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The Climax · Operation Midnight Climax

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It's December, five days before Christmas, and a few dozen
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: people are gathered for a big holiday party. They're at
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the US Post Office building in downtown San Francisco. Peeking in,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it looks like a scene out of Mad Men. Guys
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: in crisp suits, skinny ties, women in colorful dresses, everyone
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: drinking and laughing. There's a Deputy U S Marshal at
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the party named Wayne Ritchie. He's got a girlfriend, but
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: she didn't come tonight. It doesn't matter. He's just here
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: to mingle. The mood is light, everyone's having fun whatever
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the small talk. The booze is flowing. Actually it's more
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: than that. It's the sort of party where you can
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: reach out and someone will put a glass right in
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: your hand. You don't even have to ask. As Wayne
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Ritchie SIPs gingerly, the drink hits him a little too quick.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: This isn't just some light buzz. There's an uncomfortable feeling
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: in his chest. Then something in his brain starts pulling
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: him away from reality towards someplace else, a place he
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: doesn't like. He begins seeing things. The holiday lights melt
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: in front of him, and for some reason, creatures pop
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: up around him. Monsters really eyeing him suspiciously. Richie's office
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: is in the building. He excuses himself and sits alone.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: He spent five years in the military and one year
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: as a guard at Alcatraz. He's a well respected marshal.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: But sitting there, Richie feels a surge of emotions, like
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: he's let people down, his friends, his relatives. Suddenly the
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: office no longer feels safe. He leaves. The monsters follow Wayne.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Ritchie is out on the streets now, trying to flee.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Faces don't look like faces anymore. Eyes are in the
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: wrong places, sore noses, sore mouths. The sidewalk moves under
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: his feet like it's liquid cement, like it never dried.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Richie's mind starts to wander. He starts thinking about his girlfriend.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: He loves her so much. He remembers how she always
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: wanted to visit New York, how he couldn't afford the trip.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: But right now, New York seems like a good idea.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Right now, it seems like the best idea he's ever had.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: But he's got no money, not enough for that. What
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: if he could get the money. Richie goes back to
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the post office building, to his storage locker, he gets
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: his service revolver. He's not sure why he needs a weapon,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: but he feels better with it, safer. He begins ducking
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: in and out of bars for more drinks. Maybe something
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: will wash away these feelings. Then he walks into the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: right bar, the bar that can solve all his problems,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Shady Grove. He looks around. The monsters are still there,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: and there are people, too many people. He's nervous. Suddenly
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: he pulls out his gun. He aims at at the bartender.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: He demands money, all the money. This is not Wayne Ritchie.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: This man is committing armed robbery five days before Christmas.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Wayne Ritchie is a U S. Marshal, sworn to uphold
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the law, a man who has never once broken it.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Part of him is looking on in horror, not believing
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: what's happening. Another part is totally comfortable with what's going on.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: He can't even be fine if the bartender pulled out
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: his own gun and aimed it back at him. Now,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: he says something that feels so right and so foreign
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: at the same time. Just put it all in the bag. Okay,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: take it easy. I'm gonna go to New York with
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: my girl. Okay, Hey, hey, Mr. That last voice is
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: an anchor. It cuts through his thoughts and pulls him
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: back to reality. He's grateful, he turns to the person,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: then a blast of pain explodes in the back of
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: his head. When Wayne Ritchie regains consciousness, two police officers
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: are standing over him. He'll lose his job, his reputation
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: will be ruined in an in stint, He'll go from
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: an officer of the law to a felon. And it'll
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: be decades before Richie has any clue what happened that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: he hadn't gone insane. Richie would later come to believe
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: he'd been dosed with LSD. It explained everything, and George
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: White's diary had a note about this exact party at
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the Federal Building. While Richie could never definitively prove what
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: had happened to him that night, his story is forever
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: late to White's reign of terror. For over a decade,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: George White had used LSD to summon demons that chased
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: down innocent people, but before it was all over, someone
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: would finally be chasing him. For I Heart Radio, this
