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A. Califano, Jr.

Honorable Joseph

Secretary of Hea1th,. ECucaEion, and Welfare

200 Independence Avenue, lJashington,
S.W.

D.C.

2O2OL

Dear I'Ir. Califano,

The Central fntelligence

Agency has a duty to find and.

notify persons who were the subjects of Agency sponsored, drug

e-xperi-oentation rnany years ago without their knor:ledge where
.

iE can be reasonably deteroined rhar their health nay sti11

adversely affected.'

be

r solicic your cooperaEion aud assisEance unjert;rkiag.

in this very difficulc

For. your background who pas

inforuation,

the former CIA officer

chiefly responsible for the drug research prograo de-

stroyed, just before.his reEirement, wha! he believed to be all of the records pertaining co the progran. About a year
ago

during a search through our Archives in response to a request

under the Freedom of fnforcration Act, several boxes of records

related to the drug progr-an were discovered. These records,

however, reveal very liccle

of the operdtional and substanEive

We

detail about hosr-che.actual experiraents were conducted.

itii"lfflwj

61

.:

do know that virtually

alr- of the research r,-as,lone at privacl

institutions by professional people who were in the dlrect'or consultatlve enploy of 'those lnstitutions. The crA role was to provide fundi in support of the research through research
foundations without actributlon to crA. rn some cases the individual researchers and institutions were aware that crA o,as an ult''-ate source of funding, and in. sorre cases they were noE. rE. sas considered necessary at the tirne to procect agalnst

dis-

cl0sure the fact that crA was interested ia the research

supported it with funds

and

The institutions

that were involved, whether knowledgable

of crA interest or not, have been inforrned of the crA rore 1n supplyi.ng funds and the mechanisns rhrough phich funding was acconplished. Copies of :ecoyds we have percaining to itrdi_ vidual lnstitutions have b".r, f,rtr,.ished to Ehose institutions that requested them. None of the records availab'r.e, however, contain che identities of indivicuals who.may have been the
subjecis of drug experimenEation

As r see it,

there are four basr.c erements of the problea.

one element is to determine which :noog the drugs used had a poten_

cial for causing harmfu]. long tera aftereffects.

A second eldnent

is to establish whether crA or the instituEion that conducted the

experlnents has the priurary responsibility for putting the sub-

jects lnto whatever danger ruay.have atcended the tests.

A third
..

eleuent is to'deteroine r"'hether subjects who volunteered to partlcipate Ln the experjments r-'ere sufficlently
lnformed of the potential

consequeDces.. Finally, we have to identify,

find aod notify the tasks are complJ.-

affected subjects. I'hese {ntrinsically

difficult

cated further by 1ega1.constraints on the process by which subjects

are. identified,

located and notj.fied.

None

of the elenents of the probleo lends itself

to direct
,

=.- solution through infornation.currently available. IJe wilJ- have to go to the institutions involved and, in sooe cases, to the individual researchers, in search of suppleEentary data.
We

are advised

by the Attorney General that the insticucioas rnay be precluded

frora divulging the identity of the subjects to the CIA by federal
..!

statute, federal agency regulations, or the doctor-paEient privllege.

Further, .even if the institutions could lega1ly cooPerate, they uay decline co do so out of concern that their cooperatlon in notifica-

rion could lead to litigation for the role rhey played

and poEentlal lj-ability

on their part

To the extent that we may be successful in identifying any

of the subjects we rvi1l have the subsequenE problem of locating

the.sr. Here, again, the 1aw and concern for the privacy of the 1n-

diliduals pose restrictions.

Open

or public associatioo uith the

' associa.::

This s'eans ;" ;:;:tonar : r^rithout interrriew """ '" of ;:;r".",::: t"'"t orricials; buc through recorcs. Again, rhere ;;r.;";; , prohibirions againsr rhe use of rhe cords of private :: rriv"." as pelL .as re_ --:. s govelr&ent govetrun"., lnstltutions ,L
LIhen_Jc cones

the r.oca,

CIA ln the context of the ro"-^_ le reason for d current ^_ -"' a currpnr contacc the individuals courd cause ecrbarassm"rn --rt:n: 'and rePuta ' c

discredit'

of any subjects be found, lre are jnforared that tra)r that CIA has no 5 authority to offer jndp,", rification. we oay be limiteo a-"t"t o Providing a siaple notice and an oFrer to furnish phateve. "t . , r'rorcatlon -:t ." Irr;:;: rte have to the subjectrs physlcian.
IJe have established

to the rrotlflcation

rhat there rrere flfi - volving Eeen activities inother goverruDeac enuoh-^ or private institutj greuEf'o'.s phere humao sub' . jects clearry rrere inu^.r,,^-r /r-\ !/ere invorve4 (1t) or chere th ere is ' solne reason to berieve tha t husans night have been_ subjects of research lnvolv_ i'g the adoinistration . of drugs (5). rn nine of the ten actlvlties thac clearly involved hunan testing the subjects were volunteers, nany of qrhom pere - vvrsrE paid for takinq n:_r L__Part' but'e do no. know well rhey nay have how 0"". ,"r;;"ng

of rheir parricipation.

rr.,o

also used subjects;*ho ".* pere unarsare that they were a par. of the Lr research.

of'.:::'i:.:="o:r.il

our next step is to seek further informat{on from the

institucions and researchers who were involved,. IJe need to try co deteruine whether the involvement of crA was so direct and controrling as to establish its responsibillty for tire activities
were

as they

:a.rried out. rn cases where the responstbiJ.ity rests with cTj, we si1l then have to seek to identify, locate, and notify subjects. ln ihe process, of course, rre vil1 have Eo try to identify the drugs
and get an evaluation of their poteatlal for causing long te:m after-

effects from which the subjecrs nighc sri1l be suffering harn. rt is'these steps that lead ure to sollclt your coaperation and assistance. The professlonal congruity your department would represeEt to the institutions
involved shculd nake it possibre for you to be

a more effective agent of the Governmenc than crA could expect to

be.

ff you feel 1t night be possible for your departnent to assist us in this matter'I wduld be pleased to d.iscuss it with you further to explore how lle might mosE effectively join forces to achieve the deslred
end.

incerely,