What happened to Frank Olson?

[Zak247]

Moderator note from Bill:

I've started this new thread by moving a number of posts from the Hal Puthoff: the 1970s SRI remote viewing project, and its origins in Scientology (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?103682-Hal-Puthoff-the-1970s-SRI-remote-viewing-project-and-its-origins-in-Scientology) thread where the discussion of what happened to Frank Olson was very much off-topic.

But it's a very valid and interesting question, hence this standalone thread. I've also edited a few posts down so as to keep the new thread on topic.

~~~

Anybody who trusts ex-CIA agents, or merely associated with the sinister organization that presided over MK/Ultra, and various projects of massive disinformation and the destruction of many people including one of their own, Frank Olsen, got to be at a minimum naïve and possible stupid or crazy.

On this topic, I’m very firm. These guys shouldn’t be trusted at all! One has to earn trust and when that’s broken, the CIA has done too many times; well then to me it’s over, as far as I am concerned.

Think about the family of Frank Olsen, then come back and tell me about these people.

They gave Frank Olsen LSD and he jumped out of a window to his death.

Frank Olsen, also I’m sure felt friendly with the agents that murdered him.

[Smell the Roses]

They gave Frank Olsen LSD and he jumped out of a window to his death.


I hesitated to mention this yesterday, but since the thread is partly about maintaining accuracy: There is ample evidence that Frank Olson was pushed and did not jump. That is what his family alleged in their lawsuit (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/29/cia-lawsuit-scientist-1950s-death), eventually resulting in a settlement from the US Government (https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2660361/olson-v-united-states/).

Years ago I read the book A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments (https://www.amazon.com/Terrible-Mistake-Murder-Secret-Experiments/dp/193629608X) by H. P. Albarelli Jr. It goes into great detail about Olson's experience. Olson did ingest LSD on 19 November 1953, but this did not directly cause his death on 28 November 1953, at least not in the way pop culture remembers this sort of thing. Olson was disturbed about cases of civilians being given LSD by the CIA without their knowledge, such as the Pont-Saint-Esprit case in France (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7415082/French-bread-spiked-with-LSD-in-CIA-experiment.html). His potential as a whistle-blower is what many believe led to his murder.

Just wanted to set the record straight, as to say that Olson jumped is the CIA cover story, but it is not what his family thinks and not the scenario to which the evidence points.

[Bayareamom]

The story of Frank Olson's background/issues w/the CIA is revealed in the Netflix documentary Wormwood .

https://crimereads.com/when-your-60-year-old-family-mystery-shows-up-on-netflix/

And also - if I may: Am being completely honest here and will just say that I do understand where Zak was coming from. I, too, have had enormous issues with trust as it pertains to our intelligence apparatus. I have witnessed first hand the destructive forces behind these institutions and how those forces can manipulate and destroy an entire family.

So I DO definitely understand Zak's issues with not only the CIA, but w/any other government/intelligence agencies. They are NOT to be trusted.

However, having said this, one of the biggest lessons for me this past decade was learning that there are those few exceptions to the rule -- individuals who work for these agencies who are not morally corrupt and truly may feel at the time of their tenure that they are performing good deeds on behalf of their country..

William Binney, Russell Tice and Sibel Edmonds come to mind; however, all three eventually realized that all was not quite as it seemed when working for these government agencies. All three eventually became U.S. whistleblowers and suffered heavily on a personal level because of their outspokenness.

[Smell the Roses]

Bay Area Mom, I agree that valid points were made in that thread about the CIA. What disturbed me was that Frank Olson was continuously brought up in a context that was not accurate and in fact played into the CIA lie that his family had to work so hard to erase. One could say that Olson was a guinea pig on the night he was given the LSD at Deep Creek Lake, but he fell from the window nine days after that. In between those two events, he had decided that ethically he needed to resign from his position working collaboratively with the CIA. So to continuously bring him up as an example of a guinea pig undermines his legacy. His experience as an LSD subject and other concerns led him to decide that he couldn't be a part of the CIA, which then led the CIA to murder him. It was his strength that had to be eliminated, and his strength led to his death, not his weakness.

Olson was there in the early years of the CIA. I assume that now they must have their psychological profiling much more refined to where similar situations are even rarer in which an individual allows his ethics to impede his willingness to go along with the program.

[Bayareamom]

@Merry Mom,

Oh, absolutely. Have you seen the documentary about him on Netflix? I started watching it after a friend told me about it. I'll have to watch it again, only this time until the end. It broke my heart to see how much PAIN his son is in when his interviews were interspersed throughout the doc. I understand that kind of emotional pain all too well.

And yes, I would agree that the agency most likely has refined its psych evals so similar situations do not arise. But who knows what happens to some of these men/women who join up. I've always wondered how many other families such as Olson's, or black ops families, have gone through similar situations. The pain these families experience is a pain I would wish on no one.

[Shantsai]

Evan Hause wrote an opera about Olsen. (Eric Olsen mentions this in The Men Who Stare at Goats.) Here's the Vimeo link to act 1:
https://vimeo.com/196360981

[Smell the Roses]

@Merry Mom,

Oh, absolutely. Have you seen the documentary about him on Netflix? I started watching the Wormwood documentary this morning after you mentioned it. I am about halfway through the second part. It is better than I thought it would be. I had forgotten that Cheney and Rumsfeld were involved with the 1975 coverup and manipulation of the Olson family. Those two have certainly done enough damage over the years.

The archival footage of the 1975 congressional testimony of Col. Ruwet nervously describing his LSD trip with Olson and others at Deep Creek Lake was very telling. The viewing of the actual people involved at the time made me realize how much fear was involved on the part of these government agents. Ruwet said that the LSD experience was the most frightening experience he had in his life. I suppose in a way it is fear of human potential that makes these government types feel like they have to find increasingly innovative ways to control people. I could see how LSD might be scary to someone who wants to believe that the physical plane is the ultimate reality and to those who perhaps have a fear of death or the beyond.

If you think of how MKULTRA grew out of concerns over the 1952 Korean War prisoners confessing to the US using germ warfare, then the pattern of fear becomes clear. Lifton identified the eight criteria for thought reform by studying the Chinese brainwashing techniques. Then these eight criteria have been refined for decades and used against the American people domestically. It has been quite effective on most subjects.

[Cardillac]

the sad thing is Olsen was murdered for his pitance knowledge about things back then as compared to what is going on in the tumultuous present time-

Larry

[Smell the Roses]

the sad thing is Olsen was murdered for his pitance knowledge about things back then as compared to what is going on in the tumultuous present time-

Larry
What an excellent point, Larry. I feel like if you mentioned to the average person today that the CIA covertly drugged a village in France, you would barely get a reaction. People have become so desensitized to government corruption, and they accept the CIA as being a part of life, even though it has no legitimate constitutional purpose. Americans were up in arms about the CIA domestic surveillance activities in the fifties, but now they accept the Department of Homeland Security without question.

[Cardillac]

@Merry Mom

You, not me have commented on much more truth than I have-

please continue to be well-

Larry