1 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: What do you wear when a mobster comes over for 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,880 Speaker 1: a drink? Do you expect to be padded down to 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: make sure you're not wearing a wire? What if he 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: already knows you're a cop? Do you dress up? Maybe 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: a tweed suit and tie. It's hard to figure out 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 1: what mafia casual is, especially when you're a narcotics officer. 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: So we don't know what George White was wearing when 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: the mobster came to his door. That part wasn't in 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: the file. But when Sydney got leave, the CIA's chief 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: chemist and head of the MK Ultra drug experimentation program 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: pulled the confidential report on George White. This is what 12 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: it said about that May meeting. First, White took a 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: cigarette pack and began knocking out a few of the 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: smokes onto a table nearby. He had a vial of 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: liquid th hc acetate. Holding up the vial to the light, 16 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: White plunged a syringe into the top, piercing the rubber 17 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: seal and drawing the solution through the needle. Then he 18 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: pierced the syringe into the cigarette, then another. He did 19 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: this patiently, one at a time, making sure the solution 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: drenched the tobacco. Every time he finished with a cigarette, 21 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: he put it in a shot glass vertically so any 22 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: excess liquid would drain out, And once the smokes were dry, 23 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: he returned them to the pack like they've never been touched. 24 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: Then he put a brand new cellophane wrapper on the 25 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: box like it was unopened, like it had just tumbled 26 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: out of a dime store vending machine. White kept his 27 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: own untampered cigarettes separate. It's probably safe to say he 28 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: smoked one or two before he heard the knock at 29 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: the door. In walks August del Gracio, a k A. 30 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: Little Aggie. He strolls in like he's been there before. 31 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 1: That's because he has. Even though White and Little Aggie 32 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: are on opposing sides of the law, White the celebrated 33 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: narco agent and Aggie a made man, the two have 34 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: grown close. A few years prior, White could have arrested 35 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: Little Aggie in an opium bust, but he let him go. 36 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: It's a weird way to bond. But then again, White 37 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: needed sources, and Little Aggie was connected Lucky Luciano Meyer Lansky. 38 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: He knew them all. The two started hanging out, going 39 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: to each other's homes. They shared drinks, played chess, so 40 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: when Little Aggie came over that afternoon, it was business 41 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: as usual. They knocked a few back and made small talk. 42 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: I want to smoke, Aggie here, you're a guest. Save 43 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: them for later, Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, I'll take a smoke. 44 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: Listen to you. I got a guy poked outside waiting 45 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: for me, So I got maybe twenty minutes. Sure. Little 46 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: Aggie takes a drag. He feels relaxed, more relaxed than 47 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: he's ever been, and he starts to talk and talk 48 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: about infourmants he'd been forced to kill, about men he 49 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: could have murdered if White needed them to disappear, about 50 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: a top secret plan to use the notorious mobster Lucky 51 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: Luciano to help with the Allied occupation of Italy during 52 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: the war. Geo anything I'm telling you, I know, Loggy. 53 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: Do you repeat anything at all? It would get me killed. 54 00:03:54,040 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: You understand that I'm dead. It's a doornail, I know, Boggy. 55 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: You don't have to worry. You can trust me. The 56 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: fuck the funk you say that for? Say? What dead? 57 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: Is it doing nail? Why is it doingaille gotta be dead? 58 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: I don't know the one one on the cigarette. Shit, 59 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: I got it, I gotta go. I got a guy outside. 60 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: I only got twenty minutes. You've been here over two hours, Aggie. Well, 61 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: now it really gotta fucking go. This meeting, which George 62 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: White dutifully recorded in his diaries, was the beginning of 63 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: something big. Nine years later, this all appears in the 64 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: report that Sydney Gottlieb is looking through, and at that 65 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: moment got Leave decides there's no better man to handle 66 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: his top secret search for a truth drug than George White. 