I. CIA secretly explored mind-controlled animals for espionage and assassination
by Jake Hoffman June 15, 2025 in Animals, Science, The US, World
Recently declassified CIA documents have unveiled a bizarre Cold War-era initiative in which the U.S. government sought to develop an army of remote-controlled “animal assassins” to combat Soviet adversaries. The program, part of the infamous MKUltra project, involved implanting electrodes into animals’ brains to manipulate their movements, with ambitions to control humans eventually.
According to archives obtained by The Daily Mail, the CIA’s Subproject 94, launched in December 1961, experimented on rats, dogs, cats, and even birds, aiming to direct them via electrical impulses. The ultimate goal? Covert operatives capable of planting listening devices, delivering toxins, or even carrying out explosive attacks under government command.
From lab animals to living weapons
The project’s most shocking revelation was its intent to weaponize animals for “direct executive actions”—a phrase experts speculate may have implied assassinations. Swedish psychologist Valdemar Fellenius, known for training bomb-carrying seals during World War II, inspired the program’s lead scientist, Sidney Gottlieb.
“The CIA wanted animals to act as stealthy killers—delivering payloads or eavesdropping without detection,” writes historian John Lisle in his book Project Mind Control.
Researchers reportedly achieved limited success, using brain stimulation to guide a dog along an “invisible path.” Rats, due to their inconspicuous nature, emerged as top candidates for covert missions.
MKUltra’s dark legacy: Human experiments and destroyed evidence
Subproject 94 was a small facet of MKUltra, the CIA’s broader (and highly controversial) mind-control program. Under Gottlieb’s direction, MKUltra allegedly conducted unethical experiments on unwitting subjects—including prisoners, mental health patients, and civilians dosed with LSD or cocaine.
Much of the project’s documentation was deliberately destroyed, leaving gaps in the historical record. Funding was funneled through the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, a seemingly benign organization later exposed as a CIA front.
“The full scope of these experiments may never be known,” Lisle notes. “Gottlieb ensured some secrets died with him.”
A chilling precursor to human mind control?
Declassified files suggest the CIA envisioned expanding this technology to humans, potentially creating a remote-controlled soldier army. While the animal program was abandoned, its existence raises unsettling questions about the lengths governments might go to in the name of security.
For now, the story of Subproject 94 stands as a macabre footnote in Cold War history—one where science fiction nearly became reality.
II. CIA once worked to create an army of animal assassins who could fight the Soviets by planting listening devices and even blowing themselves up. The scientists even succeeded in their quest to control their minds.
The United States once tried creating an army of “animal assassins”, which the CIA hoped to use against its enemies, The Daily Mail reported. Declassified documents show that the CIA ran a secret project codenamed Subproject 94 in the 1960s, in which it carried out tests on wildlife. This included implanting electrodes into the brains of rats, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, donkeys, monkeys, and birds, intending to control their movements through electrical impulses. However, their ultimate aim was to have an army of people whose actions were controlled by senior government officials.
The animal experiments were part of a larger program operated by the CIA called MKUltra. Run under the leadership of chemist Sidney Gottlieb, it tried to develop mind control techniques during the Cold War. Criminals, mental patients, and drug addicts were tortured as various experiments were carried out on them. The redacted files also show that regular people were given LSD and cocaine without their knowledge.
The revelations were made by author John Lisle in his book “Project Mind Control.” The Daily Mail also got its hands on declassified archives of Subproject 94, according to which it began in December 1961.
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Animals controlled by a remote
However, the biggest part of the experiment was to create an army of remote-controlled animals that could fight the Soviet Union. The CIA wanted to send “payloads” of these animals for “direct executive actions”. What the term exactly means is not clear, although some experts claim that it was a reference to assassinating enemy officials.
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The experiment wasn’t meant to remain limited to the animal assassins. The scientists planned on using the technology on humans and creating a similar army of soldiers whose minds were in control of the authorities.
Gottlieb got the idea to create an army of animals from Swedish psychologist Valdemar Fellenius, who trained seals to attach bombs to submarines in World War II. He planned on having the animals plant listening devices and deliver deadly toxins. Gottlieb wanted to use to larger animals to act as animal bombs.
The scientists succeeded in their quest to control the minds of the animals by stimulating the pleasure centres of the animals’ brains with positive feedback. They once had a dog walk an invisible path only through their guidance. Now they needed a safe place to have the animals do as they were told without the people noticing. Rats turned out to be the prime contenders.
The funding for the program was hidden in the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, a private foundation set up in 1939 to support research in areas like cancer. In 1977, it was revealed that the fund was being used as a front for MKUltra’s experiments for decades. The full extent of the experiment might remain hidden forever since Gottlieb destroyed several files.
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III. Inside the CIA’s secret squad of adorable assassins dubbed ‘Project 94’
by LONDON MAIL June 14, 2025 in Science
A secret CIA project conducted bizarre experiments on wildlife in the hopes of creating an army of ‘animal assassins’ that could eliminate America’s enemies.
