On 23 October 1983,
a truck packed with explosives crashed through the perimeter
of the U.S. Marine expeditionary force at the Beirut International
Airport. Moments later it slammed into a temporary barracks
and exploded, killing 241 Marines serving with an international
peacekeeping force that had been dispatched to Lebanon
at the request of the Lebanese government. Within a matter
of minutes a second truck penetrated the lines of the
French contingent located nearby and detonated, killing
58 French paratroops. As a result of the carnage, the
Reagan Administration made the politically costly decision
to withdraw from that country; and the governments of
Great Britain, France and Italy followed suit. Lebanon
dissolved into chaos, and a bitter civil war ensued pitting
the traditional Christian elite backed by Israel against
an emergent Muslim majority supported by Syria, Iran,
Iraq and Libya.
At the time, US policymakers dismissed the suicide bombings
as a tactical gambit conceived and executed by local fanatics.
But with the benefit of hindsight, it is now clear that
they marked the beginning of a general offensive against
the West. For in the 19 years that have since elapsed,
more than 200 suicide attacks have been conducted against
Israel, Russia, Chechnya, India, Sri Lanka and the United
States – and these have reshaped the face of modern
war.
Despite the spectacular aerial assaults that destroyed
the World Trade Center and badly damaged the Pentagon
on 11 September, Western analysts remain loath to recognize
this basic fact. According to the still prevalent conventional
wisdom, suicide attacks are born of desperation and despair
- in this case, from the pervasive social and economic
malaise that afflicts the Muslim world. Like the Japanese
Kamikazes of an earlier era, Western analysts have dismissed
them as little more than a deadly nuisance. This is unfortunate,
for had they reached deeper into history they might have
realized that the suicide attacks are strategic rather
than tactical in nature; and that their objective is not
to wreak local havoc, but rather to overturn the global
balance of power. Moreover, they might also have found
that this strategy is based upon the modern rediscovery
of an ancient art - specifically, the conquest and weaponization
of the human psyche.
Although tyrants have sought to enslave the human mind
from times immemorial, the first known success was an
Eleventh Century figure by the name of Hasan bin Sabah.
Said to have been of noble birth, Hasan was forced to
flee his native Persia after having become embroiled in
a financial scandal at the Imperial Court. After finding
sanctuary in Egypt, he is reported to have studied the
teachings and organizational structure of an underground
cult known as the Dar ul Kikmat. During this same time
frame, he is also said to have mastered the Dark Arts.
Whatever the actual truth, Hasan had returned to Persia
by 1094; and with the aid of indigenous allies he seized
control of the mountain fortress of Alamut. There he founded
a sect that achieved infamy as the Assassini. Formally
known as the Shiah Ismai, this sect claimed to hold in
its possession secret and sacred truths; but in fact,
it was a terrorist organization that sought to impose
its will upon the Islamic World by systematically assassinating
political figures that opposed its ends. Until finally
crushed by Mongol invaders in 1250, the Assassini shook
the political structures of the Middle East to their very
foundations.
According to legend, Hasan created a virtual paradise
in a valley beneath his mountain citadel to recruit and
train initiates. Hasan is said to have dispatched his
followers to the public houses of the area, where they
would drug and kidnap young men, and transport them to
the valley. There they would awaken from their stupor
to find themselves in luxurious surroundings, tended to
by scores of beautiful young women. Having been informed
by the maidens that they had been transported to Paradise
by angels, the hapless victims would spend their days
gorging upon wine, sex and mind-altering drugs. Then they
would mysteriously re-awaken in their former surroundings,
alone and bereft. Months might pass without incident as
they resumed their ordinary and miserable lives; but then
suddenly and mysteriously, they would reawaken in what
they credulously believed to be the Muslim Heaven. After
three or four such experiences, most became willing slaves
to Hasan and his murderous schemes. Persuaded that Hasan
was Allah made manifest upon the Earth, they killed their
assigned targets without pity or remorse; and then went
willingly to their deaths, certain of their place in Paradise.
Although this story of Hasan’s recruitment and
training techniques is fantastic, it is well supported
by historical evidence.1 Moreover, it closely resembles
the ARTICHOKE technique that was developed and successively
refined by the Soviet, Nazi, and Western intelligence
services between 1920 and 1973. It was thus empirical
science rather than Black Magic that made possible Hasan's
reign of terror; and if this science once perished in
the flaming ruins of Alamut, it has in this century been
entirely restored. Like the mythical Phoenix it has arisen
from the ashes; and it now threatens to shake the world
once more.
