Chemical Warfare Secrets Almost Forgotten
Opinions Continued
© 2006/2007
J.S. Ketchum
J.S. Ketchum
Documenting a Lost Decade of Clinical Research
“Thank you for the wonderful book! It seems beautifully illustrated and produced and I am greatly looking forward to reading it, since some of the people mentioned are familiar to me and I have long been a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Larry Koran, MD
Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, Stanford University
Larry Koran, MD
Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, Stanford University
Dear Dr. Ketchum,
I finished reading your book recently. I have recommended it highly to friends, including several who worked at Edgewood in the 1970-1990 period. All these Edgewood folks would have begun work after you departed for San Antonio but worked with or otherwise knew major characters from your superbly told story: Van Sim and Fred Sidell, in particular. I suspect they will enjoy the book as much as I did. [Ed. Note: both are deceased].
I believe it is important to capture the feel of the times when chemical warfare research was being pursued briskly and, in many ways, brilliantly in the USA. I think you have captured this feel. The systematic studies conducted by you and your colleagues in the period from 1950-70 contrast with the absurdly "ad hoc" work done by the CIA during that same period and with the more limited scope studies permitted or possible at Edgewood today. Your use of human subjects was exemplary, by your account and in the opinion of the various NAS panels that studied this topic. With regard to the use of human subjects, I feel you could have come down harder on Kligman and his operation, but that story is well told in Acres of skin, which you cite (and which cites you). Kligman never did grasp the improper nature of his activities, nor do his colleagues in medicine, to judge by the testimonials offered in 2006 on the occasion of Kligman's 90th birthday. (He is still living - or was, as of a few days ago when I last checked the Social Security database.)
The CIA's Sidney Gottlieb "almost" got away with his activities - in one sense, he did. He passed away while legal matters were still underway on the part of one (I know for certain) or possibly two victims of his non-consensual administration of LSD. While Gottlieb's career in the CIA never suffered as a result of his cowboy antics, his final years saw him under attack as he was subject to law suits for civil damages. His defense became expense, and his family was unable to settle his estate owing to the uncertain nature of these damages, which survive the defendant. Maybe there will be some measure of justice after all for the families. The work of the CIA, as revealed in the MK-ULTRA hearings, damaged the work of the military, I think, in that the distinction between what and how the CIA was doing versus what Edgewood was doing got lost on a public that saw it all as "the government."
I had many experiences during my brief service in the Chemical Corps - 3 years (1975-78), most of it served at Dugway. I knew "Project Dork" well, at least in terms of the stories. My stories are fewer and less rich than yours, but the memories are similar. For instance, I worked with a man who had splashed GB in one eye and got a particle of BZ lodged in the other - all on the same day, giving him "big eye" and "small eye" at once.
In closing, let me thank you again for writing this book. I am pleased that your memories have been captured and can be shared with a larger audience.
Regards
Ben Garrett, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, FBI Laboratory
Quantico, VA
I finished reading your book recently. I have recommended it highly to friends, including several who worked at Edgewood in the 1970-1990 period. All these Edgewood folks would have begun work after you departed for San Antonio but worked with or otherwise knew major characters from your superbly told story: Van Sim and Fred Sidell, in particular. I suspect they will enjoy the book as much as I did. [Ed. Note: both are deceased].
I believe it is important to capture the feel of the times when chemical warfare research was being pursued briskly and, in many ways, brilliantly in the USA. I think you have captured this feel. The systematic studies conducted by you and your colleagues in the period from 1950-70 contrast with the absurdly "ad hoc" work done by the CIA during that same period and with the more limited scope studies permitted or possible at Edgewood today. Your use of human subjects was exemplary, by your account and in the opinion of the various NAS panels that studied this topic. With regard to the use of human subjects, I feel you could have come down harder on Kligman and his operation, but that story is well told in Acres of skin, which you cite (and which cites you). Kligman never did grasp the improper nature of his activities, nor do his colleagues in medicine, to judge by the testimonials offered in 2006 on the occasion of Kligman's 90th birthday. (He is still living - or was, as of a few days ago when I last checked the Social Security database.)
The CIA's Sidney Gottlieb "almost" got away with his activities - in one sense, he did. He passed away while legal matters were still underway on the part of one (I know for certain) or possibly two victims of his non-consensual administration of LSD. While Gottlieb's career in the CIA never suffered as a result of his cowboy antics, his final years saw him under attack as he was subject to law suits for civil damages. His defense became expense, and his family was unable to settle his estate owing to the uncertain nature of these damages, which survive the defendant. Maybe there will be some measure of justice after all for the families. The work of the CIA, as revealed in the MK-ULTRA hearings, damaged the work of the military, I think, in that the distinction between what and how the CIA was doing versus what Edgewood was doing got lost on a public that saw it all as "the government."
I had many experiences during my brief service in the Chemical Corps - 3 years (1975-78), most of it served at Dugway. I knew "Project Dork" well, at least in terms of the stories. My stories are fewer and less rich than yours, but the memories are similar. For instance, I worked with a man who had splashed GB in one eye and got a particle of BZ lodged in the other - all on the same day, giving him "big eye" and "small eye" at once.
In closing, let me thank you again for writing this book. I am pleased that your memories have been captured and can be shared with a larger audience.
Regards
Ben Garrett, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, FBI Laboratory
Quantico, VA
My interest is in the plasticity of drugs and the way a substance (such as an anticholinergic) will be used as an initiation adjunct in one culture, as an incapacitant in another, while a third will enter a Faustian pact with the delirium-inducing plant in order to become a violin virtuoso. To give an idea of how different cultural agendas can be, the best place I could find in my library for your book is between a horticultural work on Brugmansia and Johan Weyer's renaissance work on witches and their potions!
Anyway, your study of belladonnoids is awe-inspiring. Your volunteers are also awe-inspiring. Thank you for making this material publicly available, and in such an excellent hard-cover format.
All the best, Des Tramacchi Ph.D
Anyway, your study of belladonnoids is awe-inspiring. Your volunteers are also awe-inspiring. Thank you for making this material publicly available, and in such an excellent hard-cover format.
All the best, Des Tramacchi Ph.D