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: is Operation Midnight Climax, and I heard original podcast I'm
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Your host Noel Brown. And this is chapter eight the climax,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Part one paper trail. Hey, Geo, fuck it, I fucking quit. Technically,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: that's how George White's career came to a close, both
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: careers law enforcement and illegal LSD experimentation. It happened in
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: at the San Francisco Narcotics Bureau office. In the end,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a complaint or a death or his conscience.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: It was invoices. All along, White had been forwarding expense
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: invoices to his CIA supervisor, Sidney Gottlieb. White was billing
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the CIA for everything from prostitutes to booze. Not exactly
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a good move if you want to fly under the radar.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And beginning in nineteen sixty three, these invoices were landing
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: on the desk of CIA Inspector General John Eyerman. Eerman
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: was outraged. He spoke to Gotlieb, who confirmed White was
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: on the prowl in San Francisco. White had full approval
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: to dose innocent people with LSD. Erman dubbed the entire
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: enterprise a series of sophomoric procedures. He wanted it shutdown.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Of course, Gottlieb and a CIA ally named Richard Helms
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: didn't agree. Helms tried to placate Erman. You promised to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: sit down with CIA director John mccoon to explain and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: exactly what was going on. Then Helms ignored the issue completely.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: He never approached mccon. Erman was shocked, so Erman wrote
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: a report and delivered it directly to mccon. Got Leeban
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Helm sat down with the director to argue their side
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of it. Sure, it looked like White was harming innocent civilians,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: but this was war. Helms insisted the Soviets had a
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: stranglehole on chemical weapons and attacks. The United States was
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: just trying to keep up. George White's brand of realistic
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: testing was a necessity. Faced with what he perceived as
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: two compelling arguments, McCone did what bureaucrats do. He pushed
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: it off to the side and refused to make a
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: decision for two years. While Erman fumed, the San Francisco
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: safe houses were allowed to remain open as he had
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: always done, got leave insulated wife from the bureaucracy. When
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: mc hohne was finally convinced in k Ultra had to
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: be stopped, it was less of an order than a suggestion.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Gottlieb allowed George White to run his safe houses for
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: another year, Hey all of his bills. Maybe he believed
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: he could change mccowan's mind. Maybe he just wanted White
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to have one last go of things. But ultimately common
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: sense prevails. There were no more last minute bailouts for White.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: This time, the party really was over. In He turned
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: in his gun and badge and walked out the door,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: not just the CIA's door, but the door of the
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Narcotics Bureau too. The Narcotics Bureau had nothing to do
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: with the CIA work, but White was indignant. He'd only
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: remained on the job to moonlight as a psychedelic hit man.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: If that was being stripped from him, he had little
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: reason to continue. All he had left was a job
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: that was now insisting on a concept he detested, oversight.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: The culture was changing, police work was changing. There were
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: forms to fill out, people to answer to. Rogue agents
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: like White. Nike Feldman were a dying breed. Feldman had
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: been exiled to Bangkok. He had gotten into trouble for
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: searching a property without a search warrant and later distributing
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: guns he'd seized to other cops. White was criticized for
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: taking an opium scale during a raid for his extensive
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: collection of drug paraphernalia his trophies. The Narcotics Bureau itself
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: wouldn't exist for much longer. It underwent a restructuring. By
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: seventy three, it had been absorbed into the newly created
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Drug Enforcement Agency or d e A. The world was
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: changing around George White, who later wrote to a friend
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: about his decision. I retired in San Francisco after about
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: thirty two years of rumbled tumble, and I suppose I
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: got out just in time, as I suspect I couldn't
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: abide the current rules applying to policeman. It was actually
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: bad health which forced me out, as the booze finally
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: cut off with my liver and sirosis kept me in
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and out of hospitals for a few years. I haven't
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: had a drink in six years, and I'm living without it,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: as the anti smoke TV puffs put it. And he
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: once told a journalist, there are more clerks, more forms,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: more meetings, more laterals, more verticals. It serves no purpose,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: wastes of time and money, and I don't enjoy it anymore.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I grew up in a much rougher school after decades
