Mind Control Systems: Your Mind Under the Watch of Intelligence Agencies

Mind control is not just a dystopian fantasy—it’s a real objective pursued by intelligence agencies and certain ruling elites. During World War II, Nazi doctors conducted horrific experiments on humans, partly to study the limits of the human body under extreme conditions, but also to try to control personalities and create the “perfect soldier.” Few people know that similar research continued after 1945, this time in the United States.

After the declassification of several CIA projects from the 1950s to the 1970s, the topic of mind control sparked a wave of criticism and entered popular culture. Methods from these studies—combat neuropsychology, “zombification,” truth serums, and personality reprogramming—became the basis for detective and science fiction books, movies, music, and TV series.

Many modern viewers learned about CIA experiments from the 2017 documentary “Wormwood,” which tells the story of agent Frank Olson, who participated in the declassified MKULTRA project and Operation Midnight Climax before taking his own life.

The CIA documents that have come to light are just what we know about. It’s impossible to say for sure that similar experiments weren’t conducted in other countries or aren’t happening today.

Spoiler: Attempts to subject people to “Big Brother” are ongoing and have entered a dangerous physical stage with the rapid development of technocratic dictatorship. In this article, we’ll discuss the most obvious methods.

Is it possible to avoid falling victim to various mind control experiments, and how can you protect yourself? Let’s try to figure it out. Clearly, vigilance and critical thinking can help you maintain your sanity and control over your own life. Strengthen these skills with online programs in “Critical Thinking” and “Cognitive Science”—and let’s begin.

Background: The Roots of Mass Mind Control

At the end of World War II, there was fierce competition for the technological secrets of Nazi Germany, uncovered by Allied intelligence in 1945. The Soviet Union’s intelligence services obtained the results of human experiments and many other technologies developed by German researchers up to the Nazi surrender.

Many scientists and doctors who witnessed or participated in these tortures ended up in the U.S., where they continued their work, including as consultants for American research [BBC News, 2005]. The CIA needed them as living carriers of data captured by the Soviets. Some of these scientists later played key roles in U.S. technological development, especially in mind control [Wanttoknow, 2005].

In 1947, at a meeting of the newly formed National Security Council, the CIA decided to start a “secret war” against the USSR to eliminate the “communist threat,” which took priority over constitutional rights. The CIA also decided not to prevent Nazi scientists from participating in research on influencing the minds of citizens with communist views [Wanttoknow, 2023].

Americans believed that similar mind control methods were being used by the USSR, China, and North Korea. Under the pretext of national security, programs were developed to control consciousness, with the goal of influencing even political leaders.

Mind Control Programs

In its quest to control the minds of individuals and societies, the CIA developed several secret programs, including:

• BLUEBIRD (1950–1953): Aimed at controlling individual minds and creating the “perfect soldier” for military needs.
• MKULTRA (1953–1973): An expansion of BLUEBIRD, with a broader range of mind control techniques.
• ARTICHOKE: Evolved from BLUEBIRD, focusing on hypnosis and addiction to morphine and other drugs as tools of influence.
• Operation Midnight Climax: A long-term operation under MKULTRA, studying human behavior under the influence of illegal LSD.
• MKDELTA: A branch of MKULTRA for overseas operations, using drugs to pursue, discredit, and disable “targets.”

Officially, these programs continued until 1964, but some branches lasted until 1973, when the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) forced the CIA to release research results from these accidentally declassified projects.

Fearing investigation and knowing the materials would not pass censorship and would cause public outrage due to massive legal and human rights violations, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered most secret materials destroyed. However, Congress managed to recover some information from surviving documents and project budgets, revealing what agents did in their experiments.

BLUEBIRD

The first mind control project, approved in 1950, was called BLUEBIRD [Wanttoknow, 2023]. For three years, the CIA and psychiatrists conducted experiments with several goals:

• Create new personalities within a person for reliable “switching” of behavior in different situations.
• Induce amnesia so a person couldn’t remember parts of their biography or activities.
• Implant post-hypnotic commands for remote behavior control.
• Create “needed” false memories.
• Develop a “truth serum” for effective interrogation of hard-to-break subjects (e.g., foreign spies).

The main goal was to create super-spies for all occasions by learning to control a subject’s mind and the information stored in their brain. Essentially, they artificially induced multiple personality disorder. Victims were called “Manchurian candidates” after American POWs in the Korean War.

One case described American soldiers returning home as “perfect killers” of their own people after being brainwashed in captivity. The enemy used former POWs as highly effective living weapons. This story is told in Richard Condon’s book “The Manchurian Candidate.”

To achieve these goals, they used electroshock therapy to erase memory, daily doses of LSD-25, and implanted electrical sensors in the brain to control behavior. Subjects were literally trained like animals and subjected to psychological pressure.

Initially, volunteers were used as test subjects. Later, agents worked on turning unwilling subjects into volunteers for recruitment and control. By 1953, it became clear that BLUEBIRD’s methods were ineffective, and the project was officially closed.