67 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: If George White could manipulate a mobster sworn to protect 68 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: the secrets of the Familia with an old fashioned wartime 69 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: truth serum, what could he do with something potent? What 70 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: secrets could he uncover with the full support of the 71 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: CIA and a supply of L s D. The world 72 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: was about to find out from my Heart radio, this 73 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: is Operation Midnight Climax. And I heard original podcast. I'm 74 00:05:54,560 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: Noel Brown and this is chapter two Brainwash, Part one, 75 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: Criminal Friends. What was George White up to before he 76 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: landed on the CIA's radar. It's all on the report 77 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: on Sydney Gottlieb's desk in ninety three, George White was 78 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: working for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. He's 79 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: been traveling the globe on all sorts of crazy missions, 80 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: from arming insurgents in Africa to finding out where, when, 81 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: and how drug smugglers are getting their illicit goods into 82 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: the US. Then one day White gets a call from 83 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: the head of the OSS, Bill Donovan. He's known as 84 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: wild Bill, and Wild Bill has a special request. Scientists 85 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington have developed an intriguing 86 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: drug from one of the primary compounds in marijuana liquid THHC. 87 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: But this isn't just a joint in liquid form. It's 88 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: highly concentrated, the way dish soap promises to clean fifty 89 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: plates with one drop. A few puffs and you're gone. 90 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: In the preliminary tests, subjects given the extracts start talking freely, 91 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: divulging all sorts of information. Wild Bill has a hunch 92 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: this could be the fabled truth drug the government has 93 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: been looking for, the one the Nazis are already rumored 94 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: to have in their possession, and his scientists have already 95 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: experimented with how to deliver it. They've tried it as 96 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: a vapor, they've burned it over charcoal. Finally, they settled 97 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: on a solution that could be injected into cigarettes. The 98 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: method is so smart and deceptively easy, after all, what's 99 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:44,239 Speaker 1: more natural than offering someone a smoke? But a wild 100 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: Bill needs to test this out, and he needs the 101 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: kind of subjects the OSS wouldn't care about, the kind 102 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,119 Speaker 1: of people the os s could overlook, so he calls 103 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: George White, someone with criminal friends. Wild Bill wants to 104 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: know just how talkative someone with real secrets might get, 105 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: what sort of things a mobster might reveal while knowing 106 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: the cost. After all, in the mafia's line of work, 107 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: loose tongues get removed with hedge clippers, So he tells 108 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: White to expect a package. Then he tells him how 109 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: to use it, and White agrees, but before he starts 110 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: calling up criminals, he tries it out on himself. White 111 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 1: sits alone in his apartment and starts smoking a soaked cigarette, 112 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:46,839 Speaker 1: and almost immediately he understands. George White smokes himself unconscious, 113 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: and when he comes to, he scribbles a note in 114 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: his diary knocked out pretty good stuff. Brother. Once White 115 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: says on a dose that seems to relax him without 116 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: causing him to become catatonic. White Nose just who to call. 117 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: A former drug dealer, Little Aggie was reformed. According to White, 118 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: Aggie owned a number of bridle shops in New York, 119 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: run by his brother and sisters. He ran a clean business, 120 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:24,960 Speaker 1: allegedly supposedly the Italian mobster at a soft spot for me. 121 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: He took to dropping by my apartment evenings to play chess, 122 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: at which he was terrible. They talked, Little Aggie laughed. 123 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: Under the influence, he was a different man. Sure he 124 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:41,839 Speaker 1: spoke about heroin and informants and hits and Luciano. He'd 125 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: spoken of these things before, but never in such detail, 126 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: never so freely. One part of him seemed to be 127 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: aware he was talking too much, but the other part 128 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,959 Speaker 1: didn't care. So you popped him, Well, yeah, and I 129 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: could pop anyone else you need to meet tube Gio. 130 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: White had two observations coming out of his conversation with 131 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: Little Aggie. For one, it seemed like the marijuana had 132 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: been a rousing success. Little Aggie forgot he had a 133 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,679 Speaker 1: driver waiting outside. Seemed to forget he belonged to a 134 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: very tribal organization that would kill him for saying the 135 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: things he told his friend Geo. But White also had 136 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: a second thought, which he shared with wild Bill. Was 137 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,079 Speaker 1: the OSS really looking to get into bed with Lucky Luciano? 138 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: The least trustworthy ally possible at the time. Luciano was 139 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: in prison serving a thirty to fifty year sentence for 140 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:45,080 Speaker 1: running the largest organized prostitution ring in America. Springing him 141 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: and then asking for his help offended White in a 142 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: fundamental way. Sure, he was friends with Little Aggie, but 143 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: that was to gather information. He didn't trust a mafia 144 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: man to lead the US to victory in World War Two, 145 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: so he old Wild Bill to stay away from criminal gangs. 