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: as one of the most successful and celebrated cops in
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the country. George White disappeared, but the consequences at George
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: White's actions didn't just suddenly end with his retirement. They
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: reverberated for years. After he squeezed his last dose of
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: LSD into a stranger's drink like a hangover, his actions
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: would linger, and they wouldn't remain a secret forever. Though
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Sydney Gottlieb gave it his best shot. For a time
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: it seemed like Gotlee ban White would get away with everything.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Gotleib continued to petition for LSD experiments when and where
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: he could, and for a time he was vindicated. In
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, the c i A learned that two
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: physicians who accompanied President Richard Nixon to Moscow returned behaving erratically.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: One of the physicians reportedly had unexplained crying fits. He
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: had trouble recognizing his friends. He was treated for months.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Gotly believed they had been drugged by the Soviets, though
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: was never proven. Then came Watergate. In June two, after
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a break in at the Watergate Hotel, Gottlieb got nervous
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: think of all the incriminating documents related to MK Ultra.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: It was a paper or trail of the CIA at
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: its most irresponsible and sadistic. A few months following the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Watergate break in got leaving his colleague of the CIA,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Richard Helms, decided to cover their tracks the old fashioned
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: way by destroying every single document related to MK Ultra,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: and a few months after that Gottlieb retired to what
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: he believed would be a quiet life of tennis and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: raising goats. He was now a bystander to LSD's evolution
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: from a truth drug to a notorious drug. The use
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: of LSD among the general public had gotten more popular,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: doing no small measure to the government introducing into the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: masses through frequent and covert experimentation. As Gottlieb fed it
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to universities and professors, it spread through college campuses, but
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: it was getting harder for the general public to obtain.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: In ninety eight, possession of LSD was a misdemeanor and
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the sale of it a fell me Soon after, it
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: was a schedule one substance. People like Timothy Leary, Aldis Huxley,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and even actor Carrie Grant were advocating for LSD is
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: a therapeutic, even as it was being increasingly stigmatized. If
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: anyone found out about the government using LSD in the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: most dangerous way possible by giving it to people unwittingly,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: there would be a tremendous problem. But got Leep had
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: made confetti out of it, erasing any trace of mk
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: ultra from the government's collective memory, or so he thought.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: In four a reporter named Seymour Hirsch wrote an article
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: for The New York Times. He detail l the CIA
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: is a legal domestic intelligence operation which kept surveillance on
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the anti war movement. It was criminal and a considerable
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: departure from the CIA's boundaries. At least, it was a
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: departure from their public reputation of being a virtuous organization.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: President Gerald Ford saw the press poking around, hoping for
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: another water game. He knew if Congress took the initiative,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: it might result in unnecessary disclosures about CIA activities, So
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Ford grabbed the wheel and announced a special commission devoted
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: to investigating the CIA. His vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, would
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: share it, and it was during those hearings that CIA
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Director William Colby wound up dropping the bombshell that the
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: CIA had conducted LSD experiments on American citizens. Colby, unlike
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: many in the CIA, thought there was such a thing
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: as a bad secret, and so he simply told the truth.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: When the Rockefeller Committee failed to follow up on Colby's revelations,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a second committee was organized, the Select Committee to Study
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities. It could have
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: also been called what the fuck is the CIA doing.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Senator Frank Church headed the group, which was dubbed the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Church Committee, and unlike Rockefeller's team, they were eager to
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: get to the truth. The call went out to CIA
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: officials passed and present to explain themselves. Sydney Gottlieb was
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: among them. Gottlieb didn't want to talk when he was
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: summoned to the hearings in ninety five. His answers were
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: sealed from the public and the press. He was finally
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: convinced to speak a second time on September twenty one,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, during hearings chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: In exchange he would be immune from prosecution. Gottlieb tried
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: to be as evasive as possible. He began by reading
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: a prepared statement. My name is Sydney Gottlieb. At least
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: that part was true. I would like to comment on
