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C'INTERCEPTS
Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600150001-5
DOD, Intel Agencies Look at Russian Mind Control Technology, Claims
FBI Considered Testing on Koresh.
F
ederal law enforcement
officials considered
testing a Russian scien-
tist's acoustic mind control de-
vice on cultist David Koresh a
few weeks before the fiery
conflagration that killed the
Branch Davidian leader and
more than 70 of his followers
in Waco, Texas, Defense Elec-
tronics has learned.
In a series of closed meet-
ings beginning March 17 in
suburban Northern Virginia
with Dr. Igor Smirnov of the
Moscow Medical Academy,
FBI officials were briefed on
the Russian's decade-long re-
search on a computerized
acoustic device allegedly ca-
pable of implanting thoughts
in a person's mind without
that person being aware of the
source of the thought.
"It was suggested to us [by
other federal officials] that
they bring in the FBI, which
was looking for a viable op-
tion to deal with Koresh," said
a source who participated in
the Smirnov meetings who
agreed to discuss the gather-
ings only on condition of
anonymity.
His account of the meetings
was confirmed by an execu-
tive summary memorandum
prepared by officials of Psy-
chotechnologies Corp., a Rich-
mond, Virginia, based firm
that owns the American rights
to the Russian technology. A
copy of the Psychotechnolo-
gies summary, which has been
circulated among U.S. intelli-
gence executives, was ob-
tained by DE.
The Psychotechnologies
memo described the standoff
between federal agents and
Koresh in Waco as "an on-
going domestic hostage situa-
tion."
After several meetings with
Smirnov, FBI officials, who
repeatedly expressed fears-
during the discussions that Ko-
resh and his followers were
suicidal, asked for a proposal
describing requirements and
procedures for using the de-
vice in Waco, he said.
"They wanted the Russians
to promise zero risk" in using
the device on Koresh, but the
Russians wouldn't do that,"
the participant said. Another
obstacle was the fact Smirnov
had only brought "entry-level
equipment" and more sophisti-
cated hardware would have
had to be rushed over from
Russia before the device could
be used in an attempt to end
the standoff in Texas.
As a result, Koresh and his
band were not used as test sub-
jects for a demonstration of a
technology developed under
the former Soviet Union and
apparently used against civil-
ians in Afghanistan, which is
why the U.S. defense and in-
telligence communities were
well-represented in the March
meetings in Virginia.
"There was a strong interest
among the intelligence agen-
cies because they had been
tracking Smirnov for years,"
the participant said, "and be-
cause we know there is evi-
dence the Soviet Army's Spe-
cial Forces used the technolo-
gy during the conflict in
Afghanistan."
Alcohol and drug abuse
among Red Army soldiers was
so pervasive during the
Afghan war that Soviet offi-
cials relied upon the technolo-
gy in preparing troops for mis-
sions involving atrocities
against civilians.
Officials from the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA),
Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA) and the Advance Re-
search Projects Agency
(ARPA) were also present, ac-
cording to the source. Spokes-
men for those agencies did not
return a reporter's telephone
calls seeking to confirm
whether individuals from their
organizations attended the
Smirnov meetings.
Because the U.S. has no
known counter-measure to the
technology, intelligence com-
munity and ARPA officials
are concerned that weaponized
versions of the device may
still be in the Russian military
inventory, and they expressed
fear during the meetings that
the technology could be ex-
ported to Third World nations
via the growing black market
in military equipment from
the former Soviet Union, he
said.
The main purpose of the
March meetings was de-
scribed in the Psychotech-
nologies memo as to "deter-
mine whether psycho-correc-
tion technologies represent a
present or future threat to
U.S. national security in situ-
ations where inaudible com-
mands might be used to alter
behavior.
The memo went on to note
that meeting attendces were
also interested in whether
"psycho-correction detection.
decoding and counter-mea-
sures programs should be un-
dertaken by the U.S." An ef-
fective psycho-correction de-
vice could be a military threat,
the memorandum continued,
if it were deployed to "nega-
tively affect morale of U.S.
troops in combat" or to "affect
judgement or opinions of de-
cision-makers, key personnel
or populaces" in a conflict.
Further, the memo said De-
partment of Defense (DOD)
officials were concerned that
the technology could be used
in the protection of U.S. em-
bassies, military training and
in non-violently "clearing
areas of potential enemies,
snipers, etc."
Non-military participants
were also included in the
Smirnov meetings in Virginia,
as well as a series of subse-
quent briefings by the two
Russians at the University of
Kansas Medical Center in
Topeka. The non-military at-
tendees included Dr. Richard
Nakamura of the National In-
stitute of Mental Health and
Dr. Christopher Green, direc-
tor of General Motors Corp.
(GM) biomedical research de-
partment in Detroit.
Dr. Nakamura could not be
reached for comment, but he
was described in the Psy-
chotechnologies memo as
being "familiar with U.S.
patents" in the area and that
"the Russians seemed to have
solved" mathematical prob-
lems "which had prevented
development of U.S. work be-
yond basic stages,".
Dr. Green said through a
GM spokesman that he attend-
ed the Smirnov briefings in his
capacity as a member of a Na-
tional Academy of Sciences
(NAS) panel on 21st Century
Army technologies. "This has
no connection to anything
being done by GM," the
spokesman said.
"It looks promising, but we
don't have enough details yet
to really appraise it," Dr.
Fowler Jones of University of
Kansas Medical Center's psy-
chology division told DE. "It
was really more of a presenta-
tion than an actual demonstra-
tion because, unfortunately, a
lot of the software we
couldn't get going." Jones
said he and his colleagues at
the Kansas facility are look-
ing for funding sources for re-
search to determine whether
the Russian psycho-correction
technology can be used in
treating alcoholism and other
addictions.
The Psychotechnologies
memo described an agreement
company officials entered into
with Smirnov in March in
which "the Russian side
agreed to commit the psycho-
correction technologies still in
Russia and all related know-
how to the U.S. company in
exchange for stock. The Russ-
ian side has agreed to provide
all support necessary to recre-
ate current [psycho-correction]
capability in the U.S. and to
upgrade the capability using
U.S. components and comput-
er programmers. All necessary
developmental and existing al-
gorithms will be provided by
the Russian side."
- By Mark Tapscott
DEFENSE ELECTRONICS JULY 1993 17