Project MK Ultra and Other Shocking CIA Programs

6. Operation Midnight Climax

The CIA was particularly busy in the mid-60s with running brothels and drug houses. Yes, it’s not exactly what you’d associate with the Central Intelligence Agency, but it was something that apparently happened back in the day.

This project the CIA was running was tied closely to the MK Ultra program in the sense that it was using massive amounts of LSD. Other than that, the program involved hiring prostitutes to pick up unsuspecting men who were then drugged with LSD. Their reactions were monitored and recorded from adjoining rooms with one-way mirrors, much like the ones you see in movies.

Operation Midnight Climax is as bad as the name is cheesy. Brothels run by the CIA were opened in cities such as San Francisco and New York and dozens of prostitutes were on the agency’s books. The data was used to research sexual blackmail as well as surveillance technology.

The whole thing was established by American chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb. It was placed under the direction of George Hunter White, an officer of the Narcotics Bureau.