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Project MK Ultra. In the judgment of the CIA, there
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: was tangible evidence that both the Soviets and the Red
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Chinese might be using techniques of altering human behavior which
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: were not understood by the United States and which would
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: have implications of national survival in the context of national
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: security concerns at that time. Gotlieb admitted the CIA had
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: targeted civilians. As far as the Bureau of Narcotics project
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: is concerned, there was no advanced knowledge or protection of
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the individual's concerned. The only comment I would like to
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: make on this is harsh as it may seem in retrospect.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: In an issue where national survival might be concerned, such
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: a procedure and such a risk was a reasonable one
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: to take. The committee asked why, if the cause was just,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: he had tried to destroy every document related to it.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: With my retirements and with the drug work over and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: inactive for several years, these files were of no constructive
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: use to the agency. They were the kind of sensitive
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: files that were capable of being misunderstood by anyone not
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: thoroughly familiar with their background, but Kennedy and his team
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: came prepared. God leaves paper apocalypse of a few years
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: prior had missed a number of boxes lurking in another office.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Some of the most devious minds and American intelligence had
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: failed to cover all their tracks. More than twenty thousand
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: documents related to MK Ultra survived. They were discovered by
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: a journalist named John Marks, who had filed a Freedom
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: of Information Act request to obtain them. The papers included
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: financial records, plus evidence the CIA had used LSD on
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: operatives as well as citizens. Got Leab took issue with
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the papers for one specific reason. I feel victimized and
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I am appalled at the CIA's policy wherein someone or
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: some group selectively pinpoints my name by failing to delete
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: it from documents released under the Freedom of Information Act
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: without any permission for me. Sydney Gottlieb was suddenly worried
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: about consent Part two implausible deniability. The hearing was not
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Gotlieb's finest hour, but his plan, dating back to nineteen
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: fifty two, had actually worked brilliantly. Remember that Gotlieb hired
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: George White as a contractor. He was never an actual
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: CIA employee. White was a Narcotics Bureau employee. It gave
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the CIA one degree of separation from the horrors he
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: inflicted At the hearings. Gotlieb argued George White had gone rogue.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: The CIA, in turn would declare Gottlieb was the one
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: who had struck out on his own. No one was
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: responsible for any thing. I might straighten one thing out
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: here that this narcotics agent worked for the CIA. That
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: is total distortion. He remained a very active and I
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: understand effective Bureau of Narcotics agents and administrator. He felt
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: that his interest and ours could be successfully intermingled, and
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the nature of the things that he did for us
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: were indeed not things that he would say, well, now
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I am doing this for the CIA. They were meant
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: to be useful in his own work, to the extent
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: that he felt that way. I just want to straighten
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: that out. He never worked for the CIA. George White's
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: diary entry in fifty two told a far different story.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Gottly proposes, I'd be a C I a consultant. I agree.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Senator Kennedy press Scottie on this point. Kennedy knew about
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: George White, about Morgan Hall, about the safe houses. Kennedy
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: moved in on the number of victims was left in
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the wake of white psychedelic journey. In response to your
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: second question of how many I testified, After carefully looking
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: over all the files that were shown to me, my
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: best guests would be fifty. Kennedy pointed out that among
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the recovered documents, they were well over two hundred checks
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: White paid out to his underlings. The amounts ranged from
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: fifty dollars to a hundred dollars. Many had the words
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: stormy in the memo section. Stormy was, of course, George
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: White's favorite term for LSD. I would agree that they
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: probably represented at least attempts at drug administrations. The real
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: number is unknown. Senator Kennedy asked god lead if prostitutes
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: were involved. The element of prostitution is interwoven in the
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: whole matter, So I am certainly persuaded that, as far
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: as safe houses are concerned, there were prostitutes in them.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Gottlieb then tap danced around a question about whether they
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: had recorded the activities in Chestnut Street. That is another
