The MK-ULTRA iceberg

[David Guyatt]

On the matter of James Randi and his fellow members of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Joel has posted some illuminating background information on several members of the FMSF and their apparent involvement in paedophilia/child sexual abuse cases as part of his enormous and compelling Dutroux paedophile case file.

http://www.pehi.eu/dutroux/FMSF_freaks.htm

One can only add the suspicion of what better way to bleach guilt and deflect and limit public horror with the subject of child abuse than to create the impression that abused children were simply suffering from a syndrome of false memory.

[Jack White]

I consider Randi a disinformation agent.
Jack

[Jan Klimkowski]

“While the technique that Ecke and Gladych are considering for use in this case is not known to the writer, the writer believes the approach will be made through the standard narco-hypnosis technique. Re-conditioning and re-orienting an individual in such a matter, in the opinion of the writer, cannot be accomplished easily and will require a great deal of time and the fact that an interpreter is required in this case complicates it considerably more. It is also believed that with our present knowledge, we would have no absolute guarantee that the subject in this case would maintain a positive friendly attitude toward us even though there is apparently a positive response to the treatment. The writer did not suggest to [ 06 ] that perhaps a total amnesia could be created by a series of electro shocks, but merely indicated that amnesia under drug treatments were not certain.
MORSE ALLEN”

Originally brought to my attention by Robert Howard on another forum.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...elPageId=8

This excerpt from the Artichoke documentation is further confirmation that narco-hypnosis and electro-shock techniques both to "re-condition" and "re-orient" the attitudes of individuals, and to attempt to wipe out memory, "total amnesia", were fairly advanced and operational by 1952.

The officially approved history of MK-ULTRA suggests that the CIA "discovered" Ewen Cameron's use of electroshock and "psychic driving" in a civilian programme in Canada in 1957. I contend that this is a cover story, or a limited hangout.

The official story suggests this aspect of mind control research travelled from the Civilian sphere (Cameron in Canada) to the Intelligence/Military sphere (MK-ULTRA funding) in the late 1950s. The opposite is almost certainly the case.

This conditioning/memory programming research was developed in the Intelligence/Military sphere (Bluebird/Artichoke) and was sufficiently successful for it to be tried in the Civilian sphere (Cameron's post-partum depression victims).

As usual, the official history is rubbish.

[Jan Klimkowski]

In terms of trying to understand MK-ULTRA from the surviving record, this 1953 (partially declassified) memorandum on "Two Extremely Sensitive Research Programs" is crucial.

One of the "Extremely Sensitive Research Programs" is identified as "Covert studies of biological and chemical warfare", further defined as:

Research to develop a capability in the covert use of biological and chemical materials. This area involves the production of various physiological conditions which could support present or future clandestine operational. Aside from offensive potential, the development of a comprehensive capability in this field of covert chemical and biological warfare gives us a thorough knowledge of the enemy's theoretical potential, thus enabling us to defend ourselves against a foe who might not be as restrained in the use of these techniques as we are. For example: we intend to investigate the development of a chemical material which causes a reversible non-toxic aberrant mental state, the specific nature of which can be reasonably well predicted for each individual. this material could potentially aid in discrediting individuals, eliciting information, implanting suggestion and other forms of mental control.


The other "Extremely Sensitive Research Program" is totally redacted. However, it is possible to make educated guesses as to the redacted research area from examining the subject matter of MK-ULTRA sub-projects. It should be noted that it was considered acceptable for "Covert studies of biological and chemical warfare" to be visible (un-redacted) as part of the declassification process, but it was not considered acceptable for the other research area to be identified.


QUOTE
TAB A

xxxxxxx 87624
Copy # 1 of 5 copies

3 April 1953

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Central Intelligence

SUBJECT: Two Extremely Sensitive Research Programs

1. Approximately 6% of the TSS research and development effort lies in two highly sensitive fields in which it is not possible to conduct the work through the customary contracts for security reason and other considerations.

2. These two sensitive fields are:

a) Covert studies of biological and chemical warfare

B ) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

3. Permission of the DCI is requested to handle work in these two fields in the manner outlined in Tab A without contracts and with reimbursement to be made against invoices properly certified by TSS.

4. All controls established in the PRC approval of the original Research Program (other than signing a contract) would remain unchanged. Periodic financial and progress reports will be made. All documents will be retained by TSS.

