Operation Midnight Climax

[Steve Thomas]

Sex, Lies, and LSD: The CIA’s Untold Story of Operation Midnight Climax

By Liam Ward March 31, 2023

https://www.messynessychic.com/2023/03/31/sex-lies-and-lsd-the-cias-untold-story-of-operation-midnight-climax/

Part of MKULTRA

“For this undercover operation George Hunter White was enlisted, described by some as a “rock-em, sock-em cop not overly carried away with playing spook,” White had been an investigative reporter for several newspapers; a lieutenant colonel during WW2 and a federal narcotics agent. This being sufficient experience, White was contracted as a CIA consultant and used the alias “Morgan Hall” to go about setting up an apartment first in Greenwich Village, New York and then in San Francisco. White had begun in New York by spiking his associates, their friends, then complete strangers he would meet in bars. But it wasn’t until the operation was moved to San Francisco that sex was added to the experiment. “

“George Hunter White passed away in 1975, but his diaries and correspondence survived and would be used in the MK-Ultra hearings. He described his time as part of Operation Midnight Climax in a letter.

“I was a very minor missionary, actually a heretic, but I toiled wholeheartedly in the vineyards because it was fun, fun, fun. Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape, and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All-Highest?””

CIA surviving memo from Operation Midnight Climax

Steve Thomas

[Larry Hancock]

I would seriously recommend Poisoner in Chief as a source for details on Midnight Climax and the overall CIA debacle with LSD, its one of the most egregious and saddest things I have ever seen and gives great insight into the character and role of George Hunter White as well as Gottlieb and a bit about Jolly as well.   Its excellent background and goes into details of White's correspondence with Gottlieb...

https://www.amazon.com/Poisoner-Chief-Sidney-Gottlieb-Control/dp/1250140439

[Gerry Down]

2 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

I would seriously recommend Poisoner in Chief as a source for details on Midnight Climax and the overall CIA debacle with LSD, its one of the most egregious and saddest things I have ever seen and gives great insight into the character and role of George Hunter White as well as Gottlieb and a bit about Jolly as well.   Its excellent background and goes into details of White's correspondence with Gottlieb...

https://www.amazon.com/Poisoner-Chief-Sidney-Gottlieb-Control/dp/1250140439

Thanks for the book recommendation, one to add to the reading list.

Have you ever come across the CIA using prostitutes, as in honey traps, to blackmail someone? The KGB used do this all the time but I've never heard of the CIA having done this.

[Larry Hancock]

One example I can think of is that Robert Maheu was used by the CIA to do electronic collections on international visitors, especially in New York at the UN.   He was also used to recruit prostitutes in conjunction with that and I suspect that was not simply to get the targets in a position to talk for recordings.  In another instance circa 1963 CIA was using information about an affair by Cuban diplomat Lechuga in an effort to persuade his wife to become a source for them.

I get a sense that the CIA used sexual blackmail more selectively and tactically than the Soviets who used it more often and over longer periods of time - I wrote about some of those incidents in my book on political warfare, Creating Chaos.

[Gerry Down]

38 minutes ago, Larry Hancock said:

One example I can think of is that Robert Maheu was used by the CIA to do electronic collections on international visitors, especially in New York at the UN.   He was also used to recruit prostitutes in conjunction with that and I suspect that was not simply to get the targets in a position to talk for recordings.  In another instance circa 1963 CIA was using information about an affair by Cuban diplomat Lechuga in an effort to persuade his wife to become a source for them.

I get a sense that the CIA used sexual blackmail more selectively and tactically than the Soviets who used it more often and over longer periods of time - I wrote about some of those incidents in my book on political warfare, Creating Chaos.

Thanks. Can you recommend any other books or sources that deal with the CIA using prostitutes like this for blackmail? Or tried to put people into compromising positions of a homosexual nature which the KGB also loved doing to people.

Btw, is the paperback and hardback editions of Creating Chaos the exact same? In other words the paperback edition is not an updated version of the hardback?

Edited April 3, 2023 by Gerry Down

[Larry Hancock]

There is only one edition of Creating Chaos, given that it predicted much of what came to pass in Ukraine and with the revelations of Russian sleeper agents and their activities  I decided events had overtaken me and decided to just let it stand.

