• INFO ON MIND CONTROL FILE: UFO1865

    From Ricky Sutphin@RICKSBBS/TIME to All on Sat Mar 7 04:32:48 2026
    PART 4



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    Brainwashing and the CIA
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    SEE NOTES AT END FOR INFO ON SOURCES OF THESE DOCUMENTS

    CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
    WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

    OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 25 APR 1956

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    MEMORANDUM FOR: The Honorable J. Edgar Hoover
    Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

    SUBJECT : Brainwashing

    The attached study on brainwashing was prepared by my
    staff in response to the increasing acute interest in the
    subject throughout the intelligence and security components
    of the Government. I feel you will find it well worth your
    personal attention.

    It represents the thinking of leading psy-chologists,
    psychiatrists and intelligence specialists, based in turn on
    interviews with many individuals who have had personal
    experience with Communist brainwashing, and on extensive
    research and testing.

    While individuals specialists hold divergent views on
    various aspects of this most complex subject, I believe the
    study reflects a synthesis of majority expert opinion. I
    will, of course, appreciate any comments on it that you or
    your staff may have.


    (signed)
    Allen W. Dulles
    Director



    Page 1




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    A REPORT ON COMMUNIST BRAINWASHING


    The report that follows is a condensation of a study by training
    experts of the important classified and unclassified information
    available on this subject.

    BACKGROUND

    Brainwashing, as a technique, has been used for centuries and
    is no mystery to psychologists. In this sense, brainwashing means
    involuntary re-education of basic beliefs and values.

    All people are being re-educated continually. New information
    changes one's beliefs. Everyone has experienced to some degree the
    conflict that ensues when new information is not consistent with
    prior belief.

    The experience of the brainwashed individual differs in that the
    in-consistent information is forced upon the individual under
    controlled conditions after the possibility of critical judgment has
    been removed by a variety of methods.

    There is no question that an individual can be broken psycholog-
    ically by captors with knowledge and willingness to persist in tech-
    niques aimed at deliberately destroying the integration of a
    personality.

    Although it is probable that everyone reduced to such a confused,
    disoriented state will respond to the introduction of new beliefs,
    this cannot be stated dogmatically.

    PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN CONTROL AND REACTION TO CONTROL

    There are progressive steps in exercising control over an
    individual and changing his behaviour and personality integration.

    The following five steps are typical of behaviour changes in any
    controlled individual:

    1. Making the individual aware of control is the first stage
    in changing his behaviour. A small child is made aware of
    the physical and psychological control of his parents and
    quickly recognizes that an overwhelming force must be
    reckoned with.
    So, a controlled adult comes to recognize the overwhelming
    powers of the state and the impersonal, "incarcerative"
    machinery in which he is enmeshed. The individual
    recognizes that definite limits have been put upon the ways
    he can respond.

    (Approved for Release) (62-80750-2712X)
    (Date: 8 FEB 1984)

    OA 53-37

    2. Realization of his complete dependence upon the controlling
    system is a major factor in the controlling of his behavior.

    Page 2





    The controlled adult is forced to accept the fact that food,
    tobacco,praise, and the only social contact that he will get
    come from the very interrogator who exercises control over
    him.

    3. The awareness of control and recognition of dependence re
    sult in causing internal conflict and breakdown of previous
    patterns of behaviour.
    Although this transition can be relatively mild in the case
    of a child, it is almost invariably severe for the adult
    undergoing brainwashing. Only an individual who holds his
    values lightly can change them easily.
    Since the brainwasher-interrogators aim to have the
    individuals undergo profound emotional change, they force
    their victims to seek out painfully what is desired by the
    controlling individual.
    During this period the victim is likely to have a mental
    breakdown characterized by delusions and hallucinations.

    4. Discovery that there is an acceptable solution to his
    problem is the first stage of reducing the individual's
    conflict.
    It is characteristically reported by victims of brainwashing
    that this discovery led to an overwhelming feeling of relief
    that the horror of internal conflict would cease and that
    perhaps they would not, after all, be driven insane.
    It is at this point that they are prepared to make major
    changes in their value-system. This is an automatic rather
    than voluntary choice. They have lost their ability to be
    critical.