146 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: He said, Little Aggie had told him some concerning things. 147 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,719 Speaker 1: I don't think the OSS is gonna let Luciana out 148 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,199 Speaker 1: of President Aggie. There's some very powerful people who can 149 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: make that happen to you. You ain't see. Wild Bill agreed, 150 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: and the OSS never employed him, but Luciana would come 151 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: back to haunt White later in a major way. For 152 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,079 Speaker 1: the moment, White had more pressing issues. While Bill wanted 153 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: him to take his show on the road literally, the 154 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: OSS tasked White with continuing his reefer madness experiment in 155 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: new and creative ways. He was sent to interrogate thirty 156 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:48,079 Speaker 1: American soldiers in Atlanta who were suspected of being closet communists. 157 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: White was armed with intelligence folders on each one so 158 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: we could ask leading questions. One by one, they puffed 159 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: on White's magic cigarettes, oblivious to what was inside of them. 160 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: One by one, their defiance dissolved in a puff of smoke. 161 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: Nearly all of them gave White information he didn't have 162 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: before he walked into the room. The effects seemed to 163 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: materialize within fifteen minutes and lasted for thirty to ninety minutes, 164 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: just enough of a window of time to climb inside 165 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: their minds and grab what he could. Part two, The 166 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 1: Manhattan Project. This was the end result of two billion 167 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: dollars spent on research and production of years of feverish labor. 168 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: Johanna's atomic power ahead of the enemy. The energy that 169 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: generates the heat of the Sun and operates the solar 170 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: system comes under the will of human kind. White visited 171 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:03,199 Speaker 1: the side dentists working on the atomic bomb. The OSS 172 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: wanted to know if the lab boys would discuss classified 173 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: information under the influence. Let's just pause for a second 174 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: to acknowledge how bonkers this is someone somewhere signed off 175 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: on an experiment to give an untested solution of liquid 176 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: marijuana to the men responsible for designing the most dangerous 177 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,439 Speaker 1: weapon in mankind? Do you really want people who can 178 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: summon the end of the world getting high in the 179 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: middle of their work day. These weren't necessarily cigarettes either. 180 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: White injected their food and drink with it, sprayed it 181 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: on tissue paper they used on their faces. Then he 182 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: and another operative tried to get information. After all, it's 183 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: something the enemy might do. Thankfully, no one talked. Considering 184 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: the government's track record for disposing of national security threats, 185 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:58,480 Speaker 1: it was for the best. Throughout his travels, White was 186 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:00,959 Speaker 1: partnered with a Harvard law grad to it from OSS. 187 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: His name is lost to redacted documents, but we do 188 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: know the man would later confess that no one at 189 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: the OSS would ever accept a cigarette from him again. 190 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: While Bill sent the pair across the South cigarettes at 191 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: the ready, and their styles didn't exactly mesh. George Hunter 192 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: White was reckless. He parked his car illegally wherever he wanted. 193 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 1: He used his gun as a prop to scare waiters. 194 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: One night at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, White 195 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: pulled out his twenty two automatic and shot his initials 196 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: into the ceiling of their hotel room. G h W. 197 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: It took him several clips. It was like he wanted 198 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: to sign his work, like he was making history and 199 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: wanted people to know. George White, rejected by the FBI, 200 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: had finally arrived. But this was just the start of 201 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: his depraved adventures, an audition for the real work that 202 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: would begin. When Sydney Gottlieb first pulled out his file 203 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: in September, the American public was introduced to a new term, brainwashing. 204 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: It was coined by a journalist named Edward Hunter, who 205 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: was writing about the dangers of the Communist Party for 206 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: the Miami Daily News. Communists in China, Hunter road, we're 207 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: using terrifying technique to turn their people into mindless, obedient robots. 208 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: Edward Hunter's story scared a few people, but largely passed 209 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: without notice. Then reports started circulating of Americans who were 210 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: captured during the Korean War confessing to biological warfare. A 211 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: colonel who had been shot down over Korea admitted to 212 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: war crimes, so did other soldiers. These captured Americans insisted 213 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: they had dropped anthrax in North Korea over civilians. Whether 214 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: that's what really happened is still debated seventy years later. 