II
Although the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany – and,
apparently, Great Britain – mounted large-scale
research programs designed to develop techniques for psychological
control at an early date, the United States did not actively
pursue the subject until the Second World War. Then the
Office of Strategic Services – forerunner to the
Central Intelligence Agency – enlisted behavioral
scientists for specialized problem solving. Foremost among
these was the development of technical solutions to the
urgent problems of agent recruitment, handling and assessment.
Although the OSS had at its disposal a wealth of human
talent and essentially unlimited funds, the hurriedly
constructed organization lacked experienced case officers
to recruit and run field agents behind enemy lines. Acutely
aware that their lack of practiced personnel rendered
them vulnerable to deceptions, senior OSS officers turned
to the behavioralists for a scientific solution. Their
top priority was the development of a “truth serum,”
which they hoped would make possible fast and accurate
assessments of agent reliability.
Despite frantic efforts, the OSS failed to find an effective
interrogative drug. Yet the lure was so enormous that
even after the war the newly created CIA continued the
effort undeterred. But it was not until the 1949 trial
of Cardinal Josef Mindszentry by the Soviet-installed
Hungarian communist regime that the CIA realized that
drugs held other promises as well. In the course of Mindszentry’s
trial, his deportment, demeanor and speech led CIA analysts
to the conclusion that he had been successfully subjected
to an extraordinary form of psychological manipulation.
Although the technique was unknown to CIA psychologists,
it was clearly of such efficacy and power as to cause
him to confess to crimes he did not commit and could not
have committed;2 and they were quite certain that drugs
were somehow involved. The Soviets had clearly mastered
a new form of totalitarian control; and discovering its
secrets became an urgent intelligence priority. On
April 20, 1950, CIA Director Roscoe Hillenkoetter approved
the United States’ government’s first research
and development program expressly designed to develop
techniques for the control of the human mind. It was known
through successive incarnations as Project BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE,
MKULTRA and MKSEARCH; and eventually came to encompass
149 distinct behavioral science research programs and
33 related non-behavioral projects over the course of
twenty-three years.
The open-ended research program that Hillenkoetter approved
was given sudden impetus by two dramatic developments.
The first was the outbreak of war in Korea sixty-six days
later; the second was the public breakdown of the U. S.
ambassador to the Soviet Union some two years thereafter.
During the Korean conflict American forces often performed
poorly in the field against enemy armies that had no prior
experience in mechanized warfare; and in one particularly
shameful incident, an entire U.S. army division fled the
field.
Moreover, the conduct of American servicemen in captivity
was shocking. Fifteen per cent of American prisoners of
war held by the Chinese Communists actively collaborated
with their captors, and a full seventy per cent signed
fraudulent confessions to war crimes or written denunciations
of the United States government. More alarming still,
large numbers of those that signed confessions or denunciations
refused to recant after their repatriation.3 Many were
suspected of having returned to the United States as willing
spies for the enemy; and some were later proven to be.4
Of similar concern was the bizarre behavior of Ambassador
George F. Kennan at Templehof airport while en route to
London from Moscow. There Kennan exploded in anger at
a naïve question posed by an inexperienced reporter;
and as a result of his ill-advised response was declared
persona non grata by the Soviet regime. Such were the
times that many senior American officials were convinced
that this incident provided strong evidence that Kennan
had fallen victim to Soviet mind control.5
The general outline of the CIA’s behavioral science
research program – commonly, but incorrectly referred
to as MKULTRA - was inadvertently revealed by the Rockefeller
Commission in 1975. Established by President Ford to investigate
allegations of CIA illegality, the Commission’s
Final Report contained a one-line reference to a federal
employee who had killed himself after having been unwittingly
drugged by a CIA officer as part of an MKULTRA experiment.