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: matter which I think needs to be talked about in
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: something more than a yes or no answer. Kennedy wanted
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: to know about self experimentation. Did Gottlieb administer drugs to
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: any of his colleagues or try LSD himself? There was
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: an extensive amount of self experimentation for the reason that
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: we felt that a firsthand knowledge of the subjective effects
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: of these drugs were important to those of us who
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: were involved in the program. The committee also brought up
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Frank Olsen, the CIA employee who plunged to his death
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: in nineteen three. Olson, you'll remember, had been dosed with
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: LSD just days prior. They asked why it didn't halt
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the program, and Senator Kennedy broached the ultimate question, quote,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: can you tell us what you learned from the years
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: of the operation of the safe house? Was a useful
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: What can you tell us? I think what we learned
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: from the safe houses was more about what you could
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: not do than what you could do. That was as
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: relevant as positive information. I think the conclusion from all
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the activities was that it was very difficult to predictably
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: manipulate human behavior in this way, and that would be
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: a summary statement I would make. By the time the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: hearing has concluded and the report issued, the CIA had
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: been publicly scolded and reprimanded for its intentional dosing of
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Americans with LSD. The U. S Government banned the use
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: of experimental drugs on human subjects without their consent in seven,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: although the CIA under Gottlieb's watch wouldn't have paid such
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: a mandate much mind promised immunity. Gottlieb walked away, back
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to a retirement of folk dancing and his goats. But
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: one question remained. What happened to the man who was
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: respond posible for terrorizing American citizens with LSD for twelve years?
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: What happened to George White? Part three? The Colonel George
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: White grew up with the sound of crashing ocean waves
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: in the Hambra, California. When he walked away from police
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: work in nineteen he and his wife Albertin made a
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: home for themselves in Stinson Beach, California, a community of
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: about seven people. In the third and final act of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: his life, he returned to the sea, but Albertin wasn't
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: known much. She was still acting as a clothing buyer
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: for major retailers. She was also dabbling in real estate.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Life kept her moving and on the road, and so
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: for the first time in decades, George White had time
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: on his hands. He thought about becoming a private investigator, which,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: given his considerable skills, the legitimate investigator would have fit
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: him like a glove. It would have brought him full
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: circle back to his days as a private investigator's assistant
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: before becoming a narcotics cop. He applied for a license,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: but his health was an impediment of cruising the streets
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: looking for wayward husbands. Decades of drinking had made a
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: mess of his liver. Instead, he threw himself into Stintson Beach.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: He became the volunteer fire marshal, a job that didn't
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: demand much of him. White drove around in a red jeep,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: sometimes driving across the lawn of residence he disliked. After
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: an increase in vandalism, he helped open a youth center.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: The man who once took down a nationwide Chinese opium
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: ring was now concerned with juvenile delinquents busting windows with rocks.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: We can't clean these little bastards are complete bastards until
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: we've given them a little clubhouse where they convent their energies.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: If this fails, will throw them all in juvenile all.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: In a letter to a friend, he wrote last year,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I was suckered into becoming fire chief of this village.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: We have two modern pumpers and about twenty volunteer firemen,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: all small town prima donnas. Although my heart attack last
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: year came about when in the capacity is firewarden, I
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: over exerted. It happened during a cliff side rescue operation.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I was persuaded to take the job since it appeared
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: I was the only two legged man who could get
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: along with the various cliques amongst the volunteers, most probably
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: because I was the only one who didn't want to
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: be chief. Of course, I stipulated I wouldn't slide down
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the pole to send cliffs or eat smoke, but would
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: confine my activity to deep thinking and issuing orders. The
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: fire department was another small army White corral order around
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: and send that on missions. Was considering his limitations an
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: effective echo of his law enforcement work. It gave him
