Sidney Gottlieb
Encyclopedia
Sidney Gottlieb was an American
chemist
probably best known for his involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency
's mind control program MKULTRA.
from the California Institute of Technology
. A stutterer from childhood, Gottlieb got a master's degree in speech therapy. He also had a club foot
. It kept him out of World War II, but it did not stop him from practicing folk dancing, a lifelong passion.
In 1951, Gottlieb joined the Central Intelligence Agency. As a poison expert, he headed the chemical division of the Technical Services Staff
(TSS). Gottlieb became known as the "Black Sorcerer" and the "Dirty Trickster." He supervised preparations of lethal poisons and experiments in mind control
.
which was activated on the order of CIA director Allen Dulles. Gottlieb was known for administration of LSD
and other psycho-active drugs
to unwitting subjects and for financing psychiatric research and development of "techniques that would crush the human psyche to the point that it would admit anything." He sponsored physicians such as Ewen Cameron
and Harris Isbell in controversial psychiatric research that used unwitting humans as guinea pigs. Many people suffered serious adverse effects from research financed by Gottlieb and the Rockefeller Foundation
.
In March 1960, under The Cuban Project, a CIA plan approved by President Eisenhower
and under the direction of CIA Directorate for Plans, Richard M. Bissell
, Gottlieb came up with ideas to spray Fidel Castro
's television studio with LSD
and to saturate Castro's shoes with thallium
so that the hair of his beard would fall out. Gottlieb also hatched schemes to assassinate Castro, including the use of a poisoned cigar, a poisoned wetsuit, an exploding conch shell, and a poisonous fountain pen.
He also tried to have Iraq
's General Abdul Karim Qassim
's handkerchief contaminated with botulinum. Less known was an operation within the CIA's Phoenix Program
in Vietnam
where a team of CIA psychologists performed mind control
experiments on NLF suspects being detained at Bien Hoa Prison outside of Saigon.
Gottlieb is said to have played a role in funding investigation into paranormal phenomena, including remote viewing
.
of the Congo. In the summer of 1960, Gottlieb transported "toxic biological materials" to the CIA station in the Congo, though a military coup deposed the Prime Minister before agents could deliver the virus.
from the U.S. government. In retirement, he and his wife spent 18 months running a leper hospital in India and he spent his final years looking after the dying at a hospice. He died in Washington DC.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
probably best known for his involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
's mind control program MKULTRA.
Life
Gottlieb was born in the Bronx under the name Joseph Scheider. He received a Ph.D. in chemistryChemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
from the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
. A stutterer from childhood, Gottlieb got a master's degree in speech therapy. He also had a club foot
Club foot
A club foot, or congenital talipes equinovarus , is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot appears rotated internally at the ankle. TEV is classified into 2 groups: Postural TEV or Structural TEV....
. It kept him out of World War II, but it did not stop him from practicing folk dancing, a lifelong passion.
In 1951, Gottlieb joined the Central Intelligence Agency. As a poison expert, he headed the chemical division of the Technical Services Staff
Technical Services Staff
Technical Services Staff is the United States Central Intelligence Agency component responsible for providing supporting gadgets, disguises, forgeries, secret writings, weapons and assassinations...
(TSS). Gottlieb became known as the "Black Sorcerer" and the "Dirty Trickster." He supervised preparations of lethal poisons and experiments in mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
.
MKULTRA
In April 1953 Sidney Gottlieb headed the secret Project MKULTRAProject MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
which was activated on the order of CIA director Allen Dulles. Gottlieb was known for administration of LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and other psycho-active drugs
Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior...
to unwitting subjects and for financing psychiatric research and development of "techniques that would crush the human psyche to the point that it would admit anything." He sponsored physicians such as Ewen Cameron
Donald Ewen Cameron
Donald Ewen Cameron , commonly referred to as "D. Ewen Cameron" or "Ewen Cameron," was a twentieth-century Scottish-born psychiatrist who was involved in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's research on mind control and served as President of the Canadian, American and World Psychiatric...
and Harris Isbell in controversial psychiatric research that used unwitting humans as guinea pigs. Many people suffered serious adverse effects from research financed by Gottlieb and the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
and under the direction of CIA Directorate for Plans, Richard M. Bissell
Richard M. Bissell, Jr.
Richard Mervin Bissell, Jr. was an American Central Intelligence Agency officer responsible for major projects such as the U-2 spy plane and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.-Early years:...
, Gottlieb came up with ideas to spray Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
's television studio with LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and to saturate Castro's shoes with thallium
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...
so that the hair of his beard would fall out. Gottlieb also hatched schemes to assassinate Castro, including the use of a poisoned cigar, a poisoned wetsuit, an exploding conch shell, and a poisonous fountain pen.
He also tried to have Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's General Abdul Karim Qassim
Abdul Karim Qassim
Abd al-Karim Qasim , was a nationalist Iraqi Army general who seized power in a 1958 coup d'état, wherein the Iraqi monarchy was eliminated. He ruled the country as Prime Minister of Iraq until his downfall and death in 1963....
's handkerchief contaminated with botulinum. Less known was an operation within the CIA's Phoenix Program
Phoenix Program
The Phoenix Program |phoenix]]) was a controversial counterinsurgency program designed, coordinated, and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , United States special operations forces, and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus during the Vietnam War that operated...
in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
where a team of CIA psychologists performed mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
experiments on NLF suspects being detained at Bien Hoa Prison outside of Saigon.
Gottlieb is said to have played a role in funding investigation into paranormal phenomena, including remote viewing
Remote viewing
Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...
.
Other notable plots
Dr. Sidney Gottlieb also played a role in the CIA's attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Patrice LumumbaPatrice Lumumba
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis...
of the Congo. In the summer of 1960, Gottlieb transported "toxic biological materials" to the CIA station in the Congo, though a military coup deposed the Prime Minister before agents could deliver the virus.
Final years
He retired from the CIA in 1972, stating at the time that he did not believe his work had been effective. He nonetheless accepted a Distinguished Intelligence MedalDistinguished Intelligence Medal
The Distinguished Intelligence Medal is awarded by the Central Intelligence Agency for performance of outstanding services or for achievement of a distinctly exceptional nature in a duty or responsibility.-Notable Recipients:Robert G. Brewster...
from the U.S. government. In retirement, he and his wife spent 18 months running a leper hospital in India and he spent his final years looking after the dying at a hospice. He died in Washington DC.
External links
- CIA Science and Technology Directorate Chief Carl Duckett "thinks the Director would be ill-advised to say he is acquainted with this program" (Sidney Gottlieb's drug experiments), National Security ArchiveNational Security ArchiveThe National Security Archive is a 501 non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located in the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1985 by Scott Armstrong, it archives and publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of US...