5. No new funds are involved. This procedure would apply to funds xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx previously approved for research.

6. Tab B is a memorandum to the Deputy Director (Administration) for your signature authorizing this procedure.



[Signature]
Richard Helms
Acting Deputy Director (Plans)

Attachments: (2)

Tab A - Description of Project MKULTRA and the controls which will be exercised over its execution

Tab B - Suggested Memorandum from DCI to DD/A authorizing payment of invoices under Project MKULTRA

Distribution:

Addressee - Orig & 1 w/attachments
DD/P - 1 w/attachments
TSS/OC - 1 w/attachments
Exec. REg. - 1 w/attachments

xxxxxxx 87624
Copy # 1 of 5 copies

TAB A

PROJECT MKULTRA

Extremely Sensitive Research and Development Programs

1. On 5 June 1952, the Project Review Committee approved the TSS Research Program for Fiscal Year 1953. [Three lines redacted]

2. The PRC approval authorized the Director of Research, at his discretion and with the approval of the Research Chairman, to apportion and obligate the research funds among individual projects, such projects to be subject to the usual Agency procedures and administrative controls.

3. This Research Program has been actively underway since the middle of 1952 and has gathered considerable momentum during the past few months. It is now evident on the basis of work currently underway that approximately 94% of the projects contemplated can be handled through regular procurement channels by means of customary contracts signed jointly by the Agency and the organization undertaking to carry out the work. It has also become apparent that approximately 6% of the projects are of such ultra-sensitive nature that they cannot and should not be handled by means of contracts which would associate CIA or the Government with the work in question. This 6% of the current research effort now lies entirely within two well-defined fields of endeavor, namely:

(a) Research to develop a capability in the covert use of biological and chemical materials. This area involves the production of various physiological conditions which could support present or future clandestine operational. Aside from offensive potential, the development of a comprehensive capability in this field of covert chemical and biological warfare gives us a thorough knowledge of the enemy's theoretical potential, thus enabling us to defend ourselves against a foe who might not be as restrained in the use of these techniques as we are. For example: we intend to investigate the development of a chemical material which causes a reversible non-toxic aberrant mental state, the specific nature of which can be reasonably well predicted for each individual. this material could potentially aid in discrediting individuals, eliciting information, implanting suggestion and other forms of mental control.

B ) [10 lines redacted]

4. It is highly undesirable from a policy and security point of view that contracts should be signed indicating Agency or government interest in either of these two fields. In a great many instances the work in field (a) must be conducted by individuals who are not and should not be aware of our interest. In all cases dealing with field (B ), it is mandatory that any connection with the Agency should be known only to an absolute minimum number of people who have been specifically cleared for this purpose. In no case should any manufacturer or supplier be aware of Government interest.

5. In many cases in field (a) where the researcher can be cleared and may be aware of our interest in the program, he is unwilling to have his name on a contract which remains out of his control in his files. Experience has shown that qualified, competent individuals in the field of pharmacological, physiological, psychiatric and other biological sciences are most reluctant to enter into signed agreements of any sort which connect them with this activity since such a connection would jeopardize their professional reputations.

6. Even internally in CIA, as few individuals as possible should be aware of our interest in these fields and of the identity of those who are working for us. At present this results in ridiculous contracts, often with cut-outs, which do not spell out the scope or intent of the work and which contain terms which the cut-out cannot incorporate in his contract with the researcher without revealing Government interest. Complete Government audits of such contracts are impossible for the same reason.

7. It is, therefore, requested that the DCI authorize TSS to handle 6% xxxxxxxx of the previously approved research budget for FY '53 without the establishment of formal contractual relations. This program will be known as Project MKULTRA.

8. It is suggested that payment of invoices under Project MKULTRA forwarded by TSS be authorized, provided that:

(a) the total of such invoices does not exceed 6% for Fiscal Year 1953;

(B ) the invoices carry a certification by the TSS Research Director that payment of funds is authorized and that the invoices represent work accomplished within the program approved by the DCI under Project MKULTRA as outlined in this memorandum;

c ) the invoices carry the certification of the Executive Secretary of the Research Board that the scope of the program has been approved;

(d) the invoices carry the certification of the cognizant TSS Division Chief that the work has been satisfactory from a technical point of view.

