WEBVTT - The Climax 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:11.000 It's December, five days before Christmas, and a few dozen 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.840 people are gathered for a big holiday party. They're at 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:19.079 the US Post Office building in downtown San Francisco. Peeking in, 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.759 it looks like a scene out of Mad Men. Guys 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:26.560 in crisp suits, skinny ties, women in colorful dresses, everyone 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:32.400 drinking and laughing. There's a Deputy U S Marshal at 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:35.960 the party named Wayne Ritchie. He's got a girlfriend, but 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.319 she didn't come tonight. It doesn't matter. He's just here 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:45.080 to mingle. The mood is light, everyone's having fun whatever 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.760 the small talk. The booze is flowing. Actually it's more 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:50.839 than that. It's the sort of party where you can 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.080 reach out and someone will put a glass right in 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:58.320 your hand. You don't even have to ask. As Wayne 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.840 Ritchie SIPs gingerly, the drink hits him a little too quick. 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.520 This isn't just some light buzz. There's an uncomfortable feeling 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.840 in his chest. Then something in his brain starts pulling 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:14.080 him away from reality towards someplace else, a place he 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:19.240 doesn't like. He begins seeing things. The holiday lights melt 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.880 in front of him, and for some reason, creatures pop 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:35.840 up around him. Monsters really eyeing him suspiciously. Richie's office 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.200 is in the building. He excuses himself and sits alone. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.959 He spent five years in the military and one year 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.480 as a guard at Alcatraz. He's a well respected marshal. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.640 But sitting there, Richie feels a surge of emotions, like 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:55.560 he's let people down, his friends, his relatives. Suddenly the 0:01:55.640 --> 0:02:07.040 office no longer feels safe. He leaves. The monsters follow Wayne. 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.560 Ritchie is out on the streets now, trying to flee. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.160 Faces don't look like faces anymore. Eyes are in the 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:18.160 wrong places, sore noses, sore mouths. The sidewalk moves under 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.720 his feet like it's liquid cement, like it never dried. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.880 Richie's mind starts to wander. He starts thinking about his girlfriend. 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.600 He loves her so much. He remembers how she always 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.440 wanted to visit New York, how he couldn't afford the trip. 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.840 But right now, New York seems like a good idea. 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.720 Right now, it seems like the best idea he's ever had. 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.960 But he's got no money, not enough for that. What 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:52.800 if he could get the money. Richie goes back to 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.200 the post office building, to his storage locker, he gets 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.800 his service revolver. He's not sure why he needs a weapon, 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.680 but he feels better with it, safer. He begins ducking 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.160 in and out of bars for more drinks. Maybe something 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:13.520 will wash away these feelings. Then he walks into the 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.000 right bar, the bar that can solve all his problems, 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.440 Shady Grove. He looks around. The monsters are still there, 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:29.079 and there are people, too many people. He's nervous. Suddenly 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.560 he pulls out his gun. He aims at at the bartender. 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:40.600 He demands money, all the money. This is not Wayne Ritchie. 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.120 This man is committing armed robbery five days before Christmas. 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.800 Wayne Ritchie is a U S. Marshal, sworn to uphold 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.600 the law, a man who has never once broken it. 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.480 Part of him is looking on in horror, not believing 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.440 what's happening. Another part is totally comfortable with what's going on. 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.240 He can't even be fine if the bartender pulled out 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.720 his own gun and aimed it back at him. Now, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:10.880 he says something that feels so right and so foreign 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.920 at the same time. Just put it all in the bag. Okay, 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.520 take it easy. I'm gonna go to New York with 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:22.480 my girl. Okay, Hey, hey, Mr. That last voice is 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.800 an anchor. It cuts through his thoughts and pulls him 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.960 back to reality. He's grateful, he turns to the person, 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.520 then a blast of pain explodes in the back of 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:53.359 his head. When Wayne Ritchie regains consciousness, two police officers 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.800 are standing over him. He'll lose his job, his reputation 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.160 will be ruined in an in stint, He'll go from 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.720 an officer of the law to a felon. And it'll 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.440 be decades before Richie has any clue what happened that 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:13.760 he hadn't gone insane. Richie