Remote Control Dogs

From Andrew Whalen's 12-7-18 NEWSWEEK article entitled "How the CIA Used Brain Surgery to Make Six Remote Control Dogs":

Newly released files from "behavior modification," or mind control, projects conducted as part of the infamous Project MKUltra reveal the CIA experimented in more than controlling humans with psychotropic drugs, electrical shocks and radio waves—they also created field operational, remote-controlled dogs.

The documents were provided under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by John Greenewald, founder of The Black Vault, a site specializing in declassified government records. In one declassified letter (released as file C00021825) a redacted individual writes to a doctor (whose name has also been redacted) with advice about launching a laboratory for experiments in animal mind control. The writer of the letter is already an expert in the field, whose earlier work had culminated with the creation of six remote control dogs, which could be made to run, turn and stop [...].

Attached to the letter is the writer's final report from his earlier research, published in 1965, titled "Remote Control Behavior with Rewarding Electrical Stimulation of the Brain," with the principle investigator's name redacted [...].

At least by 1967, when the letter was written, it seems unlikely that remote-controlled dogs were ever used in the field, as the letter writer outlines some of the limitations and challenges to any follow-up program going forward.

"Behavioral control was limited to distances of 100 to 200 yards, at most," they write in the letter. Other concerns are more mundane, such as the letter's speculation regarding where the CIA might find a "suitable open field" nearby.

Still, the prospect of a potential new laboratory seems to fire the letter writer's imagination, who describes potential experimentation on "a range of species," should they want to move past "basic research, i.e., rat work."

To read the entire article, click HERE.