Project Chatter was a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
program beginning in the fall of 1947 focusing on the identification and testing of drugs in interrogations and the recruitment of agents. Their search included laboratory experiments on both animal and human subjects. The program operated under the direction of
Charles Savage of the
Naval Medical Research Institute
The Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) is an agency that performs basic and applied biomedical research to meet the needs of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Its areas of focus include study of infectious diseases, biodef ...
,
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...
, from 1947 to 1953.
FOIA Documents from the Department of the Navy
/ref> The project was geared to identifying agents both synthetic and natural that were effective during interrogation, as well as testing possible treatments for depression. The project was centered on, but not restricted to, the use of anabasine
Anabasine is a pyridine and piperidine alkaloid found in the Tree Tobacco ('' Nicotiana glauca'') plant, a close relative of the common tobacco plant (''Nicotiana tabacum''). It is a structural isomer of, and chemically similar to, nicotine. Its ...
(an alkaloid
Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...
), scopolamine and mescaline. It was the first U.S. government project in which Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) was used on human subjects. The Navy ended the project in 1953 when its experiments were merged into Project MKULTRA
Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), intended to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in interrogations to weak ...
.
See also
*MKUltra
Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), intended to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in interrogations to weak ...
*Project Artichoke
Project ARTICHOKE (also referred to as Operation ARTICHOKE) was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project that researched interrogation methods.
Preceded by Project BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE officially arose on August 20, 1951 and was operated by the ...
*Unethical human experimentation in the United States
Numerous experiments which are performed on human test subjects in the United States are considered unethical, because they are performed without the knowledge or informed consent of the test subjects. Such tests have been performed throughout ...
References
Central Intelligence Agency operations
Psychedelic drug research
Mind control
1947 establishments in the United States
1953 disestablishments in the United States
Code names
Human subject research in the United States
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