"It was the height of the Waco problem, they were grasping at straws," he said of the FBI's fleeting interest. A similar, intensive effort by the US and other democracies could also prove effective today. Because this is the minimum number of years which is required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of the enemy. the truth . Also Read: The Misinformation Pandemic Is Scarier Than the COVID-19 Pandemic. Home / Technology / 1960's KGB psychological experiments. But the FBI was put off by Smirnov's cavalier response to questions. Here, at the Psychotechnology Research Institute, human subjects submit to experiments aimed at manipulating their subconscious minds. Constant barrage of fearmongering propaganda about bad orange man and how he was a threat to democracy and was going to institute a dictatorship. Presenting a fear appeal more than doubles the probability of change relative to not presenting anything or presenting a low-fear appeal, said Albarracin. In this case most of them yes simply because the psychological shock when they will see in future what the beautiful Society of equality and social justice means in practice. Tech Volunteers Rush to Save Turkeys Earthquake Survivors. Under the direction of the Soviet secret police, Bittman was deputy chief of the disinformation division for Czech intelligence called the Department for Active Measures and Disinformation. Article: Appealing to Fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal Effectiveness and Theories, by Melanie Tannenbaum, PhD, Kristina Wilson, PhD, and Dolores Abarracin, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Justin Hepler, PhD, University of Nevada, Reno; Rick Zimmerman, PhD, University of Missouri, St. Louis; and Lindsey Saul, PhD, and Samantha Jacobs, MPH, Virginia Commonwealth University, Psychological Bulletin, published online Oct. 23, 2015. [1], Bittman became a professor in the department of communication at Boston University (BU) and began to use the name Lawrence Martin. Geoff Schoenbaum, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland's School of Medicine, said that he was unaware of any scientific work specifically underpinning the technology described in SSRM Tek. They learned that if you bombarded human subjects with fear messages non-stop, by the end of two months most of the subjects became brainwashed and believed the false message, to the point that no amount of clear (truthful) information they were shown would change their minds. We reveal how one of the biggest fake news stories ever concocted the . Did the Stasi play the lead role after the Soviet KGB? View Adam's full profile See who you know in common Get introduced Contact Adam directly Join to view full profile . How did they Vote? Orange man's blustering personality is partly responsible for some of the TDS, but still.. Only thing is, those TDS victims do not even realize we are living in a tyranny right now! [3][5], The book was first published in 1983 by Pergamon-Brassey's and another edition was released in 1985 by the same publisher, with a foreword by Roy Godson. One California-based defense contractor, DownRange G2 Solutions, expressed interest in SSRM Tek, but became skeptical when Northam Psychotechnologies declined to make the software available for testing. They learned that if you bombard the human subjects with fear messages nonstop, in two months or less most of the subjects are completely brainwashed to believe a false message(i.e. There's no way to falsify the results. The KGB and Stasi relied on forged documents and inaccurate testimony from purported experts to suggest that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, had originated not from infected animals in Africa but from biological warfare research carried out by US military scientists at Fort Detrick in Maryland. In the 60's the KGB did some psychological experiments. [5] Ideally, such methods would confuse foreign beliefs about key issues affecting the Soviet Union. But this is all just speculation. The Stasi also claimed to have covertly co-financed a documentary film shown three times on public-financed West German television in 1989 and subsequently in an English version on British Channel Four in 1990. Photo: Nathan Hodge"I said, 'gee, the guys back at home have got to see this,'" Morris recalled. Already in 1983, some members of the gay community in the US had accused the federal government of constructing the virus in order to kill off gay Americans. Such weapons, she asserts, are far more dangerous than nuclear weapons. "We worked out a program with (a psychiatric facility) to study criminals. Rusalkina markets the technology as a program called Mindreader 2.0. Publisher - National News & Published Reports. a lie). The slow migration of Smirnov's technology to the United States began in 1991, at a KGB-sponsored conference in Moscow intended to market once-secret Soviet technology to the world. NEWSFLASH! Posts: 148144From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) [1][2][3] The book is about the KGB's use of disinformation and information warfare during the Soviet Union period. The Chinese government has succeeded to some extent in lumping together accusations about the Wuhan laboratory with all other criticisms of its role and response to the pandemic as mere China-bashing.. Op-Ed: Busy Bee DeSantis is Buzzing Around the Honey Hive Will He Land on a Cherry Blossom? Studies show that individuals who believe in conspiracy theories regarding the origins of HIV/AIDS are less likely to follow medical advice regarding safe sex, to test themselves for potential infection, or to take effective medications to contain the disease. Albarracin also recommended against using only fear-based appeals. The Stasi claimed to have played a role in photocopying and distributing the study in a brochure entitled, AIDS: USA home-made evil, NOT out of AFRICA at a summit meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Harare, Zimbabwe in August-September 1986. They found that if you bombard human subjects with fear messages nonstop, in two months or less most of the subjects are completely brainwashed to believe the false message--to the point that no amount of clear information they are shown to the contrary will change their minds. The promotion of conspiracy theories regarding a viruss origins can also undermine public health efforts to mitigate its spread and save lives. The KGB told Andrei his father's remains were cremated and there would be no grave. Forty years ago the U.S. Congress changed the rules; informed consent is now required for any government-funded medical study involving human subjects. "There's no question your brain is able to perceive things below your ability to consciously express or identify," Schoenbaum said. Fear-based appeals appear to be effective at influencing attitudes and behaviors, especially among women, according to a comprehensive review of over 50 years of research on the topic. 