    5. Reintergration of values and identification with the cont-
    rolling system is the final stage in changing the behaviour
    of the controlled individual.
    A child who has learned a new, socially desirable behaviour
    demonstrates its importance by attempting to as apt the new
    behaviour to a variety of other situations. Similar states
    in the brainwashed adult are (SECTION DELETED BY CIA)
    pitiful.
    His new value-system, his manner of perceiving, organizing,
    and giving meaning to events, is virtually independent of
    his former value system. He is no longer capable of
    thinking or speaking in concepts other than those he has
    adopted.
    He tends to identify by expressing thanks to
    his captors for helping him see the light.
    Brainwashing can be achieved without using illegal
    means.
    Anyone willing to use known principles of control and
    reactions to control and capable of demonstrating the
    patience needed in raising a child can probably achieve
    successful brainwashing.








    Page 3





    COMMUNIST CONTROL TECHNIQUES AND THEIR EFFECTS

    A description of usual communist control techniques follows.

    1. Interrogation. There are at least two ways in which "interro-
    gation" is used:

    a. Elicitation, which is designed to get the individual to
    surrender protected information, is a form of
    interrogation. One major difference between elicitation
    and interrogation used to achieve brainwashing is that
    the mind of the individual must be kept clear to permit
    coherent, undistorted disclosure of protected
    information.

    b. Elicitation for the purpose of brainwashing consists of
    questioning, argument, indoctrination, threats,
    cajolery, praise, hostility, and a variety of other
    pressures. The aim of this interrogation is to hasten
    the breakdown of the individual's value system and to
    encourage the substitution of a different value-system.
    The procurement of protected information is secondary
    and is used as a device to increase pressure upon the
    individual. The term "interrogation" in this paper will
    refer, in general, to this type. The "interrogator" is
    the individual who conducts this type of interrogation
    and who controls the administration of the other
    pressures. He is the protagonist against whom the victim
    develops his conflict, and upon whom the victim develops
    a state of dependency as he seeks some solution to his
    conflict.

    2. Physical Torture and Threats of Torture. Two types of physical
    torture are distinguishable more by their psychological effect
    in inducing conflict than by the degree of painfulness:

    a. The first type is one in which the victim has a passive
    role in the pain inflicted on him (e.g.,beatings). His
    conflict involves the decision of whether or not to give
    in to demands in order to avoid further pain. Generally,
    brutality of this type was not found to achieve the
    desired results. Threats of torture were found more
    effective, as fear of pain causes greater conflict
    within the individual than does pain itself.

    b. The second type of torture is represented by requiring
    the individual to stand in one spot for several hours or
    assume some other pain-inducing position. Such a
    requirement often engenders in the individual a
    determination to "stick it out." This internal act of
    resistance provide a feeling of moral superiority at
    first.
    As time passes and his pain mounts, however, the
    individual becomes aware that it is his own original
    determination to resist that is causing the continuance
    of pain.
    A conflict develops within the individual between his
    moral determination and his desire to collapse and
    discontinue the pain. It is this extra internal

    Page 4





    conflict, in addition to the conflict over whether or
    not to give in to the demands made of him, that tends to
    make this method of torture more effective in the
    breakdown of the individual personality.

    3. Isolation. Individual differences in reaction to isolation are
    probably greater than to any other method.
    Some individuals appear to be able to withstand prolonged
    periods of isolation without deleterious effects, while a
    relatively short period of isolation reduces others to the
    verge of psychosis. Reaction varies with the conditions of
    the isolation cell.
    Some sources have indicated a strong reaction to filth and
    vermin, although they had negligible reactions to the
    isolation.
    Others reacted violently to isolation in relatively clean
    cells. The predominant cause of breakdown in such situations
    is a lack of sensory stimulation (i.e., grayness of walls,
    lack of sound, absence of social contact, etc.).
    Experimental subjects exposed to this condition have reported
    vivid hallicinations and overwhelming fears of losing their
    sanity.

    4. Control of Communication. This is one of the most effective
    methods for creating a sense of helplessness and despair. This
    measure might well be considered the cornerstone of the
    communist system of control.
    It consists of strict regulation of the mail,reading
    materials, broadcast materials, and social contact available
    to the individual. The need to communicate is so great that
    when the usual channels are blocked, the individual will
    resort to any open channel, almost regardless of the
    implications of using that particular channel.
    Many POWs in Korea, whose only act of "collaboration" was to
    sign petitions and "peace appeals," defended their actions on
    the ground that this was the only method of letting the
    outside world know they were still alive.
    Many stated that their morale and fortitude would have been
    increased immeasurably had leaflets of encouragement been
    dropped to them.
    When the only contact with the outside world is via the
    interrogator, the prisoner comes to develop extreme dependency
    on his interrogator and hence loses another prop to his
    morale.