9. It should be emphasized that this authorization does not involve any new allocation of funds, but merely applies to a portion of a previously approved budget. The TSS certifications mentioned above will mean that:

(a) the project is being handled under the conditions set forth in this description and specifically falls within one of the two ultra-sensitive field mentioned above;

(B ) the project has been approved in the manner provided for in the PRC document which originally set up and approved the over-all TSS Research Program. Each project will thus have been presented by the Chief of the Division monitoring the work to the Research Director and to the Research Chairman and will have, as in the past, to be approved by both before any expenditures are made;

c ) technical control over the project will be exercised by the TSS Division Chief and Project Engineers to the same extent now applying to projects handled in the normal fashion. Technical reports will be rendered when necessary and advisable and will be available for inspection in TSS files at any time;

(d) in the case of each project, TSS will reach an understanding with the individuals who will perform the work as to the conditions under which the work will be performed and reimbursement arranged. No standard contract will be signed. In some cases when possible, a memorandum of agreement will be signed and retained in the TSS files. Under no circumstances would copies of such agreements leave TSS files where they will be kept available for inspection;

(e) the manner in which the work will be handled and methods of maintaining Agency and Government sterility will be worked out with the Inspection & Security Office as in the past, and clearance of individuals to the extent deemed necessary by TSS and I & SO will be obtained;

(f) invoices, when received by TSS, will be forwarded to Finance Division for payment and will be certified as outlined in Paragraph 8 above. Whenever documents are available supporting a portion or all of a given invoice, such as cancelled checks, receipted bills, etc., these will be requested by TSS and retained in TSS files in support of the invoice, where they will at all times be available for inspection. They will not be forwarded with the invoices. Such documents at best will cover only a portion of the total expenditures, and regular audit procedures will not be followed;

(g) other provisions and controls over the Research Program specified in the original PRC approval will remain unaltered. Technical progress under the separate projects handled under Project MKULTRA will be included whenever necessary in the regular progress reports now submitted by the Director of Research. The monthly budget and financial report being submitted by TSS to DD/A will include full financial information on these projects, including how much of the 6% has been committed, how much has been spent and how much remains.

20. The establishment and approval of Project MKULTRA will allow TSS to undertake highly desirable and necessary research in these two sensitive fields which would not be possible unless the work can be handled in this manner.

Distribution:

Address - Orig. & 1
DD/P - 1
TSS/OC - 1
Exec. Registry - 1

http://cryptome.info/0001/mkultra-0003.htm

[Jan Klimkowski]

Sleep and sensory deprivation were extensively used by the People's Temple, in a manner later fictionalized (knowingly or not) in the excellent movie, The Jacket.

Sleep deprivation was also used to break the will of Temple children and adults and render them open to Jones' strong willed orders. For no other apparent reason, the subjects were forced to go days without sleep. Many were so deprived that they would fall asleep standing up.
..................
Sensory deprivation was also widely employed as a means of breaking down the will of a test subject. ....... It was not until the Temple moved to Guyana that their experiments in sensory deprivation surfaced. Tom Grubbs, a psychologist with a degree from the University of California, was in charge of "the box". Grubbs, who was also the principal of the Jonestown school, personally constructed Jones' sensory deprivation chamber. Test subjects were locked into the chamber which was then placed below ground in a root cellar. The effect was that of being buried alive. Jones recognized the terror in the technique and ordered several additional chambers built in the shape of coffins. The test persons interred in the boxes were totally deprived of all sensory input. Without input, the mind goes blank and the subject emerges from the ordeal in a very receptive state for further conditioning. Tom Grubbs, who had been the Temple's expert in sensory deprivation for eight years, reportedly died in the Jonestown massacre but this cannot be confirmed as his body has never been identified.

(p389-90, Was Jonestown a CIA Medical Experiment?, Meiers)

So, the Reverend Jim Jones was using advanced sensory deprivation techniques on his "family". Where did a "left-wing" street preacher think of such things?

The fact that both the techniques and the custom-built equipment were in the charge of a University of California psychologist is provocative. It suggests that, once again, we have a meeting of behaviourist and Pavlovian psychology with a large dose of MK-ULTRA - except it's been contracted out to a cult, and physically moved outside the borders of the USA to Guyana.