would later come to believe 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:18.800 he'd been dosed with LSD. It explained everything, and George 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.080 White's diary had a note about this exact party at 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:26.560 the Federal Building. While Richie could never definitively prove what 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.200 had happened to him that night, his story is forever 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.280 late to White's reign of terror. For over a decade, 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.680 George White had used LSD to summon demons that chased 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.560 down innocent people, but before it was all over, someone 0:05:40.680 --> 0:06:13.359 would finally be chasing him. For I Heart Radio, this 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:18.800 is Operation Midnight Climax, and I heard original podcast I'm 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:24.400 Your host Noel Brown. And this is chapter eight the climax, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:40.800 Part one paper trail. Hey, Geo, fuck it, I fucking quit. Technically, 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.120 that's how George White's career came to a close, both 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:50.680 careers law enforcement and illegal LSD experimentation. It happened in 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.160 at the San Francisco Narcotics Bureau office. In the end, 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.680 it wasn't a complaint or a death or his conscience. 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:07.679 It was invoices. All along, White had been forwarding expense 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:12.440 invoices to his CIA supervisor, Sidney Gottlieb. White was billing 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:17.880 the CIA for everything from prostitutes to booze. Not exactly 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.800 a good move if you want to fly under the radar. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.880 And beginning in nineteen sixty three, these invoices were landing 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:30.600 on the desk of CIA Inspector General John Eyerman. Eerman 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.440 was outraged. He spoke to Gotlieb, who confirmed White was 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.280 on the prowl in San Francisco. White had full approval 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.440 to dose innocent people with LSD. Erman dubbed the entire 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.920 enterprise a series of sophomoric procedures. He wanted it shutdown. 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.800 Of course, Gottlieb and a CIA ally named Richard Helms 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:56.720 didn't agree. Helms tried to placate Erman. You promised to 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.080 sit down with CIA director John mccoon to explain and 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:05.000 exactly what was going on. Then Helms ignored the issue completely. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:11.680 He never approached mccon. Erman was shocked, so Erman wrote 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:16.160 a report and delivered it directly to mccon. Got Leeban 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.640 Helm sat down with the director to argue their side 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:22.480 of it. Sure, it looked like White was harming innocent civilians, 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.720 but this was war. Helms insisted the Soviets had a 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:31.760 stranglehole on chemical weapons and attacks. The United States was 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.600 just trying to keep up. George White's brand of realistic 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.360 testing was a necessity. Faced with what he perceived as 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:44.920 two compelling arguments, McCone did what bureaucrats do. He pushed 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:46.760 it off to the side and refused to make a 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:52.079 decision for two years. While Erman fumed, the San Francisco 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.200 safe houses were allowed to remain open as he had 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:59.720 always done, got leave insulated wife from the bureaucracy. When 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.400 mc hohne was finally convinced in k Ultra had to 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.719 be stopped, it was less of an order than a suggestion. 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.480 Gottlieb allowed George White to run his safe houses for 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:14.560 another year, Hey all of his bills. Maybe he believed 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.440 he could change mccowan's mind. Maybe he just wanted White 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:23.120 to have one last go of things. But ultimately common 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:27.280 sense prevails. There were no more last minute bailouts for White. 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:34.120 This time, the party really was over. In He turned 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.520 in his gun and badge and walked out the door, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.480 not just the CIA's door, but the door of the 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:45.840 Narcotics Bureau too. The Narcotics Bureau had nothing to do 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:50.720 with the CIA work, but White was indignant. He'd only 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.559 remained on the job to moonlight as a psychedelic hit man. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.680 If that was being stripped from him, he had little 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.360 reason to continue. All he had left was a job 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:05.400 that was now insisting on a concept he detested, oversight. 