    Another wrinkle in communication control is the informer
    system. The recruitment of informers in POW camps discouraged
    communication between inmates. POWs who feared that every act
    or thought of resistance would be communicated to the camp
    administrators, lost faith in their fellow man and were forced
    to "untrusting individualism." Informers are also under
    several stages of brainwashing and elicitation to develop and
    maintain control over the victims.

    5. Induction of Fatigue. This is a well-known device for breaking
    will power and critical powers of judgment. Deprivation of
    sleep results in more intense psychological debilitation than
    does any other method of engendering fatigue. The communists
    vary their methods.

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    "Conveyor belt" interrogation that last 50-60 hours will make
    almost any individual compromise, but there is danger that
    this will kill the victim.
    It is safer to conduct interrogations of 8-10 hours at night
    while forcing the prisoner to remain awake during the day.
    Additional interruptions in the remaining 2-3 hours of
    allotted sleep quickly reduce the most resilient individual .
    Alternate administration of drug stimulants and depressants
    hastens the process of fatigue and sharpens the psychological
    reactions of excitement and depression.

    Fatigue, in addition to reducing the will to resist, also
    produces irritation and fear that arise from increased "slips
    of the tongue." forgetfulness, and decreased ability to
    maintain orderly thought processes.

    6. Control of Food, Water and Tobacco. The controlled individual
    is made intensely aware of his dependence upon his
    interrogator for the quality and quantity of his food and
    tobacco. The exercise of this control usually follows a
    pattern.
    No food and little or no water is permitted the individual for
    several days prior to interrogation. When the prisoner first
    complains of this to the interrogator, the latter expresses
    surprise at such inhumane treatment. He makes a demand of the
    prisoner. If the latter complies,he receives a good meal. If
    he does not, he gets a diet of unappetizing food containing
    limited vitamins,minerals, and calories.
    This diet is supplemented occasionally by the interrogator if
    the prisoner "cooperates." Studies of controlled starvation
    indicate that the whole value-system of the subjects underwent
    a change. Their irritation increased as their ability to
    think clearly decreased. The control of tobacco presented an
    even greater source of conflict for heavy smokers. Because
    tobacco is not necessary to life, being manipulated by his
    craving for it can in the individual a strong sense of guilt.

    7. Criticism and Self-Criticism. There are mechanisms of
    communist thought control. Self-criticism gains its
    effectiveness from the fact that although it is not a crime
    for a man to be wrong, it is a major crime to be stubborn and
    to refuse to learn. Many individuals feel intensely relieved
    in being able to share their sense of guilt.
    Those individuals however, who have adjusted to handling their
    guilt internally have difficulty adapting to criticism and
    self-criticism. In brainwashing, after a sufficient sense of
    guilt has been created in the individual, sharing and self-
    criticism permit relief. The price paid for this relief,
    however, is loss of individuality and increased dependency.

    8. Hypnosis and Drugs as Controls. There is no reliable evidence
    that the communists are making widespread use of drugs or
    hypnosis in brainwashing or elicitation. The exception to this
    is the use of common stimulants or depressants in inducing
    fatigue and "mood swings."

    9. Other methods of control, which when used in conjunction with
    the basic processes, hasten the deterioration of prisoners'
    sense of values and resistance are:

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    a. Requiring a case history or autobiography of the
    prisoner provides a mine of information for the
    interrogator in establishing and "documenting"
    accusations.

    b. Friendliness of the interrogator, when least expected,
    upsets the prisoner's ability to maintain a critical
    attitude.

    c. Petty demands, such as severely limiting the allotted
    time for use of toilet facilities or requiring the POW
    to kill hundreds of flies, are harassment methods.

    d. Prisoners are often humiliated by refusing them the use
    of toilet facilities during interrogator until they soil
    themselves. Often prisoners were not permitted to bathe
    for weeks until they felt contemptible.

    e. Conviction as a war criminal appears to be a potent
    factor in creating despair in the individual. One
    official analysis of the pressures exerted by the
    ChiComs on "confessors" and "non-confessors" to
    participation in bacteriological warfare in Korea showed
    that actual trial and conviction of "war crimes" was
    overwhelmingly associated with breakdown and confession.

    f. Attempted elicitation of protected information at
    various times during the brainwashing process diverted
    the individual from awareness of the deterioration of
    his value-system.
    The fact that, in most cases, the ChiComs did not want
    or need such intelligence was not known to the prisoner.
    His attempts to protect such information was made at the
    expense of hastening his own breakdown.

