The ABC’s of Trickery and Lies Used by the CIA

The Cold War was, undoubtedly, the pinnacle of conspiracies. Back then, everything was simpler: the enemies were the Russians and the bad boys were the CIA in a world of lies, cheating, double agents, and most of all, magicians. Believe it or not, the Agency actually had prestidigitation experts training agents, as stated in the “The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception,” written by the legendary John Mulholland (1898-1970).

Officially, all the copies of the book (two, in fact, written at the beginning of the ’50s) were destroyed in 1973. However, a more thorough search among declassified documents led Bob Wallace and Keith Melton, two espionage experts, to find the original book and recently publish it in a vintage edition that will be an absolute relish for Cold War genre lovers. As El Mundo says, reading them today makes them seem more like Austin Powers tricks, even though some still have a certain awe to them.

Secret services from several other countries also used magicians, gamblers, clairvoyants, etc. Without a doubt, though, the most amusing chapter of this loony spy world was put in scene by General Albert Strubblebine III, a retard (there is no other way of naming him) in the service of the Agency, who actually broke his skull attempting to cross a wall because of his brilliant idea about the realignment of atoms. Even so, instead of shipping him to a mental institution (at least there the walls are padded), the Pentagon enthusiastically welcomed his so-called theory.

It was him and others alike who started the concept of The First Earth Battalion and the infamous CIA Jeddi (who in reality belonged to the army, not the Agency) and who also formed a battalion of pseudo Hare Krishnas with the duty of solving conflicts using music, martial arts, and mental control… a hilarious story indeed, so hysterical that a movie was recently made from it, ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats,’ starring George Clooney.

Up to here, nothing but laughs, but what should not be forgotten is the shady background behind these adventures. Firstly, these ‘black ops’ were supported by secret budgets and became an incredible bottomless purse for the tax payer. The Ministry of Internal Affairs’ bookkeeping for financing the GAL (the Anti terrorist Liberation Group in Spain) was, in comparison, an example of prudence. The deal was like this: someone came up with a wacky idea and obtained funds for which no justification was needed (actually, the obligation was made without invoice). Hence the numerous CIA projects, some of which were ridiculous, saw the light of day.

These techniques remained permanently associated with the black era of the CIA. John Mulholland worked on the MK-Ultra care mental control project which, among other things, used unsuspecting volunteers as guinea pigs. Therefore, many of the Jeddi troops’ methods were used freely but not exactly as weapons during peace. Some of the practices used in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib (music, torture, or sensory deprivation) were born at that time.

It is understandable that, for more than 50 years, techniques such as Past Vision or clairvoyance have been submitted to testing. Back then, less information was known about the human brain and methods like these represented an important advantage over the enemy. Unofficially, they are no longer in use, first of all because these days there are far more effective ways of draining the Ministry of Defense’s budget, and second because these projects have never really given any results. Now, practices are more simplified.

What good is it to read people’s minds when you have the Internet? Not more than a few weeks back, the Agency signed a collaboration agreement with Visible Technologies, a company specialized in gathering information from social networks such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Amazon forums, or any type of blog (Facebook isn’t one of them, yet). Are there any reasons for concern? Well, they are going to use this information with the same level of professionalism and respect for human rights as they did in the past.