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.839 The culture was changing, police work was changing. There were 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.520 forms to fill out, people to answer to. Rogue agents 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.320 like White. Nike Feldman were a dying breed. Feldman had 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.640 been exiled to Bangkok. He had gotten into trouble for 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.760 searching a property without a search warrant and later distributing 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.920 guns he'd seized to other cops. White was criticized for 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.000 taking an opium scale during a raid for his extensive 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:38.600 collection of drug paraphernalia his trophies. The Narcotics Bureau itself 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:43.920 wouldn't exist for much longer. It underwent a restructuring. By 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.120 seventy three, it had been absorbed into the newly created 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.800 Drug Enforcement Agency or d e A. The world was 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.800 changing around George White, who later wrote to a friend 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:59.040 about his decision. I retired in San Francisco after about 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.400 thirty two years of rumbled tumble, and I suppose I 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.160 got out just in time, as I suspect I couldn't 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.280 abide the current rules applying to policeman. It was actually 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.280 bad health which forced me out, as the booze finally 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.600 cut off with my liver and sirosis kept me in 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.000 and out of hospitals for a few years. I haven't 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.240 had a drink in six years, and I'm living without it, 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.880 as the anti smoke TV puffs put it. And he 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.840 once told a journalist, there are more clerks, more forms, 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.520 more meetings, more laterals, more verticals. It serves no purpose, 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.280 wastes of time and money, and I don't enjoy it anymore. 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.760 I grew up in a much rougher school after decades 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.360 as one of the most successful and celebrated cops in 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:49.920 the country. George White disappeared, but the consequences at George 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.880 White's actions didn't just suddenly end with his retirement. They 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.240 reverberated for years. After he squeezed his last dose of 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.800 LSD into a stranger's drink like a hangover, his actions 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.960 would linger, and they wouldn't remain a secret forever. Though 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:12.400 Sydney Gottlieb gave it his best shot. For a time 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.080 it seemed like Gotlee ban White would get away with everything. 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.360 Gotleib continued to petition for LSD experiments when and where 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:24.240 he could, and for a time he was vindicated. In 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.320 nineteen seventy two, the c i A learned that two 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:32.319 physicians who accompanied President Richard Nixon to Moscow returned behaving erratically. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.320 One of the physicians reportedly had unexplained crying fits. He 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.440 had trouble recognizing his friends. He was treated for months. 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.320 Gotly believed they had been drugged by the Soviets, though 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:51.640 was never proven. Then came Watergate. In June two, after 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.960 a break in at the Watergate Hotel, Gottlieb got nervous 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.760 think of all the incriminating documents related to MK Ultra. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.480 It was a paper or trail of the CIA at 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.840 its most irresponsible and sadistic. A few months following the 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.720 Watergate break in got leaving his colleague of the CIA, 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.280 Richard Helms, decided to cover their tracks the old fashioned 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:19.120 way by destroying every single document related to MK Ultra, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.040 and a few months after that Gottlieb retired to what 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.360 he believed would be a quiet life of tennis and 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:30.520 raising goats. He was now a bystander to LSD's evolution 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:35.360 from a truth drug to a notorious drug. The use 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:38.080 of LSD among the general public had gotten more popular, 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.200 doing no small measure to the government introducing into the 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:46.400 masses through frequent and covert experimentation. As Gottlieb fed it 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.560 to universities and professors, it spread through college campuses, but 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.000 it was getting harder for the general public to obtain. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:59.040 In ninety eight, possession of LSD was a misdemeanor and 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.120 the sale of it a fell me Soon after, it 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.880 was a schedule one substance. People like Timothy Leary, Aldis Huxley, 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.000 and even actor Carrie Grant were advocating for LSD is 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:15.079 a therapeutic, even as it was being increasingly stigmatized. If 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.600 anyone found out about the government using LSD in the 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.440 most dangerous way possible by giving it to people unwittingly, 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.960 there would be a tremendous problem. But got Leep had 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.120 made confetti out of it, erasing any trace of mk 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.440 ultra from the government's collective memory, or so he thought. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.760 In four a reporter named Seymour Hirsch wrote an article 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.600 for The New York Times. He detail l the CIA 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.040 is a legal domestic intelligence operation which kept surveillance on 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:08.960 the anti war movement. It was criminal and a considerable 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.720 departure from the CIA's boundaries. At least, it was a 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.560 departure from their public reputation of being a virtuous organization. 