    THE EXERCISE OF CONTROL: A "SCHEDULE" FOR BRAINWASHING
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    From the many fragmentary accounts reviewed, the following
    appears to be the most likely description of what occurs during
    brainwashing.

    In the period immediately following capture, the captors are
    faced with the problem of deciding on best ways of exploitation of
    the prisoners. Therefore, early treatment is similar both for those
    who are to be exploited through elicitation and those who are to
    undergo brainwashing. Concurrently with being interrogated and
    required to write a detailed personal history, the prisoner
    undergoes a physical and psychological "softening-up" which
    includes: limited unpalatable food rations,withholding of
    tobacco,possible work details, severely inadequate use of toilet
    facilities, no use of facilities for personal cleanliness,
    limitation of sleep such as requiring a subject to sleep with a
    bright light in his eyes.

    Apparently the interrogation and autobiographical ,material,
    the reports of the prisoner's behaviour in confinement, and
    tentative "personality typing" by the interrogators, provide the
    basis upon which exploitation plans are made.


    Page 7





    There is a major difference between preparation for elicitation
    and for brainwashing .Prisoners exploited through elicitation must
    retain sufficient clarity of thought to be able to give
    coherent,factual accounts.

    In brainwashing , on the other hand, the first thing attacked
    is clarity of thought. To develop a strategy of defense, the
    controlled individual must determine what plans have been made for
    his exploitation. Perhaps the best cues he can get are internal
    reactions to the pressures he undergoes.

    The most important aspect of the brainwashing process is the
    interrogation. The other pressures are designed primarily to help
    the interrogator achieve his goals. The following states are created
    systematically within the individual . These may vary in order, but
    all are necessary to the brainwashing process:

    1. A feeling of helplessness in attempting to deal with the
    impersonal machinery of control.

    2. An initial reaction of "surprise."

    3. A feeling of uncertainty about what is required of him.

    4. A developing feeling of dependence upon the interrogator .

    5. A sense of doubt and loss of objectivity.

    6. Feelings of guilt.

    7. A questioning attitude toward his own value-system.

    8. A feeling of potential "breakdown," i.e.,that he might go
    crazy.

    9. A need to defend his acquired principles.

    10. A final sense of "belonging" (identification).

    A feeling of helplessness in the face of the impersonal
    machinery of control is carefully engendered within the
    prisoner. The individual who receives the preliminary treatment
    described above not only begins to feel like an "animal" but
    also feels that nothing can be done about it. No one pays any
    personal attention to him. His complaints fall on deaf ears.
    His loss of communication, if he has been isolated, creates a
    feeling that he has been "forgotten."

    Everything that happens to him occurs according to an
    impersonal time schedule that has nothing to do with his needs.
    The voices and footsteps of the guards are muted. He notes many
    contrasts,e.g.,his greasy,unpalatable food may be served on
    battered tin dishes by guards immaculately dressed in white.

    The first steps in "depersonalization" of the prisoner have
    begun. He has no idea what to expect. Ample opportunity is
    allotted for him to ruminate upon all the unpleasant or painful
    things that could happen to him. He approaches the main
    interrogator with mixed feelings of relief and fright.

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    Surprise is commonly used in the brainwashing process. The
    prisoner is rarely prepared for the fact that the interrogators
    are usually friendly and considerate at first. They make every
    effort to demonstrate that they are reasonable human beings.

    Often they apologize for bad treatment received by the prisoner
    and promise to improve his lot if he, too, is reasonable. This
    behaviour is not what he has steeled himself for. He lets down
    some of his defenses and tries to take a reasonable attitude.

    The first occasion he balks at satisfying a request of the
    interrogator, however, he is in for another surprise. The
    formerly reasonable interrogator unexpectedly turns into a
    furious maniac.

    The interrogator is likely to slap the prisoner or draw his
    pistol and threaten to shoot him. Usually this storm of
    emotion ceases as suddenly as it began and the interrogator
    stalks from the room. These surprising changes create doubt in
    the prisoner as to his very ability to perceive another
    person's motivations correctly. His next interrogation probably
    will be marked by impassivity in the interrogator 's mien.

    A feeling of uncertainty about what is required of him is
    likewise carefully engendered within the individual . Pleas of
    the prisoner to learn specifically of what he is accused and by
    whom are side-stepped by the interrogator.

    Instead, the prisoner is asked to tell why he thinks he is held
    and what he feels he is guilty of. If the prisoner fails to
    come up with anything, he is accused in terms of broad
    generalities (e.g., espionage, sabotage,acts of treason against
    the "people").