[Jan Klimkowski]

From The Controllers, an unpublished manuscript by Martin Cannon:

SCREEN MEMORY

According to declassified documents in the Marks files, a major difficulty faced by the MKULTRA researchers concerned the "disposal problem." What to do with the victims of CIA-sponsored electroshock, hypnosis, and drug experimentation? The Company resorted to distressing, but characteristic, tactics: They disposed of their human guinea pigs by incarcerating them in insane asylums, by performing ice-pick lobotomies, and by ordering "executive actions."[103]

A more sophisticated solution had to be found. One of the goals of the CIA's mind control efforts was the erasure of memory via hypnosis (and drugs, electronics, lobotomies, etc.); not only would this hide what occurred during the experimental indoctrination/programming sessions, it would prove useful in the field. "Amnesia was a big goal," confirms Victor Marchetti, who points out its usefulness in dealing with contract agents: "After you've done it, the agent doesn't even know what he's done...you send him in, he does the job. When he comes out, you clean his head out."[104]

The big problem: Despite hypnotically-induced amnesia, there would be memory leaks -- snippets of the repressed material would arise spontaneously, in dreams, as flashbacks, etc. A proposed solution: Give the subject a "screen memory," a false story; thus, even if he starts to recall the material, he will recall it incorrectly.

Even the conservative Dr. Orne notes that:

A S [subject] who is able to develop good posthypnotic amnesia will also respond to suggestions to remember events which did not actually occur. On awakening, he will fail to recall the real events of the trance and will instead recall the suggested events. If anything, this phenomenon is easier to produce than total amnesia, perhaps because it eliminates the subjective feeling of an empty space in memory.[105]

Not only would the screen memories fill in the uncomfortable blanks in the subjects' recollection, they would protect against revelation. One fear of the MKULTRA scientists was that a hypno-programmed individual used as, say, a courier, could be un-programmed by another hypnotist, perhaps working for the enemy. Thus, the MKULTRA scientists decided to instill multiple personalities -- multiple cover stories, if you will -- to confuse any "unauthorized" hypnotist.[106]

One case using this technique centered on an assassin named Luis Castillo, who, after his capture in the Philippines, was extensively de-briefed and studied by experts in the employ of the National Bureau of Investigation, that country's equivalent to our FBI. Castillo was discovered to have had at
least FOUR separate personalities hypnotically instilled; each personality could be triggered by a specific cue. In one state, he claimed to be Sgt. Manuel Angel Ramirez, of the Strategic Air Tactical Command in South Vietnam; supposedly, "Ramirez" was the illegitimate son of a certain pipe-smoking, highly-placed CIA official whose initials were A.D.[107] Another personality claimed to be one of John F. Kennedy's assassins.

The main hypnotist involved with this case labelled these hypnotic alter-egos "Zombie states." The report on the case stated that "The Zombie phenomenon referred to here is a somnambulistic behavior displayed by the subject in a conditioned response to a series of words, phrases, and statements, apparently unknown to the subject during his normal waking state."

Upon Castillo's repatriation to the United States, the FBI claimed that he had fabricated the story. In his book OPERATION MIND CONTROL, Walter Bowart makes a convincing case against the FBI's claims. Certainly, many aspects of the Castillo affair argue for his sincerity -- including his hypnotically-induced insensitivity to pain[108], his maintenance of the story (or stories) even when severely inebriated, and his apparently programmed suicide attempts.

If Castillo told the truth, as I believe he did, then he manifested both hypnotically-induced multiple personality and pseudo-memory. The former remains controversial; the latter has been repeatedly replicated in experimental situations[109].

--------------------

103. Lee and Shlain, ACID DREAMS, 8-9.


104. John Marks interview with Victor Marchetti, December 19, 1977 (Marks files).


105. Martin T. Orne, "On the Mechanisms of Posthypnotic Amnesia," THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HYPNOSIS, 1966, vol. 14, 121-134. Orne's work with post-hypnotic amnesia was funded by NIMH, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Office of Naval Research. I should like to hear what innocent explanation, if any, the Air Force has to offer to explain their interest in post-hypnotic amnesia. ["We must not allow a post- hypnotic-amnesia gap!" of course. -jpg]


106. Bowart, OPERATION MIND CONTROL, 242-243.


107. Obviously Allan Dulles. This may have been a hypnotically-induced delusion; on the other hand, Dulles' legendary sexual rapacity makes this claim rather less unlikely than one might first assume.