This sparked a press furor that eventually resulted in
more extensive congressional investigations chaired by
Sen. Edward F. Kennedy. Not surprisingly,
both the press and the Sen. Kennedy focused their investigations
upon the more lurid aspects of MKULTRA, which included
the kidnapping, drugging and torturing of American citizens
on American soil for research purposes and the effort
to develop “programmed assassins.” Overlooked
in the process were the CIA’s efforts to determine
the effects of electromagnetism upon the psyche, electromechanical
stimulation of the brain, a form of technologically-based
ESP, remote viewing, precognition, psychokinesis and,
especially, nonaural voice communications with radio and
microwave transmissions. This
was unfortunate, for their researchers made gains in most
of these areas and scored dramatic breakthroughs in others.
6
According to declassified financial
records and the testimony of retired CIA officers, the
CIA had by 1961 developed implant devices for dogs, making
it possible for their handlers to guide them through various
courses by remote.7 During this same time frame they also
developed techniques for disrupting bodily functions with
radio waves. By the mid-1960’s they had successfully
developed and field-tested nonaural voice communications
with both radio and micro waves; and by 1977 they had
developed and field-tested a rudimentary form of electromechanical
“mind reading.”8 But despite overwhelming
evidence to the contrary, they have steadfastly maintained
that they failed entirely in their quest to control the
human mind.
III
There are perhaps three reasons for the CIA’s implausible
denials. The first is legal responsibility. For as the
Kennedy hearings established, CIA officers wildly exceeded
their authority in the course of MKULTRA. Innocent
citizens were kidnapped off the streets and drugged, hypnotized
and subjected to physical torture. These actions were
and remain felonious; and had the criminal justice system
taken its proper course, scores of CIA officers would
have faced capital charges. The
second reason is the explosive nature of the data they
developed in the course of their experiments. For contrary
to common belief, the human psyche lacks systemic integrity.
Rather than the tightly integrated system that has been
historically assumed, it is in fact a loosely related
collage of drives, inhibitions, orientations, functions,
desires and beliefs – all of which are subject to
external manipulation. The third and final reason is the
extraordinary ease of reengineering the human mind. With
the ARTICHOKE technique, a psyche may be broken apart,
restructured and reassembled almost to specification in
approximately four hours – all without the victim’s
consent, or even his conscious awareness.
Despite almost two and a half centuries of scientific
study, hypnosis remains poorly understood; and at present,
all that is known with certainty is that hypnotic states
are natural phenomenon that occur under certain –
and often quite ordinary – circumstances. These
states may be induced by external stimuli – and
especially, by a skilled practitioner of hypnosis –
and are related more or less closely to another psychological
phenomenon known as disassociation. Hypnotic states extend
across a broad spectrum, ranging from a light hypnotic
trance in which subject is alert and fully aware, to a
very deep trance in which the subject looses both conscious
awareness and volition. At this level, the will of the
subject may be suborned; and through a process of faux
identification, entirely by that of a hypnotist.
Because hypnotic states are inherent potentialities of
the human mind, everyone is subject to hypnosis. But
under most circumstances, only about 20 percent of the
population is capable of achieving the deepest hypnotic
state required by ARTICHOKE. To escape this difficulty,
practitioners first anesthetize their subject/victims
with sodium pentothal and then stimulate them with Benzedrine.
This produces an indeterminate physical state somewhere
between sleep and waking consciousness, making it possible
to place the victim/subject in a deep trance.
Once the desired level of hypnosis is achieved, the subject/victim’s
psyche is systematically disassembled by isolating and
identifying his or her drives, inhibitions, orientations,
functions, desires and beliefs. In this process, particular
attention is given to the so-called ego-defenses.
Ego-defenses protect the individual from unwanted or
threatening intrusions into conscious awareness; and for
that reason are essential to ordinary functioning. Operating
heavy equipment for example is an exceedingly hazardous
endeavor; and safety requires the operator to concentrate
carefully. To do so, he must repress his most basic instinct
to flee from the danger. In the process, he must also
avoid making untoward associations through a process known
as inhibition.
