H. P. Albarelli Jr - A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIAs Secret Cold War Experiments

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Since we strongly believe that without testing of unwitting persons, the program tends to lose its meaning, I recommend that,

a. We resume the testing program, or b. We withdraw from the field of manipulation of human behavior by covertly administered chemicals. CIA Deputy Director of Plans Richard Helms to CIA Director John McCone, December 1963.***

What is it? she asked him. Whats wrong?

You dont need to know, he said.

What is wrong, Frank? she insisted.

Frank stared down at his hands and then said, Ive made a terrible mistake.

What? she asked.

What could possibly be that terrible? Youre here, youre fine, youre with us, what is it?

But Frank only said again, Ive made a terrible mistake.

Frank Olson to his wife, Alice, after returning from a retreat, where he was secretly dosed with LSD, November 20, 1953***

It was like the guy was diving, his hands out in front of him, but then his body twisted and he was coming down feet first, his arms grabbing at the air above him.

Armond Pastore, Night Manager, Statler Hotel, November 28, 1953, when Frank Olson leapt through a 10th floor window.

This is to advise you that I consider the unwitting application of LSD in an experiment with which you are familiar to be an indication of bad judgement on the part of two members of your staff: James H. Drum and Dr. Sidney Gottleib.

Allen Dulles, CIA Director, February 10, 1954***

There are serious legal questions that will have to be resolved concerning the Governments responsibility, the possibility of additional compensation, ... it might be necessary to disclose highly classified national security information in connection with any court suit, or legislative hearings ... to provide additional compensation to the family.

Therefore, Marsh, Hills and Cheney strongly recommend that the President limit his remarks to an expression of regret over this tragic event and a willingness to meet ... to offer an apology on behalf of the Government.

Dick Cheney, then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff to WH Chief of Staff, Don Rumsfeld, July 10, 1975

Table of Contents

PUBLISHERS FOREWORD

Because something is happening here
But you dont know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Bob Dylan

The week after high school graduation, I ran-away from home. It was 1967, and I was 17 and had barely made the pomp walk, not because of grades, but hair. Late in my senior year my Modern Problems teacher kicked me out of his class. I thought, Great ... dont have to come to school till third period. Soon I was in the principals office watching my mother cry. I wasnt going to be allowed to graduate because my hair was over my ears. I cut my hair.

A few days after tossing the tassel, I wrote a note to the folks, said I was taking off for some time on my own, and hitchhiked down to Southern California to see an old grade school buddy.

Whoa, what a culture shock, small-town Oregon versus Los Angeles. Now, I had been in the big city before as a visitor, but never to run with the locals. My friends school was still in session, so I went along with him for several days, celebrated his graduation, and went out on the town. California kids were wild, betting hundreds of dollars on street races in their cars, sneaking into strip clubs and on to private beaches, drinking and carousing, heck they even had their own drunk tank at their high schools graduation dance.

My folks had contacted my friends parents before I even got thereit was decided I was simply taking a vacation. After a week or so, it was time to start heading home. Light My Fire by the Doors was all over the radio, and the DJs were talking about an event, with a bunch of bands, up the road. I said goodbye to my friend and stuck out my thumb.

Theres something happening here
What it is aint exactly clear
Buffalo Springfield

I had stumbled upon the Monterey International Pop Music Festival. My friend had jokingly told me about some of his old drinking buddies who wore nothing but white sheets and hung out at an esoteric bookstore. I didnt visit, but Monterey more than introduced me to a new phenomenon then booming through my generation.

By the time I got to the Monterey County Fairgrounds, I was broke and hungry, and began searching the ground for a dime to buy an orange or an apple (the cheapest food I could see for sale). My eyes spied a white envelope, I picked it up, written on the envelope was Jones, inside was a ticket to get into the arena, and in I went. Blues Project started the show, Mammas & Papas closed the night, with Hendrix, Joplin, the Who, the Grateful Dead, and others sprinkled in between.

It may have been the music, or maybe the fact that I never found that dime, no matter, I got a contact high. Something was definitely happening here ... LSD. Published reports have Augustus Owsley Stanley III giving out 14,000 tabs, free.

And they thought it couldnt happen here
They knew it couldnt happen here
They were so sure it couldnt happen here
But...
Mothers of Invention

A Terrible Mistake, presents the hidden history of government activity with LSD, and of other covert initiatives that were coordinated by a small secretive cadre. Their actions have affected many, many people ... dramatically. They even lost livessome cry murder!and covered up the deeds. Bureaucracies are like that.

In the Machiavellian hubris of our day, power is dealt from the shadows, laying waste to our Constitution, while tricks and games enthrall an increasingly scratching populace. People are forced to the ground, allowed only to raise their heads to squabble on cue. Ours is a debased dysfunctional Republic, where our people are obese, our prisons are full, our schoolchildren do with less (some even homeless), our coins have slugs in them, our wars fought more and more by mercenaries, and our free press isntall while asking our children and those yet to be born ... to foot the bill.

Is this just the way of the world? Or are we seeing consequences from dark actions taken by a fewin secret, beyond supervision and reproach?

My father, a repentent spook, in a 1979 interview, said: Its a far more constructive experience to work for the church than to work for the Central Intelligence Agency. When you work for the CIA, the end justifies the means.

LSD was seen as a means to an end. Operations Bluebird, MKULTRA and all the other secret projects were seen as means to an end. The shattered and dead people were means to an end. The lies, secrecy and cover-ups were means to an end. Have we arrived at the ends desired?

TrineDay is amazed and pleased to be publishing A Terrible Mistake, a work while examining the veiled forecasted ends, exposes many of the wayward shoddy means, and at last through the authors perseverance plus a little kismetputs to rest an old official lie with the simple, mundane ... truth.

Oh, whats going on
Whats going on
Ya, whats going on
Ah, whats going on
Marvin Gaye

Onwards to the utmost of futures,

Peace,

Kris Millegan

Publisher

TrineDay

September 22, 2009

Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape, and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All-Highest?
George Hunter White This book is for my children, Damien, Nicole, and David, and for Samantha, and for their children, who have yet to come into this sad and glorious world.

Im interested in what happens in history, what history hides, what gets left out, and what is forgotten.

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