Approved For Release 2
A Subliminal Dr. Strangelove
Mind: Using the power of hidden suggestions, this
Kussian scientist tries to rewire the brain
W
PLENJSRANCH DAVIDIAN SECT MEM-
O'S hunkered
flown in their Warn
Compound last vear and tVirpptmiod
"
'
TT
compound last year and threatened tn
CQjnmit suicide, the FBI turned to an unlikely
.source. Experts from the FBI Counter-Ter-
rorism Center secretly met in Arlington, Va.,
witli a long-haired Russian Dr. Strangelove
called Igor Smirnov. His plan: piping sublim-
inal messages from sect members’ families
through the phone lines during negotiations .
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 wrong hands, he Py-
-Plains,
his
techniques
could push penpia
info
into violent acts.
Using electroencephalographs, he meas-
ures brain waves, then uses computers to
create a map ofthe subconscious and various
human impulses , such as anger or the sex
drive. Then, through taped subliminal mes-
sages, heclaims to physically alter that land-
scape with the power of suggestion . At the
University ofMichigan, Howard Shevrin ha s
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 says
that
in
Soviet
times,
the government funded
erouslv. Now
that
Russia's economy has collapsed .
and with it funding for the securi-
ty forces and military. Smirnov
gets only $20,000 a year , he says
Virtual reality it’s not: Smirnov ir
The FBI backed ou t of Smirnov’s Warn
strategy, and the crisis ended in blazing disas-
ter. Hut psychological-warfare experts on all
Sides still dreamthat they will one day control
thepnemy's mind . And in a tiny, dungconlike
jab in the basement of Moscow’s ominously
named Institute of Psvcho-Correction. Smir-
nov and other Russian psychiatrists are al:
ready working on schizophrenics, drug ad-
dicts and cancer patients.
You’ve heard of subliminal
advertising,
right? The psychiatric community generally
agrees
that subliminal perception exists: a
smaller fringe group believes it can be used
to change the psyche . And that could be bad
as well as good. “A knife can be used to cut
sausage,” Smirnov warns cryptically, “or cut
He hopes to attract Western in -
vestment. Meanwhile, Smirnov
says that Russian gangsters regu-
larly come to see him. looking, for example
for help in getting business partners to sign
contracts that are against their interest . He
won’t do it, he says: “That would be uneth i-
cal,” In any case, there is no doubt that some-
body is watching him closely. Shortly after
Newsweek’s reporter visited his lab, two
burly toughs
in
suits and diamond
rings
showed up at Newsweek’s Moscow office
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
- Plight be wise to watch his back.
Doiunda Elliott in Moscow with
John Barry in Washington
Approved For Release 2003/09/10
: CIA-RDP96-00792R0006001 50002-4