    This usually provokes the prisoner to make some statement about
    his activities. If this take the form of a denial, he is
    usually sent to isolation on further decreased food rations to
    "think over" his crimes. This process can be repeated again and
    again.

    As soon as the prisoner can think of something that might be
    considered self-incriminating, the interrogator appears
    momentarily satisfied. The prisoner is asked to write down his
    statement in his own words and sign it.

    Meanwhile a strong sense of dependence upon the interrogator is
    developed. It does not take long for the prisoner to realize
    that the interrogator is the source of all punishment , all
    gratification, and all communication. The interrogator,
    meanwhile, demonstrates his unpredictbility. He is perceived by
    the prisoner as a creature of whim.

    At times, the interrogator can be pleased very easily and at
    other times no effort on the part of the prisoner will placate
    him. The prisoner may begin to channel so much energy into
    trying to predict the behaviour of the unpredictable
    interrogator that he loses track of what is happening inside
    himself.


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    After the prisoner has developed the above psychological and
    emotional reactions to a sufficient degree, the brainwashing
    begins in earnest.

    First, the prisoner's remaining critical faculties must be
    destroyed. He undergoes long, fatiguing interrogations while
    looking at a bright light. He is called back again and again
    for interrogations after minimal sleep.

    He may undergo torture that tends to create internal conflict.
    Drugs may be used to accentuate his "mood swings." He develops
    depression when the interrogator is being kind and becomes
    euphoric when the interrogator is threatening the direst
    penalties.

    Then the cycle is reversed. The prisoner finds himself in a
    constant state of anxiety which prevents him from relaxing even
    when he is permitted to sleep. Short periods of isolation now
    bring on visual and auditory hallucinations.

    The prisoner feels himself losing his objectivity. It is in
    this state that the prisoner must keep up an endless argument
    with the interrogator. He may be faced with the confessions of
    other individuals who "collaborated" with him in his crimes.

    The prisoner seriously begins to doubts his own memory. This
    feeling is heightened by his inability to recall little things
    like the names of the people he knows very well or the date of
    his birth. The interrogator patiently sharpens this feeling of
    doubt by more questioning. This tends to create a serious state
    of uncertainty when the individual has lost most of his
    critical faculties.

    The prisoner must undergo additional internal conflict when
    strong feelings of guilt are aroused within him. As any
    clinical psychologist is aware, it is not at all difficult to
    create such feelings. Military servicemen are particularly
    vulnerable.

    No one can morally justify killing even in wartime. The usual
    justification is on the grounds of necessity or self-defense.

    The interrogator is careful to circumvent such justification.
    He keeps the interrogation directed toward the prisoner's moral
    code.

    Every moral vulnerability is exploited by incessant questioning
    along this line until the prisoner begins to question the very
    fundamentals of his own value-system.

    The prisoner must constantly fight a potential breakdown. He
    finds that his mind is "going blank" for longer and longer
    periods of time. He can not think constructively. If he is to
    maintain any semblance of psychological integrity, he must
    bring to an end this state of interminable internal conflict.
    He signifies a willingness to write a confession.

    If this were truly the end, no brainwashing would have
    occurred. The individual would simply have given in to

    Page 10





    intolerable pressure. Actually, the final stage of the
    brainwashing process has just begun. No matter what the
    prisoner writes in his confession the interrogator is not
    satisfied.

    The interrogator questions every sentence of the confession. He
    begins to edit it with the prisoner. The prisoner is forced to
    argue against every change. This is the essence of
    brainwashing.

    Every time that he gives in on a point to the interrogator, he
    must rewrite his whole confession. Still the interrogator is
    not satisfied. In a desperate attempt to maintain some
    semblance of integrity and to avoid further brainwashing, the
    prisoner must begin to argue that what he has already confessed
    to is true.

    He begins to accept as his own the statements he has written.
    He uses many of the interrogator's earlier arguments to
    buttress his position. By this process,identification with the
    interrogator's value-system becomes complete.

    It is extremely important to recognize that a qualitative
    change has taken place within the prisoner. The brainwashed
    victim does not consciously change his value-system; rather the
    change occurs despite his efforts. He is no more responsible
    for this change than is an individual who "snaps" and becomes
    psychotic. And like the psychotic, the prisoner is not even
    aware of the transition.

