Declassified CIA Documents Confirm MK-ULTRA Experiments on Korean War POWs in U.S. Custody

Declassified CIA documents confirm that Korean War prisoners of war were subjected to early mind control experiments under Project Bluebird, a precursor to the MK-ULTRA program, according to reporting by The Intercept based on materials released by the National Security Archive.

The documents, released between December 2024 and April 2025, reveal that in October 1950, 25 unnamed North Korean POWs were selected as the first test subjects for “advanced” interrogation techniques aimed at controlling individuals to the point where they would act against their will and even fundamental instincts like self-preservation.

An April 5, 1950 memorandum addressed to CIA Director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter outlined Project Bluebird’s goals, including the use of polygraph tests, drugs and hypnosis for “personality control purposes.” The memo specified that interrogation teams should consist of a psychiatrist, a hypnotist, and a polygraph technician, with the doctor and technician requiring approximately five months of training.

The project’s proposed budget of $65,515 covered team salaries, equipment such as syringes, towels, and film cameras, and $18,000 for transportation. While actual offshore locations were redacted, a later CIA meeting note referenced a project in Japan and Korea involving Army psychiatrists, psychologists, and a polygraph operator working with Korean POWs.

Declassified records also show inquiries into acquiring six “hypospray” devices for covert sedative injection via jet injection, as well as requests to modify a “tear gas pencil” and examine tools like the German “Scheintot” pistol, described as creating an “appearance of death.”

• Can we create … an action contrary to an individual’s basic moral principles?
• Could we seize a subject and in the space of an hour or two … have him crash an airplane, wreck a train, etc.?
• Can we ‘alter’ a person’s personality? How long will it hold?
• Can we guarantee total amnesia under any and all conditions?