Murky Projects and Uneven Information Policies: A Case Study of the Psychological Strategy Board and CIA

Abstract

This case study discusses the Truman and Eisenhower administration's (1951-1953) short-lived Psychological Strategy Board (PSB). Through the lens of declassified documents, the article recounts the history and activities of the Board, including its relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and clandestine projects that involve human experimentation. Primary documents of the period suggest that institutional secrecy, coupled with inconsistent information policies, largely shielded CIA's BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE, and MKULTRA from the Board. This subject has not been previously reported in the research literature, and supplements existing historical understanding of the PSB's mission under the broad umbrella of psychological warfare.

Keywords

• brainwashing
• Central Intelligence Agency
• Cold War
• Eisenhower administration
• human experimentation
• Intelligence Advisory Committee
• interrogation
• national security
• Nuremberg Code
• Project ARTICHOKE
• Project BLUEBIRD
• Project MKULTRA
• Psychological Strategy Board
• psychological warfare
• secrecy
• Truman administration
• secrecy