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: a measure of power and control, even if it was
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: just over fire hydrants and unpaid volunteers. But Stinson Beach
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: was an odd choice for White. The Stinson Beach of
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the early nineteen seventies was full of retirees boating enthusiasts
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: and more than a few hippies. Jerry Garcia had a
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: place there. The smell of marijuana sometimes drifted from the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: shore over to the homes just off the sand. White
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: kept a telescope in his living room and scanned the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: beaches looking for the tiny burst of flame that accompanied
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: a freshly lit joint. If he saw it, well, there
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: would be trouble. Police department, Marty, it's the colonel. People
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: in Stinson Beach called White. The Colonel. I got four
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: creeps here lighting up a joint right outside my house.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: You gotta come by and pick him up. Listen, Colonel,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: are you sure? Because I'm damn sure, right in front
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: of my else. What do these kids think they are? Okay,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: we'll be over pump kids, hippies. Dear Paul. This afternoon,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: four adults sat down on the beach less than fifty
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: ft from my front window and had a pot party
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: on my beach. I called the sheriff and had them sneezed.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna put a sign on my bulkhead. Hey man,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: absolutely no pot smoking within a hundred yards of this window.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: This means you, the man who had spent over a
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: decade drugging unwitting subjects was now anti drug, vehemently anti drug.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: He once said, everyone convicted of smoking marijuana should spend
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: some time in jail. You'd have some pretty full jails
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: for perhaps a year. But when people learned it was
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: dangerous to smoke grass, I think use would taper off
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and the problem would diminish greatly. In his writing, White
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: laid out his basic stance, the currently premiss of attitude
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: towards the smoking of marijuana cannot fail to breed damage
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: for society. It has been cleaned that marijuana is not addictive,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: but admitted in the same quarters that a great many
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: marijuana users progress to other drugs that are definitely addictive.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: As such, no apology or rationale may be made for it.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: White also had words for LSD, which he'd wielded like
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: a weapon against an unknown number of people. LSD, like
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: all the hallucinogenic drugs, is devastatingly dangerous, particularly in its
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: social effect because of the curious endorsement given it by
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: pseudo intellectuals, bohemians, and some of the irresponsible celebrities. There
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: is no question that its use invites and in many cases,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: produces brain damage. The solution to the drug issue was,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: he wrote, suppression. I am convinced that the ultimate solution
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: as of the present time lies in rigid suppression of
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the traffic, drying up the source of supply. The police,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: and the police alone are responsible for this limitation and
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: are rarely given credit for the effectiveness of this accomplishment.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: In White's mind, drugs had no demonstrable benefit. Clinicians working
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: towards therapeutic uses were spinning their wheels. Only complete and
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: total condemnation would work. White often spoke of a desire
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to have power, to wield it, to have a secret.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: It came in the form of his badge and his
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: gun in his exploits in foreign countries, and his killing
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: of spies in his double life as a straight laced
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: cop and a kinky swinger. And it came in the
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: form of a tiny plastic ampule that gave him more
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: power than any bullet ever could, the power to break
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: through the psychological borders of the mind. When he could
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: pursue it no longer, he retired distints and beach. Without
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: his oversight, drugs were dangerous, forbidden. The question is always
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: why why did George White drug an uncounted number of citizens.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Knowing early on that LSD was never going to be
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the answer to brain warfare or mind control, that should
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: have become obvious within months. The so called mind control
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: of the Korean War was simply brutal interrogation techniques designed
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to break the will of prisoners. White was armed with
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: LSD from nineteen fifty three to nineteen sixty five, a
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: period of twelve years. Based on the small sample size
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: of people he was known to have drugged and their
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: resulting problems ranging from a steria at a hospitalization, George
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: White might have driven more people to the brink than
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: anyone else alive. Today, LSD is experiencing a resurgence of
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: interest in legitimate and controlled medical study, its benefits hinge
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: on proper administration and consent. The knowledge that one is
