto Moncada, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2005

93 Amy Kruse, Program Manager at Defense Sciences Office, DARPA “Defense and Biology: Fundamentals for the Future”. MIT also has The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies established in 2002 with a five-year, $50 million contract from the US Army, http://web.mit.edu/isn/index.html. 
94 See DARPA, “Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts”, http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrust/biosci/nia.htm.

The US began to fund research into decoding the brain as well as other neurological research. President George H.W. Bush declared the 1990s “The Decade of the Brain”.95 At the same time, funding for computer to human interface poured into universities and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) stepped up their research and development. In the universities, the field became “cognitive science” and within DARPA, the term “augmented cognition” was born.96

 

While developments in brain research are touted for their amazing therapeutic advances in the medical field, they primarily serve the purposes of the US military.97


Americans have little idea about the research concerning the capabilities of electromagnetism, directed acoustics, or computer-human interfacing. The majority of Americans do not know that we are currently using these new-concept weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan. Indiana University law professor David Fidler stated to the Economist,

“because these weapons are most likely to be used on civilians, it is not clear that using them is legal under the international rules governing armed conflict…if they are used in conjunction with conventional weapons, they could end up making war more deadly, rather than less.” 98

A peek into the US arsenal of weapons is like a look into a science fiction film. DARPA and various military research labs provide a view of the current technology available to enhance US soldiers in the field and manipulate the emotions and behaviors of the perceived enemy. As American sentiment toward the Iraq war spirals downward, along with the approval ratings of the US president, domestic civil disobedience is likely to rise, as it has in many countries in response to US foreign policy.


Are new electromagnetic weapons in the possession of the government be used on American citizens? The issue at hand is whether the research and technology currently being developed will benefit or harm us and how much liberty we are willing to sacrifice for a possibly skewed sense of national security and protection.


In September 2006, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne announced that crowd control weapons should be tested on Americans first.

“If we’re not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation,” said Wynne. “(Because) if I hit somebody with a non-lethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press.” 99

95 The proclamation declaring the 1990’s the “Decade of the Brain” was signed by President George H.W. Bush on July 17, 1990, which can be accessed at the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/loc/brain/proclaim.html. 
96 See the Augmented Cognition International Society, http://www.augmentedcognition.org/history.htm. 
97 Fronteirs in Neuroscience- Artificial Intelligence in the Pentagon and Beyond. http://www.neuropsychiatryreviews.com/mar06/android.html

98 “Electromagnetic weapons: Come fry with me”, The Economist, January 30, 2003.
99 Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, 9/12/2006. In addition to this comment, the Air Force released a declassified document located at the website of the Federation of American Scientists, ( http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/hamilton.pdf directing the acquisitions team from the media. The author is the USAF principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition, management and logistics, Darlene Druyun: “Effective immediately, I do not want anyone within the Air Force acquisition community discussing any of our programs with the media (on or off the record). This includes presenting program briefings in any forums at which the media may be present.”

Non-lethal weapons sound harmless in relation to guns and bombs. However, non-lethal weapons are not just tazers and annoying sounds. Nor are they harmless. In fact, NLWs are such a concern that many countries have treaties demanding transparency. Beginning in the 1990s, groups have formed to provide oversight of NLW research, including international committees, concerned scientists, and citizens’ groups including the Federation of American Scientists and the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics.100 The proliferation of NLWs have raised concern within the EU, Russia, and other countries, as records of Cold War abuses come to light and people come forward with complaints of illegal testing.101


The concern is more than a political issue and stretches beyond civil liberties into human rights as they relate to a person’s cognitive liberties. The following section highlights technologies with the capability to control and manipulate individuals or large groups of people.

 


Crowd Control using the Electromagnetic Spectrum


The electromagnetic spectrum has provided the military with an expanse of weapons, which are operational and in military and private use today in the form of millimeter waves,102 pulsed energy projectiles, and high power magnetic weapons.

Project Sheriff
The US has deployed the Project Sheriff active denial weapon in Iraq. Raytheon outfitted Humvees with their Silent Guardian Protection System, a device capable of heating the skin to 1/64 of an inch, causing instant pain similar to intense sunburn, 103 with the goal to facilitate dispersing a crowd.