    DEFENSIVE MEASURES OTHER THAN ON THE POLICY AND PLANNING LEVEL

    1. Training of Individuals potentially subject to communist
    control.

    Training should provide for the trainee a realistic appraisal
    of what control pressures the communists are likely to exert
    and what the usual human reactions are to such pressures. The
    trainee must learn the most effective ways of combatting his
    own reactions to such pressures and he must learn reasonable
    expectations as to what his behaviour should be.

    Training has two decidedly positive effects; first, it
    provides the trainee with ways of combatting control; second,
    it provides the basis for developing an immeasurable boost in
    morale.

    Any positive action that the individual can take, even if it
    is only slightly effective, gives him a sense of control over
    a situation that is otherwise controlling him.

    2. Training must provide the individual with the means of
    recognizing realistic goals for himself.

    a. Delay in yielding may be the only achievement that can
    be hoped for. In any particular operation, the agent
    needs the support of knowing specifically how long he
    must hold out to save an operation, protect his
    cohorts, or gain some other goal.

    Page 11





    b. The individual should be taught how to achieve the
    most favorable treatment and how to behave and make
    necessary concessions to obtain minimum penalties.

    c. Individual behavioural responses to the various
    communist control pressures differ markedly.

    Therefore, each trainee should know his own particular
    assets and limitations in resisting specific
    pressures. He can learn these only under laboratory
    conditions simulating the actual pressures he may have
    to face.

    d. Training must provide knowledge of the goals and the
    restrictions placed upon his communist interrogator.

    The trainee should know what controls are on his
    interrogator and to what extent he can manipulate
    the interrogator. For example, the interrogator is not
    permitted to fail to gain "something" from the
    controlled individual. The knowledge that, after the
    victim has proved that he is a "tough nut to crack" he
    can sometimes indicate that he might compromise on
    some little point to help the interrogator in return
    for more favorable treatment, may be useful indeed.

    Above all, the potential victim of communist control
    can gain a great deal of psychological support from
    the knowledge that the communist interrogator is not a
    completely free agent who can do whatever he wills
    with his victim.

    e. The trainee must learn what practical cues might aid
    him in recognizing the specific goals of his
    interrogator. The strategy of defense against
    elicitation may differ markedly from the strategy to
    prevent brainwashing. To prevent elicitation, the
    individual may hasten his own state of mental
    confusion; whereas, to prevent brainwashing,
    maintaining clarity of thought processes is
    imperative.

    f. The trainee should obtain knowledge about communist
    "carrots" as well as "sticks." The communists keep
    certain of their promises and always renege on others.

    For example, the demonstrable fact that "informers"
    receive no better treatment than other prisoners
    should do much to prevent this particular evil. On the
    other hand, certain meaningless concessions
    will often get a prisoner a good meal.

    g. In particular, it should be emphasized to the trainee
    that, although little can be done to control the
    pressures exerted upon him, he can learn something
    about controlling his personal reactions to specific
    pressures.



    Page 12





    The trainee can gain much from learning something
    about internal conflict and conflict-producing
    mechanisms. He should learn to recognize when someone
    is trying to arouse guilt feelings and what
    behavioural reactions can occur as a response to
    guilt.

    h. Finally, the training must teach some methods that can
    be utilized in thwarting particular communist control
    techniques:

    Elicitation. In general, individuals who are the hardest to
    interrogate for information are those who have
    experienced previous interrogations. Practice in
    being the victim of interrogation is a sound
    training device.

    Torture. The trainee should learn something about the
    principles of pain and shock. There is a maximum
    to the amount of pain that can actually be felt.

    Any amount of pain can be tolerated for a limited
    period of time. In addition, the trainee can be
    fortified by the knowledge that there are legal
    limitations upon the amount of torture that can be
    inflicted by communist jailors.

    Isolation. The psychological effects of isolation can
    probably be thwarted best by mental gymnastics and
    systematic efforts on the part of the isolate to
    obtain stimulation for his neural end organs.

    Controls on Food and Tobacco. Foods given by the communists
    will always be enough to maintain survival.
    Sometimes the victim gets unexpected opportunities
    to supplement his diet with special minerals,
    vitamins and other nutrients (e.g.,"iron" from the
    rust of prison bars).

    In some instances, experience has shown that
    individuals could exploit refusal to eat. Such
    refusal usually resulted in the transfer of the
    individual to a hospital where he received vitamin
    injections and nutritious food.

    Evidently attempts of this kind to commit suicide
    arouse the greatest concern in communist
    officials. If deprivation of tobacco is the
    control being exerted. the victim can gain moral
    satisfaction from "giving up" tobacco. He can't
    lose since he is not likely to get any anyway.