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: taking LSD is the anchor to reality. Without you risk
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: a fractured mind. Maybe George White believed that was a
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: risk worth taking in the name of democracy, or maybe
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: he'd finally come to regret what he had done when
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: he wasn't busting pot smokers. White started scribbling on a
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: giant sheet of counterfeit paper he'd once sees during a raid.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: He wanted to start chronicling his experiences in the field,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: a lifetime spent chasing criminals from New York City to Calcutta.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: He wanted to write his autobiography in a proper hard
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: boiled style. He titled it A Diet of Danger. Since
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: my retirement to a beachside cottage where I lived with
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: my wife, Albertine, I find myself increasingly reflective about the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: full and active years just behind me, and of the
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: social forces and defections that add up to criminal conduct.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: The surf rolls in at my doorstep, the fog billows
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: over my garden. My fire burns red and hot, and
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the images of the past are as fresh as they
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: were yesterday. I remember a room in his stun Bolt
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: where heroin makers stood ready to end my life. The
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: hot pursuit of murder incorporated through the nighttime streets of
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: New York. I haven't forgotten a moment of my membership
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: in a Chinese gang. Each moment was a separate adventure
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: of itself. The past has not been though. White's autobiography,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: at least the partial manuscript that survives, is a curious document.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: It's full of the bravado you'd expect from a World
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: War two intelligence operative and narcotics cop. But out of necessity,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: it lacks the most colorful portion of White's life, his
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: relentless pursuit of LSD as a truth and mind control drug.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: He had taken a vow of silence familiar to intelligence operatives,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: magicians and Mafiosa's morals and vital truths. You'll have to
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: draw for yourself as separate dividends. As a former newspaperman,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I know better than to set down more than the what,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: the who, and the wire and the me. He even
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: disclosed why Stints in Beach had such appeal despite its
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: rampant drug culture. I am interested in content that I
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: live on the exact epicenter of the San Andreas Fault,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: the historically lethal dead center of California's earthquake zone, and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: perhaps on some quiet, lonely night as an alien and
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: unexplained automobile circles my Salty haven. The stimulating spark of
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: adventure and challenge me once more glow? What better tonic
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: could have pastured? Man Hunter? Ask for? It's been a
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: hell of a life. The Sirosis caught up to George
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: White on October He died at age sixty seven. It
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: was just weeks after Gottlieb testified to the Church Committee.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: White's death may have cheated justice. His legacy becomes not
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: one of a narcotic star, but a devil in CoP's clothing.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Albertin remarried Stenson Beach, remembered and honored their colorful fire.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Marshal White never finished his autobiography notes from publishers, so
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: the material of a cop on the Hunt for dope
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: fiends would be hard to market. If White had lived,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: he might have written about the exploits of Morgan Hall,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: his c I a alter ego, and that would have
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: been a very different story epilog. Thanks to Sydney Gottlieb,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the world will likely never know the full extent of
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: the CIA's experimentation with LSD, or how many times it
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: was actually deployed. The victims the government was able to
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: identify came courtesy of George White, who testified from beyond
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: the grave. Not long after White's death, his wife, Albertine,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: donated all of his papers to Foothill Junior College in
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Los Altos Hills, California. They eventually wound up at Stanford University.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: There are ten boxes of diaries and date books, names
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: and dates, letters and receipts. It would be the only
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: way George White would ever cooperate with the investigation. In
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, the CIA created a Victim's Task Force,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: appointing CIA officer Frank Laubinger to track down White's victims
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: and offer whatever assistance or apology would be deemed appropriate.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Labbenger used White's diaries to try and locate individuals. Initially,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: he was told White and only drug criminals, but as
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: he dove into the project, he realized White had expanded
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: his reach. The list of knowns subjects was rather short,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: as White's diaries were purposefully vague. Still, Labinger managed to
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: reach Elliott Smythe, whose wife Barbara had been dosed in
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: ninety three while their newborn baby was present. It was
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: the first time Elliott had ever become aware of the
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: fact Barbara, now deceased, had been drugged. Elliott sued the
