& # ‘MENCRAIDUL FOR aa» oS SUBJECT: . Hypnotism and Covert Operations 1. % apologize for submitting a document as long os thi onc. the subject 4c Mghly controversial and even this treatuent, vhich way appear long, io ebbreviated. 8 s . 2, Fronkly, I now distrust much of vhat 4a written Wy acadenic : experts on lypnotioa. Partly thio is because many of then sppeer to ts, + Bave generalized frtm a very few cases; partly because much of their cautious pessinisn ia contradicted by Agency experimenters; but more particularly because I personally bave vitnessed behavior responses which respected experts have gaid ore impossible to obtain. In no other field hove I been so conscicus,of the uentsl claustrophobia of book and lecture hall knowledge. I don't think we have enough evidence to say positively that hypnotien 1s a practicable covert weapon, but I do say that we'll never know whether it is or not unleco we experiment in the {lela vhere ve con learn what is practicoble = (eaterially and psychologically) in a vay that no laboratory vorker could possibly prove. 3. Even the terminology of hypnotisn is in confusion. I bave used terms like "suggestibility", "catalepsy” end "fascination" becnuse they seeced to ne descriptive, but these are argued to be inaccurate in current journals. As on example of the confusion, TTMGPESTALIEH and I apent the better part of tvo days arguing with ‘an acadenic practitioner of formidable reputation before ve discovered it ‘that ‘bis vehement and perplexing disagreement with vbat we Imew to be facts vas based on semantic hair-splitting and congealed pig- eye headednes! & 4. Tf you decide that the frp/P’s! sue this cubject further, I suggost that you meet with A AA Td AUseyend myself toMracuss the Taree FecouTendation ‘ rttached paper. Attactment Orig. - Addressee : 1 - c/Security “A o : 5 Moy _ ia |1 FDPNOTISM AUD COVERT OFFRATIONS comms, 4 | EFROTISN Ae Wost Is Tt? . > B. Who Can Be Rypnotized? @. The Induction of Hypnosis 5 1. Pre-[esting for Suggeatibility 74 Induction Procedures tsa Yerbel Suggestion >. Fascination Plus Verbal Suggestion c. Barco-Eypnosis 13+ Avakening 3 ik, Post-aypuotic Sugggstions 5. Age Regresaica D. Other Factors | 1. What Mokes @ Good subject? 2. What Charucterizes a Good Operator? 3. Stages of Hypnosis 4, “Lave of Rypnotisa” 5. Can a Subject be Hypnotized Ageinst.ie Will? x APPLICATIGH OF BXFROSIS TO COVERT OPERATIONS . A. Disguised Pre~Testing B. Disguised Induction C. Specific Operational Situations RESEARCE st@ARY of coHCLUSZONS RECOMMENDATIONS | 1 I* The consultant rote to) 4 who hi a menber of an Artichoke team, fecls participated in Agency operations thot narco-hypnosis es he knows it is not effective as it might appesr at first glance to be. He feels that the stupor Yaten, engues does not in every cose permit as deep a’stage of hypnosig, 1s very difficult to coutrol and, supine, certaiy post-hypnotic phenomena, of great value in clen~ y may be tacking. 3) Qa the other hand, he agrees sisted Kypnosis 4s eanential in CIA york. 4 There 4s no recorded instance in which a hypnotized subject bas failed to avaken. Mot one subject in a hundred vill “sleep” eyond the hypnotist's suggestion, “In a monent I em going to awoken you. You will fecl fine, hoppy and cheerful. There will ve no 421 effects—no headache, drowsiness, stiffness or other Aiuconfort. I am going to count to three, and at the count of ‘three I vill snap my fingers and you vill be coupletely awake. cce--you are sleeping much more lightly. ‘Tvo-alnost avake nov. ‘Three--(snap!)--you are wide awake!” If for any reason a subject does not desire to evaken {usually connected with avish to continue the pleasure and confort 3 of release from anxiety and vorry vhich accoupanics hypnosis, apparently), there are severnl other techniques to be tried. a ee (or at least insofer ae the therapeutic use of marco-bypnosis 10 concerned.a loved one's 1ife 1s 4n danger froa a maniac aud thet the only means of rescue 1s to shoot a person designated as the saninc? Three expert practitioners (two fron universities and the "Agency consultant quoted above) sey that there 1s ng doubt on the Basis ef their experience that in such circunstancts wurder vould be sttenpted. The only requirenent 48 that the proposal be ‘put’ "in @ form end msnner acceytable to the subject.” Most modern authorities fep] that = subject will carry out any suggestion vhich he can ratioualize vithin the franework of | his moral code. + (Currently, there 4a a murder trial Ye wich tne “H murderer bas been judged to have been under hypnosis at the tine of the crine, He bas been retried, releascd end the hypnotist tried and convicted. The case 26 nov under appeal. The coment of the three imovledgeable informants vas thet the hypnotist must jbave been a rank amateur to have"been found out since sny experienced ‘operator would have known how to suggeat avay the fact that be bad arranged the crine.) ‘IT. APPLICATION OF HYPNOSIS TO COVERT OPERATIONS Obviously, disquiscd pre-testing end induction ere necessities for the use of hypnosis in clandestine operations, Without at least ‘the second of these I am unable to see that any covert hypnotic technique E | | | Fe Prequires operutionnl experimefitation. The possibilities are not only interesting, they are frightening. A kind of double- think Orvellian vorld of hypnosis, while unlikely, is not ro utterly fantastic. One thing is clear: ve really do not ne H kno? within what Limtts "belief" may be changed by hypndsis. Based on.vbat I have read, I judge that thol aaa: on elaborate conditioned-reflex procedure in their "braiiivishing’. Even so, hypnosis my be able en the one hand to pre-condition a subject against the pressures, “or after the fact to help undo the dezage. Analagous Case #2. : One of the foremost U.S. sborstory experinenters { with hypnosis en one occasion (1939) "converted" a ts caupus atheist to a devout believer. ‘The sane operator vas on the point of trying a sinflar experiment in i | reverse with a divinity student when the university euthorities forbade further tests. Before the “conversion” to religion through hypnosis bad been erased by negative suggestions, the subject hnd for over two weeks given . every sign of being a dedicated religious couvert. Be ‘Waa restored to his former disbelief. I know of no vay of estizating how long the hypnotically-imposed orientation RE vould have endured; but once implanted, of course, cir- cumstances tended to reinforce it. Given a subject who could be converted at all, the nev orientation might becone Permanent, the exyeriuenter felt. . 2. q As part of their indoctrination procedure, CIA staff personnel might be tested for hypnotic sysceptibility. Actually, it appears to be easier to hypnotize large numbers of people ‘than a single subject, for the best subjects go “under” quickly mechs cera‘the aT 6 _futtorize developnent {n detail of the field-oriented operational program sketched above. 3. Select ous D/P "biviatta joa on initiol test area pnd deatgnate a strgle Individual tn the operational chain-of-coemeni as director of the yrograa. :¥i Get 8 0 re-oppraten) date either one yeor fron the tire the firct teaz orrives in the test area or sooner if the directer of the prograa feels that the teat progran hea failed or 19 fotling- ttatecents in this paper are justified: on eT |