    Fatigue. The trainee should learn reactions to fatigue and
    how to overcome them insofar as possible. For
    example, mild physical exercise "clears the head"
    in a fatigue state.

    Writing Personal Accounts and Self-Criticism. Experience has
    indicated that one of the most effective ways of

    Page 13





    combatting these pressures is to enter into the
    spirit with an overabundance of enthusiasm.
    Endless written accounts of inconsequential
    material have virtually "smothered" some eager
    interrogators.In the same spirit, sober, detailed
    self-criticisms of the most minute "sins" has
    sometimes brought good results.

    Guidance as to the priority of positions he should defend.
    Perfectly compatible responsibilities in the normal execution of an
    individual's duties may become mutually incompatible in this
    situation.

    Take the example of a senior grade military officer. He has the
    knowledge of sensitive strategic intelligence which it is his duty
    to protect. He has the responsibility of maintaining the physical
    fitness of his men and serving as a model example for their
    behaviour. The officer may go to the camp commandant to protest the
    treatment of the POWs and the commandant assures him that treatment
    could be improved if he will swap something for it. Thus to satisfy
    one responsibility he must compromise another.

    The officer, in short, is in a constant state of internal
    conflict. But if the officer is given the relative priority of his
    different responsibilities, he is supported by the knowledge that he
    won't be held accountable for any other behaviour if he does his
    utmost to carry out his highest priority responsibility. There is
    considerable evidence that many individuals tried to evaluate the
    priority of their responsibilities on their own, but were in
    conflict over whether others would subsequently accept their
    evaluations. More than one individual was probably brainwashed while
    he was trying to protect himself against elicitation.

    CONCLUSIONS

    The application of known psychological principles can lead to
    an understanding of brainwashing.

    1. There is nothing mysterious about personality changes
    resulting from the brainwashing process.

    2. Brainwashing is a complex process. Principles of
    motivation, perception, learning, and physiological
    deprivation are needed to account for the results achieved
    in brainwashing.

    3. Brainwashing is an involuntary re-education of the
    fundamental beliefs of the individual. To attack the
    problem successfully, the brainwashing process must be
    differentiated clearly from general education methods for
    thought-control or mass indoctrination, and elicitation.

    4. It appears possible for the individual,through training,to
    develop limited defensive techniques against brainwashing.
    Such defensive measures are likely to be most effective if
    directed toward thwarting individual emotional reactions to
    brainwashing techniques rather than to ward thwarting the
    techniques themselves. 15 August 1955


    Page 14




    ====================================================================

    (note Declassified)

    SECRET

    CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
    WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

    19 JUN 1964

    (Commission No. 1131)


    MEMORANDUM FOR: Mr. J. Lee Rankin
    General Counsel
    President's Commission on the
    Assassination of President Kennedy


    SUBJECT : Soviet Brainwashing Techniques


    1. Reference is made to your memorandum of 19 May 1964,
    requesting that materials relative to Soviet techniques
    in mind conditioning and brainwashing be made available
    to the Commission.

    2. At my request, experts on these subjects within the CIA
    have prepared a brief survey of Soviet research in the
    direction and control of human behavior, a copy of which
    is attached. The Commission may retain this document.
    Please note that the use of certain sensitive materials
    requires that a sensitivity indicator be affixed.

    3. In the immediate future, this Agency will make available
    to you a collection of overt and classified materials on
    these subjects, which the Commission may retain.

    4. I hope that these documents will be responsive to the
    Commission's needs.

    (SIGNED)

    (DECLASSIFIED) Richard Helms
    (By C.I.A.) Deputy Director for
    Plans
    (letter of ___________)
    (---------------------)


    Attachment


    CD 1131 SECRET






    Page 15





    MEMORANDUM

    SUBJECT: Soviet Research and Development in the Field of
    Direction and Control of Human Behavior.

    1. There are two major methods of altering or
    controlling human behavior, and the Soviets are
    interested in both.

    The first is psychological; the second,
    pharmacological. The two may be used as individual
    methods or for mutual reinforcement.

    For long-term control of large numbers of people,
    the former method is more promising than the latter.

    In dealing with individuals, the U.S. experience
    suggests the pharmacological approach (assisted
    by psychological techniques) would be the only
    effective method.

    Neither method would be very effective for single
    individuals on a long term basis.

    2. Soviet research on the pharmacological agents
    producing behavioral effects has consistently lagged
    about five years behind Western research.