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.960 President Gerald Ford saw the press poking around, hoping for 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.960 another water game. He knew if Congress took the initiative, 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.960 it might result in unnecessary disclosures about CIA activities, So 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.040 Ford grabbed the wheel and announced a special commission devoted 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:40.480 to investigating the CIA. His vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, would 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.320 share it, and it was during those hearings that CIA 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:48.840 Director William Colby wound up dropping the bombshell that the 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:55.040 CIA had conducted LSD experiments on American citizens. Colby, unlike 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.680 many in the CIA, thought there was such a thing 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.680 as a bad secret, and so he simply told the truth. 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.440 When the Rockefeller Committee failed to follow up on Colby's revelations, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:11.120 a second committee was organized, the Select Committee to Study 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:16.000 Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities. It could have 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.080 also been called what the fuck is the CIA doing. 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.120 Senator Frank Church headed the group, which was dubbed the 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:27.360 Church Committee, and unlike Rockefeller's team, they were eager to 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.360 get to the truth. The call went out to CIA 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:35.160 officials passed and present to explain themselves. Sydney Gottlieb was 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:39.440 among them. Gottlieb didn't want to talk when he was 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.760 summoned to the hearings in ninety five. His answers were 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:47.160 sealed from the public and the press. He was finally 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.040 convinced to speak a second time on September twenty one, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.120 nineteen seventy seven, during hearings chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy. 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.960 In exchange he would be immune from prosecution. Gottlieb tried 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.360 to be as evasive as possible. He began by reading 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:09.040 a prepared statement. My name is Sydney Gottlieb. At least 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.679 that part was true. I would like to comment on 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.440 Project MK Ultra. In the judgment of the CIA, there 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.160 was tangible evidence that both the Soviets and the Red 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.360 Chinese might be using techniques of altering human behavior which 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.720 were not understood by the United States and which would 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.440 have implications of national survival in the context of national 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:34.879 security concerns at that time. Gotlieb admitted the CIA had 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:39.120 targeted civilians. As far as the Bureau of Narcotics project 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.520 is concerned, there was no advanced knowledge or protection of 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.840 the individual's concerned. The only comment I would like to 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.080 make on this is harsh as it may seem in retrospect. 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.080 In an issue where national survival might be concerned, such 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.240 a procedure and such a risk was a reasonable one 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.520 to take. The committee asked why, if the cause was just, 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.679 he had tried to destroy every document related to it. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.320 With my retirements and with the drug work over and 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:10.359 inactive for several years, these files were of no constructive 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.200 use to the agency. They were the kind of sensitive 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.720 files that were capable of being misunderstood by anyone not 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.720 thoroughly familiar with their background, but Kennedy and his team 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.400 came prepared. God leaves paper apocalypse of a few years 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.640 prior had missed a number of boxes lurking in another office. 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.040 Some of the most devious minds and American intelligence had 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:38.000 failed to cover all their tracks. More than twenty thousand 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:42.240 documents related to MK Ultra survived. They were discovered by 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.000 a journalist named John Marks, who had filed a Freedom 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:49.440 of Information Act request to obtain them. The papers included 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.840 financial records, plus evidence the CIA had used LSD on 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:57.520 operatives as well as citizens. Got Leab took issue with 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:03.000 the papers for one specific reason. I feel victimized and 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.320 I am appalled at the CIA's policy wherein someone or 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:10.560 some group selectively pinpoints my name by failing to delete 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.480 it from documents released under the Freedom of Information Act 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:19.320 without any permission for me. Sydney Gottlieb was suddenly worried 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:28.479 about consent Part two implausible deniability. The hearing was not 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:32.240 Gotlieb's finest hour, but his plan, dating back to nineteen 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:36.639 fifty two, had actually worked brilliantly. Remember that Gotlieb hired 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.800 George White as a contractor. He was never an actual 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:44.560 CIA employee. White was a Narcotics Bureau employee. It gave 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.679 the CIA one degree of separation from the horrors he 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:52.800 inflicted At the hearings. Gotlieb argued George White had gone rogue. