Conversation Between Former CIA Director William Colby and John DeCamp
I (John DeCamp) asked Bill Colby [former CIA director murdered in a staged 'canoing accident'] to tell me what he could or would, about this. He said:
"Of course the CIA in particular was involved in investigating, learning and, on occasion, using, everything we could learn about mind control-and with extremely good reason. Following the Korean War, this country's military and intelligence communities went through a period of absolute paranoia about just how far our enemies were ahead of us in mind control and related activities.
"There was no particular program called' Monarch,' contrary to what you want to think. 'Monarch' was merely a name that some participants in the program-who knew very little about it, other than from their own limited participation-were given to identify themselves. But, as far as the CIA was concerned, there was no such program named 'Monarch.'
"But, with respect to mind control, I will tell you that this country spent millions upon millions supposedly catching up to our Cold War adversaries, because we believed they had developed mind control technology which exceeded anything we had. In fact, we at the Company [CIA] truly believed for a substantial period of time, that technology and techniques and drugs had been developed by Russia which would enable them to have agents who in fact really were able to have and use ESP-extra sensory perception.
"Can you imagine," Bill continued, "how dangerous for this country it would be if you could have had someone meeting the President of the United States, who was actually able to read what was in the President's mind?
"I know," Bill continued, "it may sound silly today to get all carried away with this fear; but I can tell you that we took it all very seriously and believed this ESP thing for some significant time period.
"I will tell you one other thing," Bill said, somewhat ominously, "we are not behind in knowledge of mind control. In fact, we never were, but we only found that out much later, after we had poured incredible resources into this area. And yes, I am sure, there were some problems and abuses that occurred and we will talk about them at another time."
"Of course the CIA in particular was involved in investigating, learning and, on occasion, using, everything we could learn about mind control-and with extremely good reason. Following the Korean War, this country's military and intelligence communities went through a period of absolute paranoia about just how far our enemies were ahead of us in mind control and related activities.
"There was no particular program called' Monarch,' contrary to what you want to think. 'Monarch' was merely a name that some participants in the program-who knew very little about it, other than from their own limited participation-were given to identify themselves. But, as far as the CIA was concerned, there was no such program named 'Monarch.'
"But, with respect to mind control, I will tell you that this country spent millions upon millions supposedly catching up to our Cold War adversaries, because we believed they had developed mind control technology which exceeded anything we had. In fact, we at the Company [CIA] truly believed for a substantial period of time, that technology and techniques and drugs had been developed by Russia which would enable them to have agents who in fact really were able to have and use ESP-extra sensory perception.
"Can you imagine," Bill continued, "how dangerous for this country it would be if you could have had someone meeting the President of the United States, who was actually able to read what was in the President's mind?
"I know," Bill continued, "it may sound silly today to get all carried away with this fear; but I can tell you that we took it all very seriously and believed this ESP thing for some significant time period.
"I will tell you one other thing," Bill said, somewhat ominously, "we are not behind in knowledge of mind control. In fact, we never were, but we only found that out much later, after we had poured incredible resources into this area. And yes, I am sure, there were some problems and abuses that occurred and we will talk about them at another time."
A son's riveting look at a father whose life seemed straight out of a spy thriller. The secret world of a legendary CIA spymaster. Told by William Colby's son Carl, the story is at once a probing history of the CIA, a personal memoir of a family living in clandestine shadows, and an inquiry into the hard costs of a nation's most cloaked actions.
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