I can't really think of any books that focused on the CIA's use of that sexual blackmail - I suspect because most of what did occur would have been done overseas, especially in Europe.  Generally speaking during the first Cold War the US focused on a combination of technical information collections (Staff D), code breaking, intercepts etc combined with literal covert warfare in a host of deniable military actions.  In turn the Soviet Union focused on political warfare and its related tactics, including all types of blackmail.  The Soviets played the game with the classic tools of empire, European style. 

One non-European example would be Mexico where the CIA did a deal with the President's office to run phone taps and as part of the bargain and provide recordings of his opponents for his political use, some of that information might have been used for blackmail.  Its not impossible other technical collections were leveraged with political allies in other countries.

If you read Poisoner in Chief you get a feel for why the CIA was interested in LSD and in drug related "technical" tools, for interrogations, and for covert intelligence collection from people who would give up information without even realizing it...a much more direct (albeit more brutal) and "scientific" approach.  Intelligence American Style (and yes I stole that from the seventies TV show).

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

One example I can think of is that Robert Maheu was used by the CIA to do electronic collections on international visitors, especially in New York at the UN.   He was also used to recruit prostitutes in conjunction with that and I suspect that was not simply to get the targets in a position to talk for recordings.  In another instance circa 1963 CIA was using information about an affair by Cuban diplomat Lechuga in an effort to persuade his wife to become a source for them.

I get a sense that the CIA used sexual blackmail more selectively and tactically than the Soviets who used it more often and over longer periods of time - I wrote about some of those incidents in my book on political warfare, Creating Chaos.

OS Officer Jim O’Connell’s SSCIA testimony is still heavily redacted, and based on the context many of the redacted pages discuss prostitutes, Russian diplomats, and Robert Maheu. 

[Gerry Down]

3 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

There is only one edition of Creating Chaos, given that it predicted much of what came to pass in Ukraine and with the revelations of Russian sleeper agents and their activities  I decided events had overtaken me and decided to just let it stand.

I can't really think of any books that focused on the CIA's use of that sexual blackmail - I suspect because most of what did occur would have been done overseas, especially in Europe.  Generally speaking during the first Cold War the US focused on a combination of technical information collections (Staff D), code breaking, intercepts etc combined with literal covert warfare in a host of deniable military actions.  In turn the Soviet Union focused on political warfare and its related tactics, including all types of blackmail.  The Soviets played the game with the classic tools of empire, European style. 

One non-European example would be Mexico where the CIA did a deal with the President's office to run phone taps and as part of the bargain and provide recordings of his opponents for his political use, some of that information might have been used for blackmail.  Its not impossible other technical collections were leveraged with political allies in other countries.

If you read Poisoner in Chief you get a feel for why the CIA was interested in LSD and in drug related "technical" tools, for interrogations, and for covert intelligence collection from people who would give up information without even realizing it...a much more direct (albeit more brutal) and "scientific" approach.  Intelligence American Style (and yes I stole that from the seventies TV show).

In his autobiography, Helms talks about a case of an American official being set up inside the USSR, I think it was in the 1950s, in a homosexual compromising sting operation in Moscow and Helms talks about sending word to the Russians through back channels that if they did it again they would use the same technique against USSR officials inside the U.S. and this got the Russians to back off. Of course this example applied to officials, as in diplomats. I suspect the CIA was involved in lots of these types of homosexual blackmail shenanigans on lower level assets during the Cold War but we've heard next to nothing about them, and it's now not very PC to admit to having done them.

One edition so of Creating Chaos. Judging from AbeBooks.com there seem to be far more softcover copies than hardcover ones. Made me wonder if it was a misprint and there had actually been no hardcover copies at all:

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/9781944869878/

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Gerry Down

[Ron Bulman]

Poisoner In Chief is an outstanding book imho.  In addition to so much more it's where I first read of George Hunter White.

The 5'7" over 200 pound "vastly obese", shaved head George whose first wife called him a fat slob.  He regularly used drugs, keeping a share of whatever he confiscated.  His consumption of alcohol-often a full bottle of gin at dinner-was legendary.  His other appetite was sexual fetish, especially sadomasochism and high heels. 

He joined the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and quickly became a crack agent.  1937 national headlines for opium bust.  Joined the OSS at the start of WWII, sent for paramilitary training at a secret base in Ontario called Camp X, which he later called a "school of murder and mayhem".  After completion he became a trainer, of, Richard Helms, Frank Wisner and James Jesus Angleton among others.  Later in India killed a Japanese spy with his own hands.  After the war more national headlines in 1949 for arresting Billie Holliday for possession of opium.  She claimed, clean for a year, planted.  A jury acquitted her.