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.119 The CIA, in turn would declare Gottlieb was the one 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.919 who had struck out on his own. No one was 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:03.359 responsible for any thing. I might straighten one thing out 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.720 here that this narcotics agent worked for the CIA. That 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:12.000 is total distortion. He remained a very active and I 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:17.800 understand effective Bureau of Narcotics agents and administrator. He felt 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:21.679 that his interest and ours could be successfully intermingled, and 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:23.719 the nature of the things that he did for us 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.240 were indeed not things that he would say, well, now 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.000 I am doing this for the CIA. They were meant 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.000 to be useful in his own work, to the extent 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.479 that he felt that way. I just want to straighten 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:39.560 that out. He never worked for the CIA. George White's 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.600 diary entry in fifty two told a far different story. 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:48.640 Gottly proposes, I'd be a C I a consultant. I agree. 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.560 Senator Kennedy press Scottie on this point. Kennedy knew about 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:58.400 George White, about Morgan Hall, about the safe houses. Kennedy 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:00.560 moved in on the number of victims was left in 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.640 the wake of white psychedelic journey. In response to your 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.399 second question of how many I testified, After carefully looking 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.280 over all the files that were shown to me, my 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:16.920 best guests would be fifty. Kennedy pointed out that among 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.119 the recovered documents, they were well over two hundred checks 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.800 White paid out to his underlings. The amounts ranged from 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:27.159 fifty dollars to a hundred dollars. Many had the words 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.240 stormy in the memo section. Stormy was, of course, George 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.360 White's favorite term for LSD. I would agree that they 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:40.560 probably represented at least attempts at drug administrations. The real 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.600 number is unknown. Senator Kennedy asked god lead if prostitutes 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:48.639 were involved. The element of prostitution is interwoven in the 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.800 whole matter, So I am certainly persuaded that, as far 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.640 as safe houses are concerned, there were prostitutes in them. 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.359 Gottlieb then tap danced around a question about whether they 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:04.080 had recorded the activities in Chestnut Street. That is another 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:06.240 matter which I think needs to be talked about in 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:10.320 something more than a yes or no answer. Kennedy wanted 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:14.199 to know about self experimentation. Did Gottlieb administer drugs to 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:18.760 any of his colleagues or try LSD himself? There was 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:22.080 an extensive amount of self experimentation for the reason that 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.560 we felt that a firsthand knowledge of the subjective effects 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.360 of these drugs were important to those of us who 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.639 were involved in the program. The committee also brought up 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:36.440 Frank Olsen, the CIA employee who plunged to his death 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:41.359 in nineteen three. Olson, you'll remember, had been dosed with 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:46.160 LSD just days prior. They asked why it didn't halt 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:52.240 the program, and Senator Kennedy broached the ultimate question, quote, 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:54.520 can you tell us what you learned from the years 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.160 of the operation of the safe house? Was a useful 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:05.840 What can you tell us? I think what we learned 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:09.240 from the safe houses was more about what you could 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.040 not do than what you could do. That was as 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:16.640 relevant as positive information. I think the conclusion from all 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:20.480 the activities was that it was very difficult to predictably 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:23.879 manipulate human behavior in this way, and that would be 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:28.480 a summary statement I would make. By the time the 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.359 hearing has concluded and the report issued, the CIA had 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.800 been publicly scolded and reprimanded for its intentional dosing of 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.760 Americans with LSD. The U. S Government banned the use 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:42.920 of experimental drugs on human subjects without their consent in seven, 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:46.680 although the CIA under Gottlieb's watch wouldn't have paid such 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:51.880 a mandate much mind promised immunity. Gottlieb walked away, back 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:55.800 to a retirement of folk dancing and his goats. But 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:59.600 one question remained. What happened to the man who was 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:03.879 respond posible for terrorizing American citizens with LSD for twelve years? 