215 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: They implored the U. S Government to end the war 216 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: and signed confessions testifying to their heinous deeds. Some refused 217 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: to be repatriated. Others stood up in support of communism. 218 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: Would an American soldier really denounce his own country? For 219 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: those in the highest levels of government, there was a 220 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 1: simple explanation. Some kind of potion must have warped the 221 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: prisoners minds, Something must have happened suddenly. Edward Hunter's warning 222 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: didn't seem so hysterical. Brainwashing was a convenient explanation, and 223 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: it wasn't exactly Edward Hunter's idea. Hunter was a CIA propagandist, 224 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: a journalist willing and able to spread the agency's message 225 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: when the call came, and the call did come, to 226 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: communicate to Americans that the Russians and Chinese were on 227 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: the forefront of what came to be known as brain warfare. 228 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:37,120 Speaker 1: According to Dominic street Field's book Brainwash, the CIA captured 229 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: two Russian agents in Ninette. They were carrying small plastic 230 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: cylinders filled with liquid. Under questioning, the Russians said these 231 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: powerful dlug We'll tell them human into zombie. They will 232 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: do whatever they are told. The really scary part, no 233 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 1: CIA chemists could identify it. Now, imagine you're the c 234 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,160 Speaker 1: i A. You've just been told the enemy has mastered 235 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: the art of chemical mind control. And it wasn't just 236 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: a report. Soldiers were actually defecting. Weird drugs were turning 237 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: up everywhere. Remember this was the era of Joe McCarthy, 238 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: the Second Red Scare. Paranoia gripped the agency. Every single 239 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: drug available had to be rounded up and evaluated for 240 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,159 Speaker 1: possible use against the United States. The effects needed to 241 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: be known. This was priority one. Alan Dullas, the CIA's director, 242 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: believed this operation could determine the very survival of the 243 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: United States. In fact, Dallas gave a speech in ninety 244 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: three that touched on the topic. In the past few years, 245 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,719 Speaker 1: we have become accustomed to hearing much about the battle 246 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: from men's minds. We might call it brain warfare. Its 247 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,399 Speaker 1: aim is to condition the mind so it no longer 248 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: reacts on a three wheel or rational basis, but responds 249 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:07,959 Speaker 1: to impulses implanted from outside. If we are to counter 250 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: this kind of warfare, we must understand the technique. The 251 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:19,880 Speaker 1: Soviet Is adopting to control men's minds. For the CIA, 252 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: brain warfare was no hypothetical scenario. Dulles appointed Gotlieb was 253 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: the chief of the Chemical division of the Technical Services Staff, 254 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: and Gottlieb promptly got to work. His staff of CIA 255 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: and Army chemical scientists raced to evaluate drugs for their 256 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:40,360 Speaker 1: mind controlling potential. The drugs were a new challenge for Gotlieb. 257 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: In the early days, CIA chemists worked on the sort 258 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,439 Speaker 1: of thing you'd find in a kid's spy movie, stink 259 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: bombs and exploding cookie dough. But under Gottlieb, the work evolved. 260 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,439 Speaker 1: Operating from an Army base in Fort Dietrich, Maryland, his 261 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: team brewed countless recipes of sabotage from by chilling hum 262 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: toxins too paralyzing agents. They formulated deadly liquids from shellfish 263 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: toxins and crocodile bile, and the herbal stuff things like 264 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,879 Speaker 1: mescaline and marijuana were combed for their truth seeking properties. 265 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,320 Speaker 1: No question was too outrageous. Could they dissolve a concrete 266 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: wall with a chemical? Could they induce amnesia? The projects 267 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: had code names like Bluebird because they wanted tight lipped 268 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: in formants to sing. Gottli was unassuming in appearance, tall, thin, 269 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: with a stutter, but he was ruthless about his work. 270 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: An absolute monster, and he ushered in a horrifying chapter 271 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:51,760 Speaker 1: of American history. In ninety one, when four Japanese men 272 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: were suspected of working for the Soviet Union, Gottlieb escorted 273 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: a group of scientists to Tokyo. The team injected the 274 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: men with stimm lens and depressants until they confessed. They 275 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: were tortured without a trial, without anything resembling justice. All 276 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: four men were executed and dumped into Tokyo Bay. Gottlieb 277 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 1: repeated the protocol with twenty five prisoners of war in 278 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: North Korea. They refused to renounce Communism, they too, were executed. 