Ego-defenses are a matter of common experience, and one
need merely reflect upon ones own behavior in various
circumstances to observe their operation. Nonetheless,
the number and nomenclature remains a matter of debate
among psychologists and psychiatrists. But for operational
purposes, the CIA embraced the classical catalogue presented
by Anna Freud. According to Dr. Freud, there are nine
innate ego-defenses and one potentiality: regression,
repression, reaction formation, isolation, undoing, projection,
introjection, turning-against-the-self and reversal. The
last – which differs from the others in the sense
that it actively promotes mental health, rather than psychological
stability – is sublimation, or the displacement
of instinctual drives.9
Ego defenses normally operate automatically, far below
the level of conscious awareness. But in a state of deep
hypnosis they may be isolated and brought to a state of
awareness through a process of regression. They hypnotist,
for example, might summon forth projection by asking the
subject/victim to go back in time to his early childhood
and recall an incident in which he was so angry with his
mother that he screamed at her, and accused her of wanting
to deliberately harm him. Once the subject complied, the
hypnotists would evoke the particular emotions of that
moment by expressing his sympathy and providing his assurances
that the sentiments were right and proper. He would then
inform the subject/victim that this was especially true
as his mother had deceived him all his life. Rather than
John Doe, as his mother had falsely informed him, his
real name was “Frank” or whatever name came
to the hypnotist’s mind. Most often, the hypnotist
would then inform the subject/victim that he was in fact
of noble birth or lineage, and that someone – perhaps
the Communists, or the Jews, the Freemasons or perhaps
the villain de jour - had wickedly denied him this birthright.
Identifying himself to the subject/victim as a secret
friend who’s identity must never be revealed to
anyone, the hypnotist would suggest that the subject/victim
be reminded of his terrible mistreatment - and exalted
status - whenever he might throw something in the trash
or launch a paper airplane in flight. The hypnotist would
then would ask the subject victim to recall another incident
from his youth in which, for example, he created something
– perhaps a sand castle at the beach – and
then obliterated it, wiping all traces away. By this means
the hypnotist would summon forth the ego defense undoing.
The hypnotist would then gently explain how he was different
from “Frank” – and incidentally, much
superior – and give him a new name, accompanied
by a similar story of exalted birth and stolen birthright.
The hypnotist might then introduce the ego-defense undoing
– now grandly named “Robert”, for example
– to projection - that is, to “Frank ”
- and then tell them a story as to how they are related
and why they should work together in what circumstances.
The process would then be repeated with each ego-defense
in turn, until all had been identified, named, ennobled
by a fantastic story, provided with suitable reinforcers
and, perhaps, given instructions for a subsequent rendezvous
for “refreshment.” By this means a new psychic
structure is constructed – creating, in effect,
highly specialized multiple personalities within a single
psychic system without the subject/victim’s knowledge.
Once this is done, the next challenge is to reshape his
relationship to external reality.
The human mind has four basic orientations: thinking,
feeling, sensing and intuition. In simple terms, this
means that the mind relates to external phenomenon by
way of reasoned thought, emotions, physical sensations
or intuitive knowledge. Thinking and feeling are considered
to be superior functions, as they involve making judgments;
while physical sensations and intuition are regarded as
inferior functions. In any given circumstance, at least
three of the four are engaged by external stimuli; and
in a well-functioning psyche, they tend to be more or
less congruent. In eating a chocolate bar, for example,
a normal and healthy individual might think it good for
satisfying a consciously recognized need for energy, feel
it to be good it for providing a physical lift, and sense
it to be good for the release of endorphins it caused
within the brain. In contrast, a reasonably informed adult
smoking a cigarette would know it to be bad, feel it to
be good for relieving his nicotine cravings, but still
sense it to be bad for wreaking havoc within his body.
Realigning the subject/victim’s
orientation toward the external world is essential to
ARTICHOKE, for success is measured in part by separating
the subject/victim from reality. This is unfortunately
easily done, by attaching a powerful and pleasurable physical
memory to an otherwise unappealing situation. To do so,
the hypnotist might for example ask the subject/victim
to recall his fondest memory of physical pleasure; and
then associate it with words and images to the unappealing
situation referenced above. In this way the subject/victim’s
physical memories of intimacy with his first love might
be associated with a particularly dangerous activity,
thereby creating an artificial attraction to that activity.
A soldier sent into battle, for example, might correctly
think it dangerous but feel it wonderfully euphoric; and
even though he sensed that something was terribly wrong
with this feeling, he would not be able to escape it.
In a very literal sense, he would be drawn towards danger.