According to a report released by the Air Force on the human effects of this weapon, people with contact lenses and those wearing metal suffered greater effects. An imprint of a coin was discovered on the skin of a test subject and death or severe heart problems may occur.104

 

100 For a list of these groups see, Non Lethal Weapons, July 2005, compiled by Terry Kiss, Bibliographer, Air University Library, Maxwell AFB, AL accessed at the Maxwell Internet site, http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/soft/nonlethal.htm  and Appendix A of this paper.
101 For further reading on these treaties, see The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists , September/October 1994 pp. 40-45 (vol. 50, no. 05), “The Soft Kill Fallacy” by Steven Aftergood and Barbara Hatch Rosenberg’s in the same issue, “Sidebar: A non-lethal laundry list”. Rosenberg cites the Conference on Disarmament, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemical Weapons to the Conference on Disarmament, Aug. 26, 1992, Nos. 22, 25, 34 (CD/1170) as well as the treaty, “Convention on Prohibition or Restriction of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects.”
102 A detailed study conducted by Andrei G. Pakhomov, Yahya Akyel, Olga N. Pakhomova, Bruce E. Stuck, and Michael R. Murphy with the Brooks Air Force Base, Human Effectiveness Directorate, offers a scientific analysis of the effects of millimeter waves, “Current State and Implications of Research on Biological Effects of Millimeter Waves: A Literature Review”, McKesson BioServices (A.G.P., Y.A., O.N.P.), U. S. Army Medical Research Detachment of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (B.E.S.), and Directed Energy Bioeffects Division, Human Effectiveness Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory (M.R.M.), Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX.
103 US Non Lethal Weapons for Iraq http://www.oft.osd.mil/library/library_files/article_461_Boston Globe.doc 
104 “Rumsfeld’s Ray Gun,” By Kelly Hearn, AlterNet. Posted August 19, 2005, http://www.alternet.org/story/24044/ 
 

 

Pulsed Energy Projectiles

 

Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs) are another form of weaponry that is used to paralyze a victim with pain. According to New Scientist magazine, the expanding plasma effects nerve cells, but the long-term effects remain a public mystery.105 The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program reports that, PEPs create a flash bang effect that startles and distracts.106 However, the effects are much greater than just startling an individual. A 2001 Time magazine article states that the PEP

“superheats the surface moisture around a target so rapidly that it literally explodes, producing a bright flash of light and a loud bang. The effect is like a stun grenade, but unlike a grenade the pep travels at nearly the speed of light and can take out a target with pinpoint accuracy…as far away as 2 km.” 107

While the effects of these weapons appear to be short-term and topical in nature, there is evidence that electromagnetic weapons have effects on the brain, including sleep disruption and behavior changes.108 They can produce anxiety and fear or compliance in humans. It is possible to use these weapons as a means of torture, yet without knowing exactly when, where, and how the weapons are used, we are left to speculate.109 An article by David Hambling in New Scientist magazine, March 2005, was titled, “Maximum pain is aim of new US weapons.”

 

In 2006, Dr. Brian Martin, associate professor in Science, Technology and Society, University of Wollongong, Australia, co-authored a paper entitled “Looming struggles over technology for border control,” which describes the potential catastrophes that would lead to an extreme border protection plan. In the event of a natural disaster, or the rapid reduction of resources, or a major climactic change such as drought, rich countries will have a need to reinforce their borders against a massive influx of refugees. This scenario is often described in the nation-state context but it is possible to imagine such a perceived need in the event of internal civil unrest.

 


Directed Acoustics


In Maoist China, cities were equipped with megaphones, bombarding the people with on-going propaganda. The megaphones were in full vision of the people, yet there was no way to escape the sound. Today technology exists that fills a similar purpose. Voice to Skull directed acoustic devices are neuro-electromagnetic non-lethal weapons that can produce sounds within the skull of a human.110


A similar technology, known as Hypersonic Sound, is used in a similar fashion. According to its inventor, Elwood Norris of American Technology Corporation (ATC), the handheld speaker can focus sound waves directly at a person without anyone else hearing the sound. The technology is being tested by corporations such as McDonald’s and Wal Mart to direct advertisements into a consumer’s head.


