Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a CIA mind-control research program that began in the 1950. The—intentionally oblique—CIA cryptonym is made up of the digraph MK, meaning that the project was sponsored by the agency's Technical Services Division, and the arbitrary dictionary word ULTRA. There is much published evidence that the project involved the use of many types of drugs to manipulate peoples' mental state and to alter brain function.
It was first brought to wide public attention by the U.S. Congress (in the form of the Church Committee) and a presidential commission (known as the Rockefeller Commission) (see Revelation below) and also to the U.S. Senate.
The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty 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.' At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers.
14-year CIA veteran Victor Marchetti said in a 1977 interview that the mind control research continued, and that CIA claims to the contrary were a 'cover story' .