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1. I apologize for submitting a document as long as this onc.
The subject is highly controversial and even this treatment, which
may appear long, is abbreviated. :

2. Frankly, I now distrust much of what is written by academic experts on hypnotism. Partly thia is because many of them appear to have generalized:frtm a very few cases; partly because much of their cautious pessimism is contradicted by Agency experimenters; but more particularly because I personally have vitnessed behavior responses which respected expcrts' have said are impoosible to obtain. In no other field have I been so conscious,of the mental claustrophobia of book and lecture hall knowledge. I don't think we have enough evidence to say positively that hypnotism is a practicable covert weapon, but I do say that we'll never know whether it is or not uulcss we experiment in the field where we can learn what is practicoble 2 (materially and psycbologically) in a way that no laboratory worker could possibly prove.

3. Even the terminology of hypnotism is in confusion. I have used terms likc "suggestibility", "catalepsy" snd "Tascination" becnuse they seewcd to ne dcscriptive, but these are argued to be inaccurate in current journals. As an example of the confusion, Mr. Morse Allen and I spent the better part of two days arguing with an academic practitioner of formidable reputation before we discovered that his vehement and perplexing disagreement with what we knew to be facts was based on aemantic hair-splitting and congesled pigheadedness.

4. If you decide that them/p should pursue this oubject further, I suggcst that you meet with A Morse Allen and myself to discuss the first recoumcndation the attached paper.

Orig. - Addressce 1 - C/Security

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5 May 1955

MENORANDUM FOR

SUBJECT:.Lypnotism and Covert Operations

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CONTENTS

I. EYPHOTISM

Ar. What Is It?.:

B. Who Can Be Hypnotized?

C. The Mnduction of Hypnosis

l. Pre-Testing for Suggeatibility

2 Induction Procedures

a Verbel Suggestion

b. Fascination Plus Verbal Suggestion

c. Harco-Hypnosis

3. Awakening :

4. Post-Eypuotic Sugggstions

5. Age Regression

D. Other Factors

1. What Makes a Good Subject?

2. What Charsoterizes a Good Operator?

3. Stages of Eypnosis

4. "Lave of Hypnotisa"

5. Can a Subject be ypnotized Against.is Will?

II. APPLICATICN OF IYPNOGIS TO COVERT OPERATIONS.

A. Disguised Pre-Testing

B. Disgulsed Induction

.C. Specific Operational Situations

III. RESEARCE

IV. SUMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

V. RECOMENDATIONS

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AYPNOTISM AID COVERT OFERATIONS

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The consultant referréd to above, who has participated in Agency operations as a mcniber of an Artichoke team, feels that parco-hypnosis as he kmows it is not as effective as it. might appear at first glance to be. He feels that the stupor which ensues does not in every case permit as deep a stage of hypnosis, is very difficult to control and, further, certain pest-bypnotic phenomena, of great valuc in clandestine work, may be lacking.(3) on the other hand, he ugrees that Arug-assisted kypnosis is essential in CIA work.

3. Awakening

There is no recorded instance in which a bypnotized subject has failed to awaken. Not one subject in a hundred will "sleep" beyond the hypnotist's suggestion, "In a moment I am going to awaken you. You will feel fine, happy and checrful. There will be no ill effects-no headache, drowainess, stiffness or other liscomfort. I am going to count to three, and at the count of three I vill snap my fingers and you will be completely awake. One--you are.sleeping much more lightly. Two--almost swake now. Threc--(snap!)--you are vide awake!."

If for any reason a subject does not deaire to awaken (usually connected with awlsh to continue the pleasure and coafort of release from anxiety and vorry vhich accompanics hypnosis, apparently), there are several other techniqucs to be tried.

3. and some other psychiatrists do not agree, at least inoofar as the therapeutic use of narco-bypnosis is concerned.

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But suppose that vhile umder Hypnost bject 1s told that a loved oue's life is in danger from a maniac aud thet the only means of rescue is to shoot a person designated as the maniac? Three expert prsctitioners (two from universities and the Agency consultant quoted above) say that there is no doubt on the basis ef their experience thatin such circumstanoès murder would be sttempted. The only requirement is that the proposel be put "in a. form and mmnner acceptable to the subject." Most modern autborities fepl that s subject will carry out any suggestion vhich be can rationalize within the framework of his moral code.

.(Currently, there is a murder trial inl ln vhich the murderer has been judged to have been uoder hypnosis at the time of the crime. He bas been retried, released and the hypnotist tried and convicted. The case is nov under appeal. The comment of the three kmowledgcable informants was that the hypnotist must bave been a rank amsteur to bave been found out since any experienced operator would heve krowa how to suggest away the fuct thst be bad arranged the crime.).

II. APPLICATION OF HYPNOSIS TO COVERT OPERATIONS

Ooviously, disguiaed pre-testing and induction are neccssities for the use of byprosio in clandlestine opcrationa. Without at least the second of thesc I am unablc to see that any covert hypnotic techniquc

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requires operatinnal expcrimentation. The possibilities are not only interesting, they are frightening. A kind of doublethink Orwellian world of hypnosis, while unlikely, is not utterly fantastic. One thing 1s clear: we really do not know within what limits "belier" may be changed by hypnősis.

Based on\_what I have read, I judge that tho

2 huse an elaborate conditioned-reflex procedure in their "brainiväshing". Even so, hypnosis may be able on the one hand to pre-condition a subject agninst the preasures, or after the fact to help undo the damage.

Anslogous Case 1

One of the foremost U.S. laboratory experimenters with bypnosis on one occasion (l939) "converted" a campus atheist to a devout believer. The sane operator was on the point of trying a similar experiment in reverse with a divinity student when the university authorities forbade further tests. Before the "conversion" to religion through hypnosis had been erascd by negative suggestions, the aubject had for over two weeks given every sign of being a dedicated religlous convert. Ee was restored to his former disbelief. I kow of no way of estimating how long the hypnotically-imposed orientation would have endured; but once implanted, of course, circumstances tended to reinforce it. Given a subject who could be converted at all, the new orientation might becoze permanent, the experimenter felt..

2.  As part of their indoctrination procedure, CIA staff personnel might be tested for hypnotic sysceptibility. Actually, it appears to be easier to hypnotize large numbers of peoplc than a single subject, for the beet subjects go "under" quickly

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the statewents in this paper are Justified: DCI, D/DCI, DD/P,

2. Authorize development in detail of the field-oriented : operational.program skctched above.

3. Gelect ons D/P Diviaion as an initiol test area and designate a single individual in the operational chain-of-cormend as director of the programi.

.4. Bet ns a re-appraisol date either one year from the time the first tcaa arrives in the test area or sooner if the directer of the progras feels that the test progran has failed or is failing.

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