279 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: Gottlieb would even board a plane headed for the Congo 280 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 1: with an unknown toxin meant to assist in the CIA 281 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:43,119 Speaker 1: sanctioned assassination of the country's prime minister. Gottlieb wound up 282 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: throwing the substance in the river because too much time 283 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,480 Speaker 1: had passed and it had grown unstable, but the prime 284 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: minister would live just another few weeks before he was 285 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:57,160 Speaker 1: reported dead. The CIA denied having anything to do with it. 286 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: Dallas had officers pursuing non chemical means to hypnosis, electroshock therapy, 287 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:10,920 Speaker 1: brain surgery, and as they worked, the CIA inched closer 288 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 1: to their goal of brainwashing someone, convincing someone to act 289 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: in a manner contrary to their nature. A CIA psychiatrist, 290 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,360 Speaker 1: for example, successfully induced an office secretary into a state 291 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,920 Speaker 1: of sleep. Then he told another secretary to wake her up, 292 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: and if she couldn't, she should pick up the gun 293 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 1: and shoot. The secretary couldn't wake up her colleague, so 294 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: she picked up the gun, took aim, and fired. Of course, 295 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't loaded. While homicidal secretaries seemed like a promising start, 296 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: this kind of experimentation could only go so far. After all, 297 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: these were government employees who had agreed to be subjects. 298 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: On some level, they were complicit, They wanted to follow orders. 299 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: It would be another matter entirely to coerce the enemy 300 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:08,440 Speaker 1: into confessing, and no external force seemed capable of doing that. 301 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: It had to be something chemical, something to make the 302 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: brain pliable, malleable, something that left it impressionable. Remember, Americans 303 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: were coming home denouncing domestic ideals, turning their backs on 304 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: the country, and the CIA wasn't just in the business 305 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,119 Speaker 1: of identifying intelligence threats. They were, in many ways a 306 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: defense agency. The enemy was waging a war of neurons now, 307 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,119 Speaker 1: and Alan Dallas believed the fate of the United States 308 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: of America rested on it. So that's where Sidney Gottlieb 309 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,360 Speaker 1: found himself surrounded by psychologists looking to hack into brains 310 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: through brute force. The stakes impossibly high. He kept looking 311 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: at files, hoping to find a trace of something promising. 312 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,880 Speaker 1: He rewound back to the Office of Strategic Services and 313 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: to George White, who had already been tasked years prior 314 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: with finding a truth drug and if his experience with 315 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: August del Gracio as any indication White had found it, 316 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: the very same drug White had spent his days arresting 317 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,439 Speaker 1: people for was the same thing he was dosing people 318 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: with across the country, you know, for the sake of 319 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: democracy and a little later for fun. Part three, Meeting 320 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 1: of the Minds. Gottlieb's interest in White came at a 321 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: crucial time for the narcotics agent. There was an opening 322 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: for the district supervisor's job in New York. White was 323 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: so certain he'd be selected for duty that he started 324 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: moving into the vacant office, hanging pictures up on the wall. 325 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:07,120 Speaker 1: He stayed there for weeks until word came in his supervisor, 326 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: Harry Anslinger, couldn't give him the job. New York Governor 327 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: Thomas Dewey despised White. White had stated the mafia was 328 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,719 Speaker 1: trying to bribe the government to get Lucky Luciano out 329 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: of prison in order to help the Allied invasion of Italy, 330 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: which fairly directly implicated Dewey. Dewey was the one who 331 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: commuted Luciano's sentence. White had never forgotten what Little Loggie 332 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: had said about Luciano, and he wanted to nail someone 333 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: for it. Unfortunately, it was a bad political move. Fingering 334 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 1: Dewey put White in the crosshairs of some powerful people. 335 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,919 Speaker 1: This won't be the last time Dewey causes problems for White, 336 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,320 Speaker 1: and once again George White was denied an opportunity he 337 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:57,479 Speaker 1: felt he deserved. But Sydney got leave. He had no 338 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:03,400 Speaker 1: such concerns. To Gottlieb, George White was everything he could 339 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:07,640 Speaker 1: ever ask, a perfect soldier for brain warfare. Not only 340 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,119 Speaker 1: did White have extensive narcotics experience, he was a trained 341 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:17,680 Speaker 1: killer beyond little Loggie, White maintained a network of underworld associates. 342 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 1: He was a conduit to a world Gottlieb wanted to exploit. 