ARTICHOKE

Project ARTICHOKE became part of BLUEBIRD in 1951, focusing on protecting secret data from leaks. The dangerous research was conducted not in the U.S., but in U.S.-controlled West Germany [Psyfactor, 2023]. Army, Navy, Air Force, and FBI intelligence units participated.

ARTICHOKE used hypnosis, morphine addiction, and chemical agents causing psychological disorders, amnesia, and vulnerable mental states [Bionity, 2023]. The project consultant was magician John Mulholland.

Professor Wendt led the project, working on a truth serum since the mid-1940s, testing various combinations of heroin and other drugs on himself and then on students under 21, who were unaware of the true nature of the experiments.

In 1952, Wendt’s formulas were tested on a suspected Russian agent with a “Don Juan complex,” but the subject became a more skilled liar instead of revealing secrets. Hypnotherapists and regression specialists were brought in, subjecting the “patient” to both drugs and hypnosis. The subject never revealed his Soviet intelligence ties, and his memory was erased with hypnosis after the manipulations.

Inducing amnesia was a main goal of ARTICHOKE, to erase secret data from participants’ minds so they could be released safely. Those of little value were let go; those who could leak secrets were imprisoned. The project was closed in 1966 due to lack of visible results.

MKULTRA

MKULTRA was launched after BLUEBIRD was deemed ineffective. The program corrected BLUEBIRD’s mistakes and operated on a much larger scale.

The key figure was CIA employee Sidney Gottlieb [Washington Post, 2005], an LSD enthusiast seeking to control minds with the drug. LSD was given to unsuspecting subjects—prisoners, the mentally ill, drug addicts, and prostitutes—while researchers observed their reactions. Addicted prostitutes lured victims from bars to CIA “safe houses,” where they were dosed with various drug cocktails and observed through one-way glass. This operation was called “Midnight Climax.”

The drug experiments had severe psychological effects; some victims committed suicide, others required long-term recovery. Not all recovered. One case involved Candy Jones, who suffered mental illness after drinking champagne laced with an unknown substance [Disgusting Men, 2017]. There were also incidents involving children [Wanttoknow, 2023].

Gottlieb also developed methods to eliminate unwanted individuals using poisons. An Irish colonel was killed with a poisoned handkerchief, and a leftist leader in Congo with a toxic dart. Similar attempts were made on Fidel Castro.

Other seemingly fantastic methods used in MKULTRA included:

• Remote-controlled brain stimulation via implanted electrodes
• Heating living bodies to critical temperatures
• Uranium injections
• Wide-range sound waves
• Prolonged psychological isolation
• Torture by forced sleep
• Keeping schizophrenic patients naked under red light for 8 hours daily

These are just the methods we know about. Researchers also tried to create “non-lethal” weapons by targeting specific organs, consciousness, and the subconscious. They attempted to implant thoughts, memories, and emotions, and practiced reading minds with software. Sexual abuse of victims also occurred.

In 1964, MKULTRA was renamed MKSEARCH, a joint program with the U.S. Army Chemical Corps to find new offensive agents and test covert use of biological, chemical, and radioactive materials to create predictable behavioral and physiological changes. Many project records were destroyed in 1972 along with MKULTRA materials [Placeandsee, 2023].

Another MKULTRA branch, MKDELTA, focused on overseas research, using drugs to pursue, discredit, and disable targets.

Results of Mind Control Projects

Surviving documentation from MKULTRA and related projects shows that researchers achieved some of their goals:

• Created multiple personalities within a person, with switching triggered by a code word heard over the phone or read in a letter [Wanttoknow, 2023].
• Created controllable killers who, in a hypnotic trance, shot a designated person and remembered nothing afterward [Wanttoknow, 2023].
• Altered people’s states so they would kill or perform other agency tasks without hesitation.
• Induced artificial addictions and new sexual habits in subjects.
• Developed new interrogation methods, tested on Marines.

Brain chip implantation was not effective in humans at the time, but animal experiments by José Delgado showed promise. In one case, a chip was implanted in the brain of an aggressive bull. During a bullfight, the scientist pressed a button, and the bull stopped charging due to a brain impulse [Granite of Science, 2019].

Scientific and Public Reaction

The exposure of CIA projects caused public outrage and criticism from the scientific community. Not all intelligence employees knew about these programs, and some were unaware of certain projects. Later, the CIA director called the concepts of manipulating human behavior unethical, but admitted to scientific successes.

The truth came out when CIA employee John K. Vance discovered a project involving psychotropic substances. He told journalists, and in 1974, New York Times reporter Seymour Hersh published an article about illegal human experiments by the CIA [CTV News, 2018]. Investigations into the hidden details began.

Some experiment victims survived and testified, with many receiving financial compensation from the U.S. government—but not all. Communities formed in the U.S. of people convinced the CIA hasn’t revealed all the details. They collect information and funds for lawsuits against the agency.