108. Always the best indicator of whether or not hypnosis is genuine; I can't understand why Orne didn't use this test in the Blanchi case.


109. Herbert Spiegel, "Hypnosis and evidence: Help or hindrance," ANN. N.Y. ACAD. SCI.; 1980, 347, 73-85.

THE MILITARY AND MIND CONTROL


Some time ago, I attended hypnotic regression sessions in which the subject -- a claimed UFO abductee -- recalled undergoing a mysterious "brain operation" at a veteran's hospital in California. The operation was performed by human beings, not aliens. Interestingly, this same hospital was mentioned in two other cases I encountered. These other claims were not made by abductees, but by people alleged to have been victims of mind control experimentation.


One of these claimants, a former Navy SEAL who undertook numerous dangerous missions in Vietnam, favorably impressed me with the wealth of detail in his story[147]. This individual -- I've taken to calling him "the trained SEAL"-- had received specialized combat training at a military base in California; he claims that at one point during this training he was drugged, hypnotized, possibly placed under some form of electronic control, and subjected to the extremes of pain/pleasure operant conditioning. One peculiar detail of his story concerns the "reward" aspect of the conditioning: When properly acquiescent, he was given unlimited sexual access to a woman who, the SEAL avers, was herself the victim of brainwashing.


Unbelievable as this last claim may seem, I found it oddly resonant when I later interviewed a prominent abductee in the Southern California area, who bravely offered me details on a puzzling, albeit quite delicate, incident in her past. Still an attractive woman, she recalled for me -- indeed, seemed strangely compelled to describe -- an early love affair with a young soldier training at a military base near her home. She cannot recall the soldier's name. All she remembers is that one day he started LIVING AT HER FAMILY'S HOUSE; she has no memory of how the arrangement began, and her parents have never felt comfortable discussing the matter. Although unattracted to this soldier, she felt compelled to become intimate with him, adopting a pliant, obeisant attitude that was quite out of character for her. Later, the soldier went on to covert missions in Vietnam.


Of course, a young person's psycho-sexual development is never smooth, and the incident related above may merely have represented one peculiarly upsetting bump in that notoriously rough road. Still, some of the details of this story -- particularly the parents' attitude, the woman's personality shift, and her subsequent memory lapses -- are striking, and I treat with respect the abductee's intuition that this minor enigma in her personal history could, if properly understood, shed light on her later "missing time" experiences.


Could the "trained SEAL" have been right? Was there, IS there, a coterie of hypno-programmed soldiers conducting particularly hazardous missions? And do the programmers have at their disposal a "ladies' auxiliary," so to speak, of hypnotized camp followers?


If the SEAL's story stood alone, skeptics could easily dismiss it (provided they did not sit, as I did, face-to- face with the story's teller, listening to all the grisly and unsettling details). But other veterans have added their voices to this grim tale. Daniel Sheehan, of the Christic Institute, claims that his organization has spoken to half-a-dozen individuals with narratives similar to my SEAL informant. All had received "processing," so to speak, within the context of standard military training; after programming and specialized combat instruction by mercenaries, the recruits were placed "on hold," to be used as situations arose -- and some of those situations occurred within the United States[148].


Walter Bowart began his own researches into mind control by placing an ad in SOLDIER-OF-FORTUNE-style publications, asking for correspondence from veterans who experienced inexplicable lapses in memory or strange behavior modification techniques while serving in Vietnam; he received over 100 replies. Bowart devoted an entire chapter to one of these respondents -- an Air Force veteran named David, who ended his four-year tour of duty recalling only that he had spent the time "having fun, skin diving, laying on the beach, collecting shells...It never dawned on me until later that I must have DONE something while I was in the service." (An obvious example of screen memory.) He was also "assigned" a girlfriend whose name he cannot now recall, despite the length and deep intimacy of the affair[149]. The parallels to the SEAL's story and the abductee's account should be obvious.