343 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: Who better to experiment on than society's unwashed masses the pimps, prostitutes, 344 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: drug dealers, users, and mafia cronies, and George White had 345 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: access to all of them. Even if the subjects found 346 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,159 Speaker 1: out and wanted to complain, they'd never go to the police. 347 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: Silence was their universal trait. Gottlieb knew he needed White 348 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: someone to take his lab theories and test them on 349 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: the streets. Of course, one federal agency doesn't simply plunder 350 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: the employees of another federal agency without going through the 351 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: proper channels, So Gottlieb called it's boss Harry Anslinger to 352 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 1: get his blessing. Anslinger, who was busy telling the press 353 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 1: heroin was now the number one drug scourge in the country, 354 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: didn't have a problem with it. White had long been 355 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: among his favorite agents. He told Gotlieb if he wanted 356 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: White part time, that was fine with him. He didn't 357 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: realize the CIA would soon become White's all consuming obsession. 358 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: In early nineteen fifty two, Gottlieb finally met White in Washington. 359 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: It was the real life equivalent of the Emperor recruiting 360 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: Darth Vader. The CIA chemist would later describe the man 361 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: he shook hands with as gruff and loudish, but who 362 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: could turn urbane to a point of eloquence. Gottli was 363 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: experiencing the dichotomy of White for himself. Rather than sit 364 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: in a conference room, White suggested another way of getting 365 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,119 Speaker 1: to know one another. He invited Gottlieb to accompany him 366 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: to Boston, where he was working on an investigation concerning 367 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: a small business owner and millionaire who claimed to be 368 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: working real estate but was clearly profiting from a heroin 369 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: ring connected to a New York crime family. On the 370 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: way there, they talked business. I've read about the marijuana 371 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: experiments you did for the U. S S. It's fascinating stuff. 372 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,640 Speaker 1: I'm knocked my own ass out. You know, do you 373 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: think it's less than ideal for our purposes? You need 374 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: to tell me what your purposes are, so Gottlieb did. 375 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: He explained the agency's suspicions that the Soviets had a 376 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 1: truth drug in their arsenal and that the country was 377 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: under substantial communist threat. Some subversive action was needed, actions 378 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: sanctioned by CIA director Alan Dulles, who had the blessing 379 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: of President Dwight Eisenhower. The specifics were up to Gottlieb. 380 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: There are a lot of drugs with potential, but we 381 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: need to be careful of blowback. I mean, if someone 382 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: catches on you drug them, then maybe they'd go to 383 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: the police. A criminal might not no, and you know 384 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: what else, I am the police. Gotlieb and White got along. 385 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: White told Gottlieb about his frustrations over being passed up 386 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: for government jobs in the past, the feeling he wasn't 387 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,960 Speaker 1: good enough, and Gottlieb understood the man with a club 388 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: foot had been rejected for military service. He knew the 389 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:33,240 Speaker 1: sting of rejection. Gottlieb walked away from his encounters with 390 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: White feeling very good about his potential as a CIA consultant, 391 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: and that title wasn't plucked from thin air either. If 392 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: Gotlieb could actually follow through on its plan to drug 393 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: random civilians, he needed a certain distance from White. He 394 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: needed to be able to say, George White doesn't work 395 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: for the CIA, just in case things went wrong. And 396 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: this isn't exactly a spoiler but things were about to 397 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: go very, very wrong. A company man, Gottlieb, reached out 398 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: to his supervisors to get the necessary clearances to officially 399 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: enlist White. But the intelligence world is murky. Gotlie didn't 400 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: know that another CIA officer, James Angleton, had already contacted 401 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: White for an earlier drug project. Angleton didn't mention it, 402 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: and neither did White. Gottlieb would later say it was 403 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: all part of the duality of intelligence work in the CIA. 404 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: They even sneak around on one another. When Gottlieb formerly 405 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: offered White the job, White had to submit to a 406 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 1: CIA background check, and while he undoubtedly had a colorful past, 407 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,480 Speaker 1: the check lasted for a very long time. One month, 408 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: two months, then six months. The CIA's personnel department seemed 409 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: to be hung up on George White, and White thought 410 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: he knew why. Couple of crew cut pipe smoking punks 411 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: had either known me or heard of me during the 412 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: OSS days and had decided I was too rough for 413 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: their league and promptly blackballed me. White had little love 414 