10 Modern Mind Control Methods

The CIA projects might never have been declassified if not for John Vance, who lost his life the same year for his vigilance. It’s hard to say if research that took years and huge investments has really stopped. The rise of cults in the U.S. and worldwide is seen as indirect evidence that such programs may still exist.

Today, mind control methods have changed. Attempts to control people have become a systematic approach, capable of turning people into unthinking automatons. “Big Brother”—the elites behind the scenes—now have powerful tools: the media and the physical aspects of the military-industrial complex [Nicholas West, 2010].

By understanding and exposing attempts at mind manipulation, you can protect yourself from psychological influence. Physical invasions are harder to fight.

Here are 10 main mind control tools everyone faces daily:

1. Education
   A subtle form of mind control. Children absorb information without filtering it, so the basics of capitalism, communism, and fascism are instilled early. Education programs are state-controlled and always match the current agenda. Charlotte Iserbyt, former senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education under Ronald Reagan, exposed a secret program to deliberately “dumb down” Americans in her book “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.” Teachers, being human, often pass on their own views and emotions to students, who take them as truth.
2. Propaganda and Advertising
   Consumer culture has turned wants into needs. If you don’t want something, marketers create the desire so you think, “I’ve always wanted this.” State propaganda is another powerful tool, integrated into culture—movies, music, entertainment, and news programs all transmit a general message that becomes the norm. Advertising and propaganda are closely linked with the media, creating a “background” that programs entire nations [Activist Post, 2012].
3. Prediction
   Predicting the future shapes what people expect, not technically but psychologically. Hollywood offers many visions of the future—apocalypse, alien invasions, nuclear war, robots living among us, men giving birth. Even if people know it’s fiction, these ideas seep into the subconscious. Modern trends include forecasts from astrologers, economists, and experts, pushing their agendas and making it easy for people to fall under their influence.
4. Religion, Politics, Sports
   These spheres all use the “divide and conquer” strategy. They break down cooperation and form teams competing for power and influence. Political discourse is always “right vs. left,” and religion is the backdrop to every wave in human history.
5. Food, Water, Air
   Food is hard to control, but toxins and additives can change blood chemistry, brain structure, and tissue. For example, fluoride in water lowers children’s IQ [Cision, 2010]. Aspartame and MSG excite brain cells, destroying small areas of gray matter and provoking Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurological diseases [PamRotella, 2004]. These are common in fast food, which is widely consumed by a passive, sedentary population—ideal for elite dictatorships. Genetic engineering is also used to alter the effects of foods on the body, though much of this research is secret.
6. Addictive Substances
   Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, vapes, and any addictive substances are tools for mind control. Addiction is a form of submission. Psychiatry, a main branch of mind control programs, classifies people by disorders, not potential. Medicine follows, with the saying, “There are no healthy people, only under-examined ones.” Diagnoses lead to medications, which people take voluntarily. Even children are targeted: in the U.S., 25% of kids and teens regularly take prescription drugs, and this pill-based lifestyle is normalized [WSJ, 2010]. To break the cycle, take charge of your health and understand your treatments—this isn’t a call to reject medicine, but to be vigilant.
7. Military Experiments
   Military personnel are attuned to hierarchy and easily influenced, obeying orders without question. Those who doubt ideological indoctrination are subjected to remote mind control methods, such as DARPA projects—more experiments.
8. Electromagnetic Spectrum
   We are surrounded by devices emitting electromagnetic fields, which affect brain function. While we can’t avoid them entirely, we can limit device use and avoid living near cell towers—potential direct mind control tools [Educate-yourself, 2005].
9. Screen Flicker Frequency
   Smartphones, TVs, and computers are tools for group and societal mind control. Everything broadcast is remotely programmed. Changes in flicker frequency, invisible to the eye, can induce a hypnotic state and transmit encoded data. Excessive screen time overloads the brain, leading to ADHD and reduced blood flow to the brain, weakening emotional control and long-term memory [Regnum, 2017].
10. Surveillance via Gadgets
    To control someone, you need to know their needs. Gadgets are used for surveillance. It’s common to mention something in conversation and then see related ads online, even if you never searched for it. This data collection helps build sales funnels and shape new needs, actions, and even thought patterns. Now, all devices can be linked to one account—a control center—making it easier for interested parties to systematize information. Intelligence agencies and others use this to wage cognitive wars, manipulating public opinion on any issue.

How to Protect Yourself

How can you protect yourself in a world where brainwashing is routine? CIA projects are everywhere, and the elite’s desire to control humanity hasn’t disappeared. Today, resistance is almost futile due to AI, gadgets, and constant information attacks, which weaken people’s ability to analyze and think critically. But there is good news.

Investigative journalist Jon Rappoport believes these manipulation technologies are doomed to fail because scientists can’t organize the trillions of neurons in the human brain—it’s practically impossible. He argues that the successes achieved are more wishful thinking than reality. Importantly, the mind is not a material object like the brain. The brain is infinitely complex and can’t be manipulated easily, except when a person agrees to it.