The next difficulties for the hypnotist to overcome are
the subject/victim’s inhibitions – which are,
for operational purposes, the subject/victim’s most
basic beliefs. The subject/victim might for example believe
himself incapable of performing certain particularly challenging
physical or mental tasks; but this belief is ultimately
based upon his self image - and this is quite literally
a picture of himself that he has formed within his own
mind. To change that belief, it is necessary only to change
that picture, substituting for example a perhaps realistic
image of himself for an image of a far superior man capable
of overcoming any obstacle. To do this, the hypnotist
need only play to the subject/victim’s vanity, pride
and desire. For in almost all cases, these temptations
are sufficient to persuade him to willfully suspend his
own disbelief.
Some inhibitions are more difficult to overcome than
others, especially those that involve basic moral issues;
and this is particularly true in terms of the prohibition
against the taking of human life. During World War Two
for example, American soldiers rarely displayed overt
acts of cowardice and in fact routinely demonstrated a
high level of courage under fire. Nonetheless, the overwhelming
majority of American soldiers would not shoot to kill.
Studies undertaken after the war demonstrated this fact
conclusively; for it was found that a mere 25 per cent
of the Army’s frontline troops were responsible
for almost 100% of the casualties inflicted upon the enemy.
10
To avoid this difficulty, the hypnotist
uses a variety of techniques upon the subject/victims.
One of these is the alteration of self-image described
above; but a more powerful technique is known as “permissioning.”
To do so, the hypnotist questions the subject/victim intensively
as to why he believes that killing is wrong, and tries
to find exceptions. Extensive research demonstrated that
in most cases the inhibition against killing is traceable
to the influence of the subject/victim’s mother
during his most formative stage; and to overcome this
the hypnotist might present killing in certain circumstances
as exceptions that the subject/victim’s mother would
approve of; or perhaps even impersonate the subject/victim’s
mother, to falsely assure him that the taking of life
under specified circumstances would be permissible after
all. Once this inhibition has been overcome, excepted,
or rationalized through hypnotic deceit, all that remains
to be done is to install additional “reinforcers”
in the subject/victim’s mind, assign to him his
particular task and, if necessary, schedule a follow-up
“appointment.” Thus the subject/victim may
be instructed that each time he saw a telephone pole he
was to reaccept and reaffirm as right, proper and true
all that occurred while in the hypnotic state; and to
re-accept and re-affirm his mission.
IV
As declassified CIA documents make
clear, a principal objective of MKULTRA was to develop
techniques that would allow the Agency to exert control
over an individual to such an extent that he would do
their bidding “against his will and even against
such fundamental laws of nature such as self-preservation.”
Technically, they failed; but only
because a parallel project run by the Department of Defense
achieved success first. The CIA research and development
program was reportedly shut down in 1973, and the ARTICHOKE
techniques perfected by the military were adopted wholesale.
There is no evidence that either the CIA or the US military
operationalized ARTICHOKE, but other intelligence services
were less circumspect. There is clear evidence that the
Soviet and Soviet Bloc intelligence services made ample
use of it. The Soviets were decades ahead of the West
in the race to weaponize the human psyche, and they exploited
their advantage to its maximum potential. Throughout the
1950’s and 1960’s the West received a steady
stream of false defectors, dispatched abroad by the KGB
to disinform the Western intelligence services. To ensure
that they delivered their false messages and no more,
most were subjected to ARTICHOKE. The KGB later shared
its expertise with their North Vietnamese allies; and
by 1966, suicide bombings in Saigon, Da Nang and Hue began
to exact a heavy toll upon American rear-echelon troops.
These bombings did not significantly contribute to the
North Vietnamese victory, but they did exact a measurable
toll upon the morale of US forces.
Exactly when the Soviets shared ARTICHOKE with their
Arab allies is unknown, but they had clearly acquired
the capability by the latter part of the 1970’s.
Their intelligence services are said to have passed it
to various terrorist groups under their control by the
late 1980’s; and this knowledge is now widely believed
to have diffused throughout the terrorist underground.
Although this supposition remains unproven, it meshes
neatly with the historical record. The first suicide bombing
sponsored by an Arab intelligence service occurred in
Beirut in 1983; and the first suicide bombing conducted
by an Arab terrorist organization followed 11 years later.
[...]
VI
As of this writing, there has been no public discussion
of ARTICHOKE-assisted suicide bombings. Indeed, all official
discussions of suicide attacks have carefully omitted
any reference to ARTICHOKE as an element of the suicide
attack strategy. They have instead focused upon the supposed
religious fanaticism of the bombers.