We even have a confession, of sorts, from a scientist who specialized in one aspect of this sort of training. Lt. Commander Thomas Narut, of the U.S. Naval Hospital at the NATO headquarters in Naples, Florida, admitted during a lecture in Oslo that recruits in Naples underwent CLOCKWORK- ORANGE-style behavior modification sessions. Trainees would be strapped into chairs with their eyelids clamped open while watching films of industrial accidents and African circumcision ceremonies -- films frequently used by psychologists as a means of inducing stress in experimental situations. Unlike the protagonist in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, who learned revulsion at the sight of violence, Narut's soldiers were taught to accept and enjoy bloodshed, to view it with equanimity. Similar techniques were used to dehumanize potential enemies. Graduates of this program became, in Narut's words, "hit men and assassins," to be placed in American embassies throughout the world.


When questioned by reporters about these claims, the American government denied the story; Narut -- after a long incommunicado period and apparent coercion -- later explained to journalists that he had merely spoken theoretically. If so, why did he originally describe the behavior modification procedure as an ongoing program?[150]


And while it may seem frivolous to return to the subject of abductions after examining such grim data, I should remind the reader of the many abduction accounts in which abductees recall being forced to watch certain stress- inducing motion pictures. The aliens, it seems, have learned a few lessons from Dr. Narut.

------------------

147. A mutual friend described for me an incident in which the former SEAL, mistakenly perceiving a threat, almost instantly felled, and nearly killed, a man twice his size. Whatever the truth of my informant's other statements, he certainly has received advanced combat training.


148. Fenton Bresler, WHO KILLED JOHN LENNON? (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), 45-46.


149. Bowart, OPERATION MIND CONTROL, 27-42.


150. Denise Winn, THE MANIPULATED MIND (London, Octagon Press, 1983), 72-73; Bresler, WHO KILLED JOHN LENNON?, 41; see generally: Peter Watson, WAR ON THE MIND (London: Hutchison, 1978) (Watson broke the story on Narut for the London TIMES).

[Peter Presland]

Having had my curiosity tweeked by some the posts at the 'Nobody Blog' I've started to look at the whole 'mind-control' experiments issue. Frankly I had largely dismissed the subject, somewhat along the lines of the Adam Curtis thesis referenced at the start of this thread. It hasn't taken long for me to conclude that I was wrong and that MK-ULTRA was/is indeed the tip of an enormous and growing iceberg with a whole raft of related programs concealed by massive wads of disinformation crafted to appeal to outraged populist sentiment.

It's a BIG subject that I'm really only just embarking on. I am presently reading 'Thanks for the Memories' by Brice Taylor - aka Susan Ford (pdf available here). It is NOT for the faint-hearted.

Then this post caught my attention - an 'interpretation' of 'Lady Gaga'. Weird weird stuff but the author's quotes (whilst not credited properly) were from one of the TFM extended introductions and there are indeed some remarkable visual and behavioural parallels with what that intro and Susan Ford herself describes.

Hmmmm....

[Jan Klimkowski]

Peter - this is the Twilight Zone.

One enters a hall of mirrors through a door that disappears in its own reflection.

Here's the notorious Greenbaum Speech, by Dr Cory Hammond - a hypothesis derived from thousands of hours of research by many many therapists:

http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/greenbaum.htm

[Peter Presland]

Peter - this is the Twilight Zone.

One enters a hall of mirrors through a door that disappears in its own reflection.

Here's the notorious Greenbaum Speech, by Dr Cory Hammond - a hypothesis derived from thousands of hours of research by many many therapists:

http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/greenbaum.htm

Thanks for that Jan.

Nothing more to say right now other than, from what I have found so far and other than fairly simplistic (if diabolical) cult-perpetuation imperatives amply illustrated by 'survivor' type testimonies, there seems to be very little about over-arching control and usage motivations. Motives are briefly alluded to in the Greenbaum speech, but in a shallow speculative fashion only. OK, it's not too difficult to make speculative connections to what 'Nobody' dubs 'The Paedophocracy'. Also a raft of movies with 'mind-control' - usually populist and a bit simplistic - as a leitmotif (Total recall, The Manchurian Candidate, The Jason Bourne series, The Ipcress File, and no doubt many others) but I haven't come across anything substantive yet.

I need to go further down the rabbit hole it seems. Any book recommendations or links welcome.

[Magda Hassan]

David McGowan's 'Programmed to Kill'. I haven't read it yet but it is on my very long list of must reads. I think Myra was going to get it. She may have more to say. In the mean time this is a taste of it: http://www.whale.to/b/henry.html