In 1950 he worked for Senator Joseph McCarthy looking for Communists in the State Department then was fired by Kefauver from his committee for leaking suspicions of Truman and NY governor Dewey having mafia ties.  In 1952 the White's hosted the Angleton's for Thanksgiving dinner.  The next night George and JJ drank LSD laced martinis, took a cab for Chinese food, got to laughing and never ate.

Gottlieb hired George in 1953 to set up a safe house in Greenwich Village to observe unwitting people they gave LSD to.  An elaborate set up.  All while he still worked for the FBN.  In 1955 he was promoted to district supervisor in San Francisco.  So, Gottlieb had him open a safe house there.  This time they added prostitutes, paid by the CIA, authorized by Gottlieb.  And watched and listened to them having sex with tripping John's as well as encouraged pillow talk about the John's business interests.  White called this Operation Midnight Climax.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Ron Bulman

[Leslie Sharp]

GEORGE W.: The several references in the datebook, including one (August 29) regarding “shipment of LSD for New Orleans & Dallas – Texas laws?” are clearly referencing George White. He was a key operative in the CIA’s top-secret MKULTRA program to control human behavior using drugs, hypnosis, and other means. He worked undercover for the same narcotics agency as Lafitte. White’s name never came to light until 1977 during a congressional investigation. — author Dick Russell from his limited analysis of the datebook of Pierre Lafitte published in Coup in Dallas.
 

 

During his lengthy investigation of the 1953 death of CIA research scientist Frank Olson which culminated in his 2009 book "A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments," Albarelli discovered a treasure trove of information in the diary and letters of Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent and CIA contractor George Hunter White. Through White’s papers, Albarelli became aware of the importance of operative Pierre Lafitte who was the "special employee" of White during the Greenwich Village LSD-laced adventures that White ran as a part of the CIA's MKULTRA program. Both White and Lafitte defied agency protocol and maintained personal records of their exploits, confident that the norms did not apply to those involved in their level of operations. Those private papers were roadmaps for Albarelli’s investigation. 

Lafitte, who resided with his family in New Orleans in 1963 under the name Jean Martin, was far more than a sidekick to White. He had been an actual FBN employee during the Cold War, serving the CIA and FBI during his long and bizarre career. By 1952, Lafitte was of such value that he was soon meeting with some of the CIA’s top officials, developing personal friendships along the way, including that with CIA head of Counterintelligence James Angleton who would become his patron, a relationship that would have dire consequences for John Kennedy and America in 1963.

Over the years, Lafitte was able to skillfully juggle his contact with White and others within Angleton’s circles at the CIA, including his protégé Tracy Barnes who warrants an entire essay as presented in the Appendix of this book; the notorious CIA officer William King Harvey; and organized crime members including Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante, Jr. This combined history compelled Albarelli to advance his investigations to events in Dallas. — Coup in Dallas

" . . . But one of the most extraordinary associations in the annals of crime is the carefully guarded relationship between the federal government and one of the most amazing underworld figures of the age." — Bob Considine, Minneapolis Tribune, April 1955
 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Gerry Down]

20 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

OS Officer Jim O’Connell’s SSCIA testimony is still heavily redacted, and based on the context many of the redacted pages discuss prostitutes, Russian diplomats, and Robert Maheu. 

That would be good testimony to get hold of. The CIA probably will never let us see it cos it probably contains stuff that would be embarrassing to the agency.

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

That would be good testimony to get hold of. The CIA probably will never let us see it cos it probably contains stuff that would be embarrassing to the agency.

Agreed. There are still about seven full pages worth of redactions in O’Connell’s testimony last I checked. Three or four of those pages are consecutive and almost completely redacted, and those are the pages that appear to pertain to hookers and Russian diplomats. 

A lot of the other redactions seem to be about CIA corporate/proprietary cover practices, a critically important topic that accounts for a huge chunk of the remaining redactions in the JFK Collection. 

[Ron Bulman]

An interesting expense report.  8/3/1955.  "1 portable toilet, $25; 24 disposal bags @ $.15 each, $3.60 - $28.60."

From whence he witnessed through a one way mirror while sipping martinis the combined effects of LSD and sex on subjects to talk about, e. g. how high can that airplane fly.