Approved For Release 2000/8/4 + » A Subliminal Dr. Strangelove Mind: Using the power of hidden suggestions, this Russian scientist tries to rewire the brain 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: pipin; sublim- 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. } HEN BRANCH DAVIDIAN SECT MEM” bers hunkered down in their Waco ANDY HERNANTD 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 sides still dream that they will one day control the enemy’s mind. And ina tiny, dun: eonlike lab in the basement of Moscow's ominously 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 perce tion 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 EZ FOR NEWSWEEK your throat.” In the wrong hands, he ex- OI Canes enemies ceria) plains, his techniques could push people into violent acts. Using electroencephalographs, he _meas- ures brain waves, then uses com ters to create amap of the subconscious and various human impulses, such as anger or the sex drive. Then, through taped subliminal mes- sages, he claims to physically a iter 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 appli- cations. “I’m not sure this should be tampered with. The effects could be harmtul.” 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. Smimov_says_that_in_Soviet times, the government funded his . Now Russia’s economy has collapsed, and with it funding for the securi- ty forces and military, Smimov gets only $20,000 a year, he says. He hopes to attract Western in- vestment. Meanwhile, Smirnov says that Russian gangsters regur 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 unethi- cal,” Inany 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__Smirnoy. 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. Dortnpa ELLIOTT in Moscow with JouN Barry in Washington Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000500560003-9 NaNO meemnanmneel en MRM ont et IA kr