Called Subproject 94, the chilling plot saw scientists implant electrodes into the brains of rats, cats, dogs, monkeys, donkeys, guinea pigs, and birds in order to control their movements through electrical impulses during the 1960s.
It was all part of MKUltra, an infamous CIA program led by chemist Sidney Gottlieb to develop mind control techniques during the Cold War.
Declassified records about MKUltra have revealed how Americans were drugged and tortured during dozens of different experiments more than 60 years ago.
The subjects included criminals, mental patients, and drug addicts, but Army soldiers and average citizens were also given drugs like LSD and cocaine without their knowledge.
However, more declassified files delving into Gottlieb’s oversight of these dangerous experiments have revealed that people weren’t the only weapons the CIA was planning to use against the Soviet Union.
Heavily redacted documents from the 1960s show that the CIA were looking to send ‘payloads’ of these remote-controlled animals to carry out ‘direct executive actions’ – which some experts now believe meant assassinating officials who opposed the US.
Eventually, scientists working on Subproject 94 planned to take what they learned from animals and apply them to people, creating mind-controlled soldiers programed to kill.
Scientists implanted electrodes into the brains of rats, cats, dogs, monkeys, donkeys, guinea pigs, and birds in order to control their movements through electrical impulses during the 1960s
Scientists implanted electrodes into the brains of rats, cats, dogs, monkeys, donkeys, guinea pigs, and birds in order to control their movements through electrical impulses during the 1960s
Declassified documents discovered in the CIA archives reveal that Subproject 94 was approved by intelligence officials in late 1961
Declassified documents discovered in the CIA archives reveal that Subproject 94 was approved by intelligence officials in late 1961
In the new book, ‘Project Mind Control,’ author John Lisle revealed how Subproject 94 was one of 149 MKUltra experiments aimed at harnessing cutting-edge neuroscience to manipulate behavior.
This particular experiment was inspired by Swedish psychologist Valdemar Fellenius, who taught trained seals how to attach explosives to submarines during World War II.
Gottlieb turned this idea into a plot to have animals plant listening devices, deliver deadly toxins, or even rig larger creatures like bears to serve as mobile bombs.
This was done by stimulating the pleasure centers of the animals’ brains with positive feedback.
Scientists successfully managed to make the animals to move how they wanted them to, controlling their speed and direction in field tests.
In one test, researchers were able to make a dog follow an visible path ‘with relative ease.’ In fact, Lisle revealed that the hardest part of these experiments was finding isolated areas where the public couldn’t see what the CIA was doing.
Lisle, a historian and professor specializing in the history of the US intelligence community, revealed that rats were the easiest creatures to control.
Uncovered notes from Subproject 94 researchers noted that they had to be careful not to ‘overdo the pleasure reaction’ in these animals because it would cause them to become immobile.
On the other hand, experiments with negative feedback in the brain’s punishment centers only caused the animals to panic and become unresponsive to mind control.
Subproject 94 was part of MKUltra, an infamous CIA program led by chemist Sidney Gottlieb (pictured) to develop mind control techniques during the Cold War
Uncovered CIA documents revealed that the cost of Subproject 94 was more than $55,000, which was hidden as part of the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research
Documents uncovered by DailyMail.com in the CIA’s declassified archives revealed that Subproject 94 began in December 1961.
The CIA covered up the funding for these experiments by hiding it in the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research.
This private foundation was established in 1939 by Dr Charles Geschickter, a prominent American pathologist and professor at Georgetown University.
It was created to support research in areas like cancer, but later became infamous in 1977 when a congressional investigation revealed that the fund was acting as a front for MKUltra’s experiments for decades.
However, the full scope of Subproject 94 and MKUltra’s mind control operations may never be known, as Gottlieb had many of the project’s files destroyed in 1973.
A previous discovery of more than 1,200 declassified pages revealed that MKUltra also attempted to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture between 1953 and 1964.
Those files documented how the CIA used methods such as induced sleep, electroshocks, and ‘psychic driving’ on drugged subjects for weeks or months to reprogram their minds .
While it has long been said that subjects only included prisoners, mental patients, and drug addicts, one report showed that some CIA and Army officials and ‘subjects in normal life settings’ were ‘unwittingly’ given LSD over the decade-long experiment.
Unlike people, however, many animals are capable of achieving feats that even mind-controlled humans simply couldn’t do.
Researchers with Subproject 94 wrote that yaks and bears “are capable of carrying heavy payloads over great distances under adverse climatic conditions.”
It’s unknown if the CIA ever used mind-controlled animals in an actual operation or assassination attempt of a foreign official.
The revelations about MKUltra in the mid 1970s led to public distrust of the CIA and US intelligence community as a whole, leading to stricter congressional oversight of intelligence agencies.
Some victims of MKUltra experiments pursued legal action. Notably, the family of Frank Olson, a CIA scientist who died in 1953 after being unknowingly dosed with LSD, received a $750,000 settlement from the government in 1976, acknowledging the CIA’s role in his death.
Other lawsuits, such as those by former prisoners and mental patients, faced challenges due to lack of evidence and CIA denials.