Mind Control Collection

Cold Open: This is a declassified document from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate, dated December 8, 1994. The document, titled "Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans' Health? Lessons Spanning Half a Century," details the Department of Defense's intentional exposure of military personnel to potentially dangerous substances without their knowledge or consent. The document was released through The Black Vault, a website that archives declassified government records. Provenance: The document was released on August 16, 2016, and can be found on The Black Vault's website at https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/mind-control-collection/. The document's canonical PDF is available at https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/mindcontrol/ADA291587.pdf. The Document: This report, written by the majority staff of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, is the result of a comprehensive investigation into the extent to which veterans participated in military research while serving in the U.S. military. The investigation was conducted in response to several examples where U.S. Government researchers intentionally exposed Americans to potentially dangerous substances without their knowledge or consent. The report notes that for at least 50 years, the Department of Defense has intentionally exposed military personnel to potentially dangerous substances, often in secret. The report also finds that the Department of Defense has repeatedly failed to comply with required ethical standards when using human subjects in military research during war or threat of war. The report highlights several examples of questionable military research, including the use of investigational drugs in the Persian Gulf War, the use of pyridostigmine bromide as an antidote enhancer, and the safety of the botulism vaccine. The report also notes that the Federal Government has failed to support scientific studies that provide information about the reproductive problems experienced by veterans who were intentionally exposed to potentially dangerous substances. The report makes several recommendations, including denying the Department of Defense's request for a blanket waiver to use investigational drugs in case of war or threat of war, rejecting any applications from the Department of Defense that do not include data on women and long-term followup data, and mandating all Federal agencies to declassify most documents on research involving human subjects. Context: The report was written by the majority staff of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and its findings and conclusions do not necessarily reflect the views of the members of the Committee. The report was intended to provide information for future deliberations by the Congress. Outro: This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. The document can be found at https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/mind-control-collection/.