CIA MKUltra Subproject 123: Emerging Nations Study
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PROJECT MKULTRA, Subproject 123. TO: TSS/OC. FROM: TSS/CD, Room B-10. Purpose of Project: To provide funds for an investigation of Emerging Images. Progress to Date: Project being initiated. PURPOSE: To study emerging [national] images in three countries whose people have achieved varying stages of independence (MKULTRA 123). Initiated: September 1960. Cost: $20,000. Contractor: Dr. [redacted], as a grantee. Status: Approximately two-thirds completed. RESEARCH GRANT, September 1, 1960 – September 1, 1961 — ACCOUNTING: Transportation (ship and plane to three countries): total $3,000.00, including gratuities $156.10. Internal Transportation (car depreciation, petrol/insurance, plane and train): $1,500.00. Assistants and Clerical Help (secretary, assistants, interpreter-guide, village interviewers and gifts): $1,010.00; a further $1,500.00 for a secretary, three clerical assistants, and approximately 100 interviewers. Incidentals (materials, postage, shipping, miscellaneous): $990.00. Living Expenses (12 months): $10,000.00. IBM Computer Charges: $2,000.00. TOTAL EXPENDITURES: $20,000.00.
Frequently Asked Questions
A CIA MKUltra subproject initiated in September 1960 that funded a social-science field study of 'emerging images' — the self-perceptions and national outlooks of people in three countries that had recently achieved varying degrees of independence.
Working under a research grant, a contracted academic conducted roughly 100 interviews in villages using interpreters and guides, and processed the data with early IBM computers.
About $20,000 total, itemized in the records across transportation to the three countries, interviewers and clerical help, living expenses, incidentals, and IBM computer charges.
It reflects MKUltra's lesser-known interest in psychology, sociology, and understanding foreign populations — not only drugs and interrogation — at the height of the Cold War.