Approved For Release 20 A Subliminal Dr. Strangelove Mind: Using the power of hidden suggestions, this Russian scientist tries to rewire the brain [HEN BRANCH DAVIDIAN SECT MEM- Wi: hunkered down in their Waco compound last year and threatened to commit suicide, the FBI turned to an unlikel 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 ough the phone lines during negotiations. For David Koresh, the self-appointed proph- et, the FBI hada special voice in mind: God, as played by Charlton Heston. Virtual reality it’s not: Smirnov in his lab The FBI backed out of Smirnov’s Waco strategy, and the crisis ended in blazing disas- ter. But psychological-warfare experts on all ides still dream that they will one day control the enemy’s mind. And ina tiny, dungeonlike ab in the basement of Moscow’s ominousl named Institute of Psycho-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 ANDY HERNANDEZ FOR NEWSWEEK your throat.” In the wrong hands, 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 of the subconscious and various human impulses, such as anger or the sex drive, Then, through taped subliminal mes~ sages, he claims to physically alter that land- Scape with the power of suggestion. At the University of Michigan, Howard Shevrin has also studied the relationship between brain responses and the unconscious, but he has doubts about therapeutic a i- 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. Smirnoy says that in Soviet .times, the government funded hi @ . Now_ that Russia’s economy has collapsed, and with it funding for the securi- forces and military, Smirnov gets only $20,000 a year, he says. He hopes to attract Western in- vestment. Meanwhile, Smirnov says that Russian gangsters regu- larly come to see him, looking, for exam le, for help in getting business partners to sign contracts that are against their interest. He won't do it, he says: “That would be unethi- cal" Inan 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 might be wise to watch his back. DorinbDa ELviott in Moscow with Joun Banry in Washington Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600150002-4