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: CIA for two point five million dollars, but it never
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: got very far. But Clarice Stein, drugged the same night
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: as Barbara, received a settlement from the CIA. The price
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: for a government approved psychological assault thousand dollars. Others like
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: the actress Linda King and the singer Ruth Kelly, were
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: never located by the Task Force. When Labinger kept pressing,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: kept trying to find out why White dosed people he
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: was either friends with or just happened across, he was
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: told by his superiors to stop. Laubinger didn't look at
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Wayne Ritchie U S. Marshall, who was dosed at a
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: holiday party in nineteen fifty seven in San Francisco. Richie
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: didn't connect the dots until nineteen when he read Sydney
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: got Leave's obituary and began to understand what had happened.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: He sued the CIA and d e A for twelve
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: million dollars. He even deposed Ike Feldman, White's colleague. Sympathy
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: on the part of Feldman was in short supply. He
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: called Ritchie had Knitwitt, who simply couldn't handle the undisclosed
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: dose of l s D given to him. Ultimately, a
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals judge wasn't convinced Richie
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: couldn't prove some kind of LSD psychosis had led to
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: his robbery attempt, but the judge also said had given
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: everything that had transpired. He believed Richie might have been
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: a victim, but there would be no recourse. And one
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: of his final letters, White wrote to his old friend
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: and former boss Sydney, got leap from his desk and
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: stints and beach, the tide rolling in, and the ghosts
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: of his past yet to catch up to him. It's
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: probably the most extinct form of self analysis George White
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: ever put down on paper. Dear Sid, It's pleasant to
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: be remembered these days, since nature has steadily been decimating
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: the ranks of my friends and acquaintances. In spite of
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: the serrhosis, diabetes, and cardiac issues, I'll probably outlive most
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: of my contemporaries and die with my fireman's boots on
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: the reason I have nothing to worry about. I need nothing,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: and envy no one. Of course. I was a very
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: minor missionary, actually a heretic, but I toiled in the
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: vineyards wholeheartedly because it was fun, fun, fun. Where else
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: could a red blooded American boy lie and kill and
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: cheat and steal with the sanction and blessing of the
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: all highest pretty good stuff. Brother like man, I don't
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: care if the FBI taps my phone. I'm gonna do
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: my crime planning while swimming in the ocean. Real cool.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Keep in touch regards g h W. WE hope you've
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: enjoyed Operation Midnight Climax and I heard original podcast excerpts
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: from George White's autobiography and letters are courtesy of the
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries. If you enjoyed
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Operation Midnight Climax, I highly recommend checking out another podcast
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: that I co host called Stuff They Don't Want You
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: To Know. In it, we talk about things like MK
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Ultra and Operation Midnight Climax, everything from government cover ups
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: to the supernatural, and even cryptids and extraterrestrials. It's a
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: lot of fun. If you're red to the show, you
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: can find that anywhere you get podcasts, And if you
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: want to keep track of me, you can find me
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: on Instagram Where I Am at, how Now Noel Brown
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: and Now One Last Time. Operation Midnight Climax is hosted
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: by Noel Brown. This show's written by Jake Rosen, editing,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: sound design and mixing by Ernie Indra Deete and Natasha Jacobs.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Original music by Aaron Kaufman. Research and fact checking by
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Austin Thompson and MAURICEA Brown Show logo by Lucy King
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Tania Special thanks to Enzo Solucci, Adam Copeland, Spencer Gibson,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: David Crumholtz, Vanessa crum Holtz, Ryan Murdoch, and Ted Ramy.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Julian Weller is our supervising producer. Our executive producers are
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Jason English and mangesh Ha Ticketer. See you on the
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: next one MM and in our next batch if I
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: heard original podcasts will transport you to the Great Depression
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: and an unlikely coup attempt against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: which oddly gets left out of the history books, and
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: to London and Isaac Newton's forgotten second act as a
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: ruthless cop. Will also answer age old questions like what
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: happens when the world's biggest movie star buys your town
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: and treats you like an extra, or when a brutal
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: dictator's son gets arrested at Disneyland. Keep an eye out
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: for these shows on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: or wherever you find your favorite shows. That's all, folks,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: thanks for listening.