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 1: for the starched collars of federal officers. To White, they 415 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,120 Speaker 1: didn't get their hands dirty the way he did. Agents 416 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: locked themselves in offices reading reports while White was dodging 417 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: bullets and making cases. One CIA officer would later say 418 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 1: White was friends with criminals, prostitutes, drug dealers. They were 419 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: a little in awe of him, a little scared, and 420 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:42,600 Speaker 1: a little dismissive. Officials may have delayed his application because 421 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: George White was a wrecking ball, but there was also 422 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: some reluctance in handing over full control of the drug 423 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: experiments to Gottlieb. The Office of Scientific Intelligence wanted eyes 424 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: on the projects, so did the Office of Security. There 425 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: were clearly people within the CIA who didn't want Gottlieb 426 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: to have the unchecked authority he wound up with. And 427 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: this part it's important to remember. The chain of command 428 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: wasn't the CIA, Gottlieb and White. This whole thing was 429 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:18,240 Speaker 1: Gottlieb show run. However he saw fit. White only had 430 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 1: to answer to him. If gottlie was watching White, well, 431 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: who was watching Gottlieb. No one, Alan Dulles had given 432 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: him total, unrestricted freedom. There was just one wrinkle to 433 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 1: recruiting White. At the moment George White was sitting in jail. 434 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: At first, Gotlieb thought White had been caught with a 435 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,080 Speaker 1: few drug samples he had innocently passed to him during 436 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,920 Speaker 1: one of their meetings, but then he was told the truth. 437 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: White had actually been thrown in a cell for contempt 438 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 1: of court. In front of a judge, he refused to 439 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: name an informant a grand jury. White told the judge 440 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: that the last time one of his informants had been identified, 441 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:09,840 Speaker 1: the man wound up dead in an alley. Gottlieb sprang 442 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,400 Speaker 1: into action, getting White legal counsel. The lawyer ultimately advised 443 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: White to name the man in a closed door session. 444 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: While it's not typical to do your recruiting from a 445 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: jail cell, Gottlieb saw it as a sign of White's valor. 446 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 1: This was a man who couldn't be shaken from his 447 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: core values. On January one, nineteen fifty three, Sydney Gottlieb 448 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:37,160 Speaker 1: made it official. George White was a CIA consultant. The 449 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: man who had resented the organization for rejecting him over 450 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 1: and over was now bestowed with all of its powers. 451 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: In his diary, White wrote a brief note, gottli proposes, 452 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: I'd be a CIA consultant. I agree. Think about that 453 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 1: statement for just a minute. Does it sound unusual to you, 454 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: Gottlieb proposes ib as CIA consultants. I agree. In what 455 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: could be considered his first pertinent act as a CIA consultant, 456 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: White had just written down the real name of his supervisor. 457 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: This wasn't something you were supposed to do. Dating back 458 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: to Camp X, White had known the value of keeping 459 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: names out of written material. It was espionage one oh one. 460 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: But just a few minutes into his role in one 461 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:31,319 Speaker 1: of the most well guarded secrets in American intelligence, White 462 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,400 Speaker 1: was scribbling names down. It was a reckless thing to do. 463 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:39,280 Speaker 1: It broke a rule. It wasn't the only rule George 464 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 1: White was about to break next time. On Operation Midnight Climax. 465 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:54,280 Speaker 1: In one of their first meetings, Sidney Gottlieb handed White 466 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: an ampull of LSD. This could be the key to everything, 467 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,279 Speaker 1: providing White was willing to make some bold moves on 468 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,400 Speaker 1: behalf of his country. Without knowing it, White and Gottlieb 469 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: were about to usher in the psychedelic age. White looked 470 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 1: at the ampule and his mind started to turn. He 471 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,439 Speaker 1: put it in his pocket like a bullet loaded into 472 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:20,600 Speaker 1: a chamber, and then he went off in search of 473 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:36,440 Speaker 1: a target. Operation Midnight Climax is hosted by Noel Brown. 474 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 1: This show is written by Jake Ross and editing, sound 475 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:44,400 Speaker 1: design and mixing by Ernie indur Dat and Natasha Jacobs. 476 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:49,759 Speaker 1: Original music by Aaron Kaufman. Research and fact checking by 477 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: Austin Thompson and MAURICEA. Brown Show. Logo by Lucy Kingtonia 478 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 1: Special thanks to David Crumholtz, Vanessa Crumholtz, Ted Ramie and 479 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:05,800 Speaker 1: Jason Simpson. Julian Weller is our supervising producer. Our executive 480 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 1: producers are Jason English and Mangesh had Ticketer. See you 481 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: next week.