Religious fanaticism is undoubtedly a significant factor
in the recruitment of volunteers for so-called martyrdom
operations, and it is certainly a strong contributing
factor to their success. But in and of itself, religious
fanaticism fails to explain the remarkably low failure
rate of suicide bombings. To date,
not a single recruit is known to have defected to either
Israel or the United States; and only one is known to
have refused to carry out his assigned mission. On the
basis of current public source reports, the failure rate
of suicide bombers appears to be about 1 in 80; and such
an extraordinary figure is only attributable to scientific
technique.
Thus far the only countermeasure known
to have been employed by Israeli and American –
and, presumably - European security services is Remote
Influence Technology, or RIT. An offshoot of MKULTRA distantly
related to ARTICHOKE, RIT employs radio and microwave
frequencies to broadcast subliminal messages to general
or specific targets. Although RIT appeared promising in
field tests and is said to have performed well during
the 1989 invasion of Panama, it appears to have fallen
short in this particular application. Israel is said to
have initiated intensive RIT broadcasts in September of
2000, with no apparent success. Similarly, the National
Security Agency’s much vaunted effort to use RIT
against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan has been judged
an unqualified failure, and apparently abandoned.
On the basis of the available evidence, then, it would
appear that technological solutions to the problem of
ARTICHOKE-assisted suicide bombings are unlikely in the
near or medium range future. The only plausible alternative
is classical counterintelligence - that is, intelligence
operations that are designed to counter, i.e., negate,
the effectiveness of targeted intelligence services by
infiltrating, penetrating and suborning their ranks. Because
counterintelligence has historically focused upon opposing
intelligence services rather than terrorist organizations,
classical CI may be imperfectly suited for this task.
Nonetheless, no other alternative readily suggests itself.
Unfortunately, the United States is singularly ill equipped
to undertake this effort, for the national counterintelligence
capability was systematically destroyed during the anti-intelligence
hysteria of the 1970’s; and the feeble attempt to
re-establish it by the Reagan Administration arguably
died with James Angleton in May of 1987. A scholar of
international renown, Angleton was widely regarded as
the premier theorist of counterintelligence during the
Twentieth Century; and during his long tenure as chief
of CIA counterintelligence, he is credited with creating
Americas first and only national counterintelligence capability.
Unfortunately, Angleton’s refusal to accept Henry
Kissinger’s policy of détente with the Soviet
Union precipitated his dismissal in December of 1973;
and within a matter of years, the CIA’s counterintelligence
staff was disbanded altogether.
Creating a new counterintelligence capability configured
for both classical counterintelligence and counter terrorist
operations is a daunting task; and even if the political
will for this undertaking is suddenly found, it will take
at least a decade to achieve full functionality. Nonetheless,
the need is compelling, and the prospects are bright.
For Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organizations
not only accept Western volunteers; they seem to revel
in the practice. The fact that at least two Americans,
two Britons, and an Australian have been found among captured
Al Qaeda fighters demonstrated the permeability of this
organization, and augers well for success. Even in the
absence of a national counterintelligence capability –
with the training and support functions that this implies
– it should be a comparatively simple task to place
American or Allied agents in the ranks of the Islamic
terrorist organizations; and once emplaced, to begin the
long task of reducing them from within. Given the ghastly
potential of suicide bombers, their first and foremost
objective should be obtaining the names and locations
of the terrorist’s ARTICHOKE operators, and their
subject/victims.
VII
For more than a century and a half, Hasan bin Sabah and
his followers terrorized the Muslim world by systematically
murdering anyone who stood in their way. In this, their
principal weapon was the programmed assassin, psychologically
weaponized with a technique strikingly similar to ARTICHOKE.
In terms of strategy, tactics and technique, the Assassini
were the historical predecessors of today’s suicide
bombers; and for that reason they are instructive.
The Medieval Islamic elite failed to devise an effective
strategy against suicide assassins, and for that they
paid a fearsome price. It was not until the Mongol Conquest
that the Assassini were finally suppressed, and then only
by sheer brutality. Lacking modern sensibilities, the
Mongols laid waste their strongholds and surrounding areas;
and all known, suspected, and potential supporters of
the Assassini were summarily put to the sword. The number
of people killed by the Mongol’s in their campaign
against the Assassini has been lost to history, but it
was surely in the hundreds of thousands and it may have
numbered in the millions.