105 See government contract M67854-04-C-5074, University of Florida, Division of Sponsored Research, July 1, 2004. Also located at http://www.defensetech.org/peoplezapping.pdf

106 According to a 2002 Joint Non Lethal Weapons Program document: www.dtic.mil/ndia/2002infantry/swenson.pdf 
107 Lev Grossman, “Beyond the Rubber Bullet”, Time Magazine, July 21, 2002. 108 David S. Walonick, “Effects of 6-10 Hz ELF on Brain Waves, www.borderlands.com/archives/arch/elf.htm  109 David Hambling, Maximum Pain is Aim Of New US Weapons, New Scientist, March 2005. 110 Definition from the Center for Army Lessons Learned, Fort Leavenworth, KS: “Nonlethal weapon which includes (1) a neuro-electromagnetic device which uses microwave transmission of sound into the skull of persons or animals by way of pulse-modulated microwave radiation; and (2) a silent sound device which can transmit sound into the skull of person or animals. NOTE: The sound modulation may be voice or audio subliminal messages. One application of V2K is use as an electronic scarecrow to frighten birds in the vicinity of airports.” http://call.army.mil/products/thesaur/00016275.htm 

The Long Rage Acoustical Device (LRAD),111 is used by the military in situations such as crowd control, mass notification, and perimeter enforcement. For instance, an unruly mob may not hear a warning to disperse with traditional acoustic technology, or border enforcement agents may need to warn an approaching intruder to turn away or face bodily harm. The technology has advantages over lethal force, yet it also has the potential to inflict physical harm, emotional manipulation, and death.


According to Defense Update, the LRAD can produce a 150-decibel acoustic beam from 300 meters away. The human threshold for pain is between 120 to 140 decibels.112 In a 2003 New York Times article Mr. Norris demonstrates his technology to the reporter. At 1% of capacity, the reporter’s eyes hurt, and hours later still experienced a headache.113


This technology can inflict permanent damage and death despite its classification as a non-lethal weapon. While the LRAD may be seen as a way to save lives in times of disaster or to avoid civilian casualties, the LRAD and similar directed acoustics may be cause for concern to those who exercise their right to assemble and conduct peaceful demonstrations and protests. The New York City police used the LRAD at the Republican National Convention and it was also used in Miami at a WTO Free Trade protests.114

 

Covering one’s ears will not protect a person and given, the long-range capabilities, fleeing from the beam may not help either (as evidenced in the use of directed acoustics against Jewish settlers in Gaza). The Associated Press (AP) reported that a device called “the scream” was used in a 2005 protest against Palestinians who,

“covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds. An AP photographer at the scene said that even after he covered his ears, he continued to hear the sound ringing in his head.” 115

 

Neurological Technology


Neurobiology has many facets including therapeutic applications with Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, depression, and stroke victims using Trancranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Bush’s Decade of the Brain produced outstanding advances for those with spinal cord injuries as well, which allows a paralyzed person to control a computer screen or a limb with a brain implant. There is also a new field in neurological research, Augmented Cognition. From universities to private business to the military, advances in neuro-technology can be used for amazing good. However, as we learned from the history of the Cold War, technology that has the capacity to heal also has the capacity to harm.


Of great concern is the research being conducted at DARPA, which is trying to revolutionize the way soldiers receive information, respond to orders, adapt to stress, and perform while sleep deprived.


111 The LRAD is another invention of Elwood Norris of American Technology Corporation.
112 Jurgen Altmann, “Acoustic Weapons: A Prospective Assessment,” Science and Global Security, Vol. 9, p. 13.
113 Marshall Sella, “The Sound of Things to Come”, New York Times, March 23, 2003. 114 Amanda Onion, “RNC to Feature Unusual Forms of Sound”, Aug. 25, 2004, ABC News 115 Associated Press, “Israel May Use Sound Weapon On Settlers”, 6/10/2005. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2005/06/10/israel-may-use-sound-weap_n_2444.html 