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:28.240 What happened to George White? Part three? The Colonel George 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:30.760 White grew up with the sound of crashing ocean waves 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:34.280 in the Hambra, California. When he walked away from police 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:37.600 work in nineteen he and his wife Albertin made a 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:40.879 home for themselves in Stinson Beach, California, a community of 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:44.879 about seven people. In the third and final act of 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:48.760 his life, he returned to the sea, but Albertin wasn't 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:51.600 known much. She was still acting as a clothing buyer 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:55.040 for major retailers. She was also dabbling in real estate. 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:59.399 Life kept her moving and on the road, and so 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:02.560 for the first time in decades, George White had time 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:07.040 on his hands. He thought about becoming a private investigator, which, 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:10.560 given his considerable skills, the legitimate investigator would have fit 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:13.440 him like a glove. It would have brought him full 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.840 circle back to his days as a private investigator's assistant 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:21.160 before becoming a narcotics cop. He applied for a license, 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:23.960 but his health was an impediment of cruising the streets 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:27.800 looking for wayward husbands. Decades of drinking had made a 0:25:27.840 --> 0:25:32.879 mess of his liver. Instead, he threw himself into Stintson Beach. 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:36.520 He became the volunteer fire marshal, a job that didn't 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:40.560 demand much of him. White drove around in a red jeep, 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.880 sometimes driving across the lawn of residence he disliked. After 0:25:44.920 --> 0:25:47.639 an increase in vandalism, he helped open a youth center. 0:25:48.440 --> 0:25:51.560 The man who once took down a nationwide Chinese opium 0:25:51.640 --> 0:25:55.399 ring was now concerned with juvenile delinquents busting windows with rocks. 0:25:56.280 --> 0:25:59.160 We can't clean these little bastards are complete bastards until 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:01.920 we've given them a little clubhouse where they convent their energies. 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:05.359 If this fails, will throw them all in juvenile all. 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:09.360 In a letter to a friend, he wrote last year, 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:12.240 I was suckered into becoming fire chief of this village. 0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:16.360 We have two modern pumpers and about twenty volunteer firemen, 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:20.920 all small town prima donnas. Although my heart attack last 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:23.760 year came about when in the capacity is firewarden, I 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:27.800 over exerted. It happened during a cliff side rescue operation. 0:26:27.880 --> 0:26:30.640 I was persuaded to take the job since it appeared 0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:32.440 I was the only two legged man who could get 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:36.760 along with the various cliques amongst the volunteers, most probably 0:26:36.800 --> 0:26:38.840 because I was the only one who didn't want to 0:26:38.880 --> 0:26:42.560 be chief. Of course, I stipulated I wouldn't slide down 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:46.720 the pole to send cliffs or eat smoke, but would 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:52.879 confine my activity to deep thinking and issuing orders. The 0:26:52.960 --> 0:26:57.159 fire department was another small army White corral order around 0:26:57.400 --> 0:27:02.120 and send that on missions. Was considering his limitations an 0:27:02.119 --> 0:27:05.679 effective echo of his law enforcement work. It gave him 0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:08.320 a measure of power and control, even if it was 0:27:08.400 --> 0:27:13.080 just over fire hydrants and unpaid volunteers. But Stinson Beach 0:27:13.160 --> 0:27:15.960 was an odd choice for White. The Stinson Beach of 0:27:15.960 --> 0:27:19.800 the early nineteen seventies was full of retirees boating enthusiasts 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:22.879 and more than a few hippies. Jerry Garcia had a 0:27:22.920 --> 0:27:26.760 place there. The smell of marijuana sometimes drifted from the 0:27:26.800 --> 0:27:30.880 shore over to the homes just off the sand. White 0:27:30.960 --> 0:27:33.440 kept a telescope in his living room and scanned the 0:27:33.480 --> 0:27:36.600 beaches looking for the tiny burst of flame that accompanied 0:27:36.600 --> 0:27:40.199 a freshly lit joint. If he saw it, well, there 0:27:40.240 --> 0:27:48.359 would be trouble. Police department, Marty, it's the colonel. People 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:52.040 in Stinson Beach called White. The Colonel. I got four 0:27:52.080 --> 0:27:54.160 creeps here lighting up a joint right outside my house. 0:27:54.200 --> 0:27:56.840 You gotta come by and pick him up. Listen, Colonel, 0:27:56.880 --> 0:27:59.760 are you sure? Because I'm damn sure, right in front 0:27:59.760 --> 0:28:03.400 of my else. What do these kids think they are? Okay, 0:28:03.560 --> 0:28:14.399 we'll be over pump kids, hippies. Dear Paul. This afternoon, 0:28:14.520 --> 0:28:16.800 four adults sat down on the beach less than fifty 0:28:16.840 --> 0:28:19.119 ft from my front window and had a pot party 0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:23.400 on my beach. I called the sheriff and had them sneezed. 0:28:23.400 --> 0:28:25.480 I'm gonna put a sign on my bulkhead. Hey man, 0:28:25.800 --> 0:28:29.240 absolutely no pot smoking within a hundred yards of this window. 0:28:29.480 --> 0:28:32.879 This means you, the man who had spent over a 0:28:32.960 --> 0:28:39.160 decade drugging unwitting subjects was now anti drug, vehemently anti drug. 0:28:39.840 --> 0:28:43.400 He once said, everyone convicted of smoking marijuana should spend 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:46.760 some time in jail. You'd have some pretty full jails 0:28:46.920 --> 0:28:49.200 for perhaps a year. But when people learned it was 0:28:49.320 --> 0:28:52.680