Approved For Release
q%R0P9foto92Rafl6sOO56OOO3-9
A Subliminal Dr. Strangelove
Mind: Using the power of hidden suggestions, this
Russian scientist tries to rewire the brain
W
HEN BRANCH DAVIDIAN SECT MEM-
jprs hunkered down in their Waco
compound last year and threatened to
commit suicide, the FBI turned to an unlikely
source . Experts from the FBI Counter-Ter-
rorism Center secretly met in Arlington, Va„
with a long-haired Russian Dr. Strangelove
called Igor Smirnov. His plan: piping sublim-
inal messages from sect members’ families
through the phone lines during negg£iatigi^
.
For David Koresh, the self-appointed proph-^
et, the FBI had a special voice in mind: God,
as played by Charlton Heston.
your throat.” In
the wrongjaands, he ex-
plains,
his techniques could push people
into violent acts.
Using electroencephalographs, he meas-
ures brain waves, then uses computers to
create a map ofthe subconscious and variou s
human impulses , such as anger or the sex
drive. Then, through taped subliminal mes-
sages. he claims to physically alter that land:
scape withjhe_power of suggestion,
the
University ofM ichigan, Howard Shevrin has
also studied the relationship between brain
responses and the unconscious, but he has
doubts about therapeutic appli-
cations . “I’m not sure this should
be tampered with . The
effects
could be harmful.”
In
Smirnov’s
cluttered
lab,
Slava, a tattooed heroin addict,
has
electrodes
attached
to
his
chest and shaved head. He has
just watched
subliminal mes-
sages on a screen and listened
through earphones to other im-
pulses disguised as noise. Smir-
nov says he’s trying to stimulate
the child-rearing cluster of Sla-
va’s brain to encourage him to
care more
for
his
soon-to-be-
born baby and less about his next
hit of heroin.
Smirnov savs
that in
Soviet
times,
fbp
government funded
ANDY HERNANDEZ FOR NEWSWEEK
Virtual reality it’s not: Smirnov in his lab
The FBI backed out of Smirnov’s Waco
strategy, and the crisis ended inblazing disas-
ter. JBut. psvchological-warfare experts on all
sides still dream that they will one day control
the enemy's mind . And in a tiny, diingeonlike
lab in the basement of Moscow’s ominously
named In stitute of Psycho-Correction, Smir-
nov and other Russian psychiatrists areal-
readv working on schizophrenics, drug ad-
dicts and cancer patients.
You’ve heard
of subliminal
advertising,
right? The psychiatric community generahy
agrees that subliminal perception exists; a
small er fringe group^bcHeyeTit can be ugeq
m rhanflo the psyche . And that could be bad
asTwell as good. "A knife can be used to cut
sausage,” Smirnov warns cryptically, “or cut
He hopes to attract Western in-
vestment. Meanwhile. Smirnov
savs that Russian gangstersregu:
larlv come to see him, looking, for example,
for help in getting business partners to sign
contracts that are against their interest . He
won't
fin it. he says: “That would be unethi-
cal, ” In any case, there is no doubt that some
cai.
liiauj t-aot-i
.
body is watching him closely. Shortly after
Nf.wswef.k's reporter visited his lab, two.
burly toughs
in
suits and diamond rings
showed up at Newsweek’s Moscowoffice
asking
questions
about
Smirnov.
They
claimed to be in business with him, but he
says he doesn’t know them. KGB? Mafia?
Smirnov shrugs them off, but, whoever they
are,
the
doctor
of subliminal
subversion
might be wise to watch his back,
Dorinda Elliott in Moscow with
John Barry in Washington
I
sausage,” Smirnov warns cryptically,
orcui
i
Approved For Release 2000/08/11
: CIA-RDP96-00792R000500560003-