In the 1950s, the CIA launched Operation Midnight Climax, a covert program carried out under the broader MKUltra mind-control project. Initiated in 1954 by Sidney Gottlieb, chief of the Chemical Division of the CIA’s Office of Technical Service, this operation aimed to explore the potential of LSD and other substances for mind control, truth extraction, and psychological manipulation. Unlike its predecessor Project Artichoke, Operation Midnight Climax explicitly permitted drug experimentation on unwitting citizens.
The operation was placed under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in Boston, Massachusetts. George Hunter White, a Federal Narcotics Agent and CIA consultant operating under the pseudonym Morgan Hall, was assigned to manage the fieldwork. Hundreds of federal agents, field operatives, and scientists were eventually involved before the program was shut down in the 1960s.
Operation Midnight Climax established CIA-run safehouses in San Francisco, Mill Valley, California, and New York City. The most well-known address was 225 Chestnut Street in San Francisco. These safehouses were converted into observation sites where sex workers on the CIA payroll lured clients who were then surreptitiously dosed with a range of substances, including LSD. The sessions were monitored from behind one-way mirrors, and the sex workers were instructed to use post-coital conversations to coax secrets from their clients.
The program’s methodology included feeding subjects subliminal messages, encouraging involuntary actions including criminal behavior, and isolating them under the influence of drugs for extended periods. In some instances, subjects were reportedly deprived of food and water while under drug-induced conditions. CIA operatives also reportedly took the substances recreationally, further blurring the lines between scientific inquiry and abuse.
The stated goals of these experiments were to better understand brainwashing, sexual behavior, and methods to control human thought. These objectives extended to exploring ways to incapacitate large populations by contaminating food supplies with chemicals that would induce confusion, anxiety, fear, and memory loss. Amnesia-inducing drugs were also considered for use on spies and retiring CIA agents.
An October 15, 1978 article in the Wilmington News Journal, citing a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed that Dr. Robert V. Lashbrook, Gottlieb’s chief aide, purchased two pounds of yohimbine hydrochloride for the project. Lashbrook was responsible for approving materials used in the experiments.
Despite the breadth and scale of the program, the official results of these experiments were never released. Accounts from key supervisors like George Hunter White and former military intelligence officer Ira “Ike” Feldman indicated that subjects became more talkative when under the influence of drugs and sex. Beyond these general observations, there was little formal documentation of the experiments’ outcomes. As one report noted, “No one knows where they [human test subjects] are now, or what effects they may have suffered.”
Ethical violations were rampant. In 1947, the CIA had been officially prohibited from conducting domestic spying on American citizens, yet Operation Midnight Climax directly contradicted this mandate. The project pioneered the use of surveillance technology, sexual blackmail, and drug-induced manipulation in field operations. Participants did not provide informed consent, and in some cases, mentally disabled children were included in the experiments.
CIA operatives eventually expanded the program beyond the safehouses, dosing individuals in restaurants, bars, and public beaches. Some even volunteered to take the drugs themselves. The cultural impact remains difficult to measure, but authors like Ken Kesey have traced their psychedelic awakenings and the rise of the counter-culture movement in part to these CIA drug trials.
Public awareness of the operation grew slowly. In 1974, New York Times journalist Seymour Hersh exposed the CIA’s domestic surveillance and drug experimentation. The revelation spurred further investigations. In 1975, President Gerald Ford created the Rockefeller Commission to investigate illegal CIA activities. This commission examined MKUltra and Operation Midnight Climax, documenting extensive abuses.
President Ford later signed an executive order in 1976 forbidding drug experimentation on humans without informed consent in writing, witnessed by a neutral party. The order was an attempt to curb such programs in the future.
Congressional hearings followed in 1977. Senator Edward Kennedy’s subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research subpoenaed key figures, including Gottlieb, Lashbrook, and Dr. Charles Geschickter of Georgetown University. Walter Pasternak, a CIA employee who signed receipts for $2,000 in $100 bills for use in Operation Midnight Climax, was noted for evading investigators. When the hearing date arrived, none of the four subpoenaed individuals testified.
Testimonies were obtained from other participants, including Pasternak, though their accounts were often inconsistent or unverifiable. The absence of reliable documentation—much of it destroyed by the CIA—made prosecution impossible.
One possible death tied to the program is that of Frank Olson, a CIA scientist who worked with the Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. In 1953, Olson was allegedly dosed with LSD without his knowledge during a CIA retreat. Days later, he fell to his death from a New York City hotel window. Though ruled a suicide, the Olson family challenged this account. After planning to sue for wrongful death, they accepted a $750,000 settlement and received apologies from President Ford and CIA Director William Colby.
In 1994, Olson’s body was exhumed for a second autopsy, which revealed pre-fall injuries suggesting foul play. The debate over whether Olson was murdered remains unresolved.
Operation Midnight Climax and Project MKUltra were so secretive that many senior government officials were unaware of their existence while they were active. The CIA’s LSD experiments continued until 1963, when Inspector General John Vance discovered that the agency had been administering drugs to non-consenting subjects. Despite resistance from MKUltra leadership, the Inspector General insisted that ethical research guidelines be followed, effectively ending such practices.
Most records of the program were destroyed. CIA operatives often claimed they could not recall details, and the lack of surviving documentation limited the scope of congressional review. No legal actions were taken against those responsible.
The program has since entered public consciousness and inspired works of fiction and drama, including Neal Bell’s 1981 play Operation Midnight Climax. The full scale and legacy of the project remain obscured by secrecy, denial, and missing records.