Contemporary suicide bombers pose an almost identical
challenge to the political structures of the contemporary
world. ARTICHOKE-assisted terrorism is capable of successfully
attacking almost any target at a highly favorable exchange
ratio; and for that reason, it has revolutionized modern
warfare. The political and economic structures of the
Western states are now at grave risk; and the danger grows
daily with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Barring an improbable technological breakthrough, the
only plausible option for the United States is a strategy
of suppression based upon the classical counterintelligence
techniques of infiltration, penetration and subornation.
Although such a strategy would be difficult for the United
States to undertake at the present time, it offers every
promise of long-term success. All that is required is
political will, ingenuity, and patience – and a
commitment to national survival.
___________________________________________
Originally published in INTELLIGENCE BRIEFS: a publication
of the Center for Intelligence Studies, vol. 2, number
4, June/ July, 2002.
Notes
1. See for example Jim Marrs’ Rule
by Secrecy. [New York: Harper Collins, 2000.] pp’s
280-285.
2. Marks, John. The Search for the Manchurian
Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control. [ New York: W.W.
Norton and Company, 1979] See especially Chapter 2.
3.Ibid., p. 134
4. Ranelagh, John. The Agency: The Rise
and Decline of the CIA. [London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
1986.] p. 215. Editor’s Note: The most spectacular
example of this phenomenon may have been British rather
than American. George Blake, a senior MI-6 officer, was
captured by the North Koreans shortly after the Korean
War began on June 25, 1950. In 1961 a Soviet Bloc defector
exposed him, and he was arrested and sentenced to 42 years.
He escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1966 with the
help of former prisoners and made his way to Moscow
5 Ibid., p. 205. Editors Note: U.S. Ambassador
Elbridge Durbrow strongly disagreed with this assessment.
A former Chief of Mission to the Moscow embassy and a
close associate of Kennan, Durbrow was convinced that
he had long since been suborned by the Soviets and that
the Templehof incident was staged to provide a pretext
for Kennan’s departure from the foreign service.
Although Durbrow did not rule out a prior Soviet mind
control operation against Kennan, he was nonetheless convinced
that Kennan was an ideologically motivated recruit to
the Soviet cause. In conversation with the writer at the
office of the Security and Intelligence Fund in Washington,
D.C., Spring of 1985.
6 Editor’s Note: The CIA has thus
far managed to keep these aspects of MK-ULTRA secret.
Amongst the very few CIA documents that have surfaced
to date regarding these efforts is a 1977 academic paper
authored by Dr. Kenneth A. Kress, entitled Parapsychology
in Intelligence. This paper confirms the CIA’s investigation
of the paranormal and reports mixed results. Similar programs
run by the Department of Defense are however reasonably
well documented, and the CIA’s successes may be
inferred from these. The DoD achieved impressive success
in remote viewing – a form of psychic observation
– and in fact formed an operational remote viewing
intelligence unit. Perhaps the best open-source publication
available is Jim Schnabel’s Remote Viewers:
The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies.
[New Your: Dell Publishing, 1997]. See also W. Adam Mandelbaum’s
The Psychic Battlefield: A History of the Military
Occult Complex. [New York: S. Martin’s Press,
2000].
7 Marks, Op. Cit., pp’s. 224-225
8 Editor’s Note: The above referenced
information was provided to the writer by senior U.S.
intelligence officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Because all of the devices referenced above are now commercially
manufactured - including a mechanism that can remotely
sense, isolate, and record “emotion signature clusters,”
making possible a limited form of “mind reading”
- it would seem that the U.S. intelligence community is
more concerned about dates of deployment than the fact
of development.
9 Freud, Anna. The Ego and the Mechanisms
of Defense (Revised Edition) [Madison: International
Universities Press, Inc., 1966.] Chap. 4.
10 As recounted by U.S. Army Gen. S. L.
A. Marshall in his monograph, A Soldier’s Load
and the Mobility of a Nation. Currently published
by the U.S. Marine Corps Association, Quantico, VA.
11Marks, Op. Cit., p. 25. |