    They have been interested in such research, however,
    and are now pursuing research on such chemicals as
    LSD-25, amphetamines, tranquillizers, hypnotics, and
    similar materials.

    There is no present evidence that the Soviets have
    any singular, new, potent drugs to force a course of
    action on an individual.

    They are aware, however, of the tremendous drive
    produced by drug addiction, and PERHAPS could couple
    this with psychological direction to achieve control
    of an individual.

    3. The psychological aspects of behavior control would
    include not only conditioning by repetition and
    training, but such things as hypnosis, deprivation,
    isolation, manipulation of guilt feelings, subtle or
    overt threats, social pressure, and so on.













    Page 16





    Some of the newer trends in the USSR are as follows:

    a. The adoption of a multidisciplinary approach
    integrating biological,social and physical-
    mathematical research in attempts better to
    understand, and eventually, to control human
    behavior in a manner consonant with national
    plans.

    b. The outstanding feature, in addition to the
    inter-disciplinary approach, is a new concern for
    mathematical approaches to an understanding of
    behavior.

    Particularly notable are attempts to use modern
    information theory, automata theory, and feedback
    concepts in interpreting the mechanisms by which
    the "second signal system," i.e., speech and
    associated phenomena, affect human behavior.

    Implied by this "second signal system," using
    INFORMATION inputs as causative agents rather
    than chemical agents, electrodes or other more
    exotic techniques applicable, perhaps, to
    individuals rather than groups.

    c. This new trend, observed in the early Post-Stalin
    Period, continues. By 1960 the word "cybernetics"
    was used by the Soviets to designate this new
    trend.

    This new science is considered by some as the key
    to understanding the human brain and the product
    of its functioning--psychic activity and
    personality--to the development of means for
    controlling it and to ways for molding the
    character of the "New Communist Man".

    As one Soviet author puts it: Cybernetics can be
    used in "molding of a child's character, the
    inculcation of knowledge and techniques, the
    amassing of experience, the establishment of
    social behavior patterns...all functions which
    can be summarized as 'control' of the growth
    process of the individual." 1/Students of
    particular disciplines in the USSR, such as
    psychologist and social scientists, also support
    the general cybernetic trend. 2/ (Blanked by CIA)

    4. In summary, therefore, there is no evidence that the
    Soviets have any techniques or agents capable of
    producing particular behavioral patterns which are
    not available in the West.

    Current research indicates that the Soviets are
    attempting to develop a technology for controlling
    the development of behavioral patterns among the
    citizenry of the USSR in accordance with politically
    determined requirements of the system.

    Page 17




    Furthermore, the same technology can be applied to
    more sophisticated approaches to the "coding" of
    information for transmittal to population targets in
    the "battle for the minds of men."

    Some of the more esoteric techniques such as ESP or,
    as the Soviets call it, "biological radio-
    communication", and psychogenic agents such as LSD,
    are receiving some overt attention with, possibly,
    applications in mind for individual behavior control
    under clandestine conditions.

    However, we require more information than is
    currently available in order to establish or
    disprove planned or actual applications of various
    methodologies by Soviet scientists to the control of
    actions of articular individuals.



    References

    1. Itelson, Lev, "Pedagogy: An Exact Science?" USSR October
    1963,
    p. 10.
    2. Borzek, Joseph, "Recent Developments in Soviet Psychology,"
    Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 15, 1964, p. 493-594.

    SECRET CD 1131

    The first letter and attachment are from
    DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS 1984 microfilms under MKULTRA (84)
    002258, published by Research Publication Woodbridge, CT
    06525. Some original markings were not retyped, but the
    content is the same.

    The second letter and attachment are from the
    Warren Commission documents.

    Notice should be paid to the different tone Helms gives to
    his letter, keeping in mind he was found guilty of lying
    to Congress. He places greater emphasis on "Soviet"
    practices and tries to diminish breakthroughs gained by
    Americans.

    Some thought should be given as to WHY the Warren
    Commission sought such documents (remembering that ALLEN
    DULLES was a member of that Commission). They were
    exploring the Manchurian candidate theory.

    It was revealed during the Church Committee hearings of
    1975 that Helms had been in charge of Project AMLASH, a
    program to assassinate Castro (Cuba),Trujillo (Dominican
    Republic), Diem (RVN), Schneider (Chile) using MAFIA figures
    John Roselli and Santos Trafficante to do the job.

    Care was used to insure lines appear in same length and
    order. Page length will have to be adjusted if you desire
    to print this. Look for other specials soon. David John
    Moses.
    FINIS
    Page 18
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