TMS is being developed for military purposes using electrical impulses at close proximity to the skull to enhance mood, affect sleep patterns, and increase creativity.116 This technology is beginning to replace electro-shock therapy. DARPA granted a contract to the Medical University of South Carolina to research now to improve a soldier’s performance. A soldier’s reaction to stress may be less intense, or a 40-hour flight will allow for the soldier to remain awake without the side effects of sleep deprivation.117

 

Few, if any, understand the long-term effects of TMS, given its relative infancy in the overall field of Augmented Cognition. Does TMS produce unknown neurological effects ten, twenty, fifty years down the road? To what extent is TMS being researched? TMS is part of the overall field of Augmented Cognition. In essence, Augmented Cognition allows a human to interact with a computer through brain waves. The idea is to enhance a person’s cognitive capabilities in the area of memory, learning, attention, visualization, and decision-making.


One application of augmented cognition allows a user to monitor a person’s brain functions and send anticipatory commands to the person being monitored. For instance, a military command unit will be able to monitor a pilot in a cockpit, and based on the sensory output of the soldier, the base command can input messages directly into the pilot’s brain to improve performance. DARPA describes this as a human computer symbiosis whereby,

“This research will enable development of closed loop human-computer technologies, where the state of the user is measured, analyzed, and automatically adapted to by the computational system.”118

The increase in human-computer relations and the ability to manipulate and control a person’s senses, memory, and neural output has wide implications.


The basic ability to enter a person’s mind is not a futuristic fantasy. This is real and in prototype. DARPA began this research in 1983.119 The Internet has become a focal point in our lives with reliance for information and communication. Our interaction and intimacy with computers is increasingly pervasive, as is our exposure to the field of augmented cognition. DARPA does not address the implications of such symbiosis, or the dilemma of he extent to which a person can or should be manipulated. The use of this technology is used for military purposes but it may not be long until it is used to “improve” the factory worker, prisoners, or the mentally ill.


116 “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: An Introduction”, Grant Balfour, v1.0 -May 6, 2002 available at: www.cognitiveliberty.org/issues/TMS_index.html 
117 MUSC To Develop Brain Stimulation Device For Military, Charleston, SC, May 9, 2002, www.musc.edu/pr/darpa.htm , “The overall goal of the project is to use the unique resources at MUSC’s Brain Stimulation Laboratory and Center for Advanced Imaging Research to determine if: 1. non-invasive stimulation of the
brain can improve a soldier’s performance, 2. and then design, manufacture and test a prototype of a system that would be capable of delivering this technology in the field.”
118 Improving Human Performance Through Advanced Cognitive System Technology, Dylan D Schmorrow and Amy A Kruse, LCDR MSC USN, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, VA, Strategic Analysis Inc., Arlington, VA, Available at:

http://ntsa.metapress.com/ (2pq1al55mfylqgf0n3cvjc45)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,91,167;journal,5,7;linkingpublicationresults,1:113340,1
119 New Generation Technology: A strategic plan for its Development and Application to Critical Problems in Defense, DARPA, 1983.
 


The Implant


Another realm of brain research is the field of neural implants. Until recently, implants were a futuristic fantasy. Current advances in the private and military sectors have produced an implant that can allow a victim of a spinal cord injury to walk again or give an amputee the ability to control her leg with her mind. In the private sector, Cyberkinetics is leading the way to liberating some people from wheelchairs. This technology is a path to a more functional way of life, but it is also possible that the use of implants could be used for malevolence.


John Donohoe, founder, chief scientific officer, and director of Cyberkinetics, addressed the issue of mind control and neural implants. When asked if creating a brain-machine interface will open the door to mind control Donohoe responded,

“We do that all the time already. Advertising is mind control. Even pharmaceutical agents are a form of mind control. When people have behaviors that deviate far from the norm, they are given medications that bring their mind back into the realm of behavior that we call normal. If a child were to have a seizure and became unconscious because of the seizure, and we controlled his mind so that he did not have seizures, that would be a wonderful thing. We want to do that.”120

 

120 Neuroscience: John Donoghue By Aaron J. Sender, Discover Vol. 25 No. 11, November 2004, Mind & Brain

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