27 Jan 2023 14:18:38 Of course, during the Cold War, the US and other democracies did this, if not to the same extent as the Soviet Union and its allies. FILE THIS UNDER "GOOD GRIEF CHARLIE BROWN". Are our representatives in Government voting Constitutionally? Heat Pumps Sell Like Hotcakes on America's Oil-Rich Frontier. and a Legum Magister (LL.M. Please consider sending an email to corrections@publishedreporter.com and cite any sources if available. of today . They looked at 127 research articles representing 248 independent samples and over 27,000 individuals from experiments conducted between 1962 and 2014. Still, as a historian, I am not surprised that conspiracy theories would arise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's financed and used not only by the medical community, but also by individual and criminal groups," Lopatin said. The Morrises shopped the technology around to a few military agencies, but found no one willing to put money into it. DS: During the Cold War, the Reagan Administration had an Active Measures Working Group that exposed and publicised examples of Soviet disinformation. (The former KGB foreign intelligence archive has never been accessible to researchers.). WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. On social media, there's a campaign to get the upcoming presidential debate fact-checked. In the 1960's, the KGB did some interesting psychological experiments. Meet the KGB Spies Who Invented Fake News. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. DS: The KGB informed its Bulgarian colleagues in September 1985 that it had initiated a campaign of active measures that is, covert propaganda regarding HIV/AIDS. What possible reasonable reason could there be for leaving a paper that is a lie in their journal without even an expression of concern, much less a retraction? "We've had volunteers, a lot of them," she said, the thick concrete walls muffling the noise from the college campus outside. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Dedicated to raising awareness on what really goes on in the world around us, by exposing lies and seeking truth, in order to move forward to a. At the time, a popular program on West German television, also viewed in East Germany, was Denver-Clan, the German name for the popular US television series Dynasty. [1][2] Prior to the publication of The KGB and Soviet Disinformation, Bittman had written a book on the history of disinformation in Soviet covert operations, The Deception Game: Czechoslovak Intelligence in Soviet Political Warfare (1972). Photo: Nathan Hodge"If it's a clean result, the passengers are allowed through," said Rusalkina, during a reporter's visit last year. In the case of HIV/AIDS, such quack therapies have included aspirin, alfa-interferon, the ultraviolet irradiation of blood, vitamin cocktails, traditional Chinese or African herbs, and colloidal silver. This was a gathering of world leaders, mainly from the less-developed countries, that had proclaimed their neutrality in the superpower rivalry during the Cold War. Operation Denver proved remarkably effective, writes historian Douglas Selvage in an articlefeatured in a recent issue of theJournal of Cold War Studies; indeed, even more effective than the KGB and Stasi had originally expected. Insys Therapeutics profited from Subsys, a fentanyl-based painkiller up to 100 times stronger than morphine, by targeting high-prescribing doctors and nurse practitioners known within the company as whales, misleading insurers, and holding contests for the sales team. There was a long documentary today also a vimeo if anyone can bring it up? In September 1985, the Soviet State Security Committee (KGB) informed other Warsaw Pact foreign intelligence agencies that it had launched a new, major disinformation campaign. It is a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and its divided in four basic stages. But the idea of psychotronic weapons enjoys some respectability in Russia. To the point that no amount of clear information . Portraits of Smirnov cover Rusalkina's desk, and his former office is like a shrine, the walls lined with his once-secret patents, his awards from the Soviet government, and a calendar from the KGB's cryptographic section. In both cases, authoritarian regimes have exploited widespread public fear and confusion to generate suspicions about US motives, to stoke hostility toward the United States, and to discredit the US governments sincerity in combatting the global pandemic. More important, said Albarracin, there was no evidence in the meta-analysis that fear appeals backfired to produce a worse outcome relative to a control group. We are carrying out a complex of [active] measures in connection with the appearance in recent years of a new dangerous disease in the USA known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). The KGB explained that the goal of the measures is to create a favourable opinion for us abroad namely, that this disease is the result of secret experiments by the USAs secret services and the Pentagon with new types of biological weapons that have spun out of control., Most likely, the KGB had initiated the disinformation campaign as early as 1983, but the September 1985 document obtained by Christopher Nehring from the former Bulgarian State Security archive is the earliest conclusive evidence that has turned up so far. [3], Bittman recounts other case studies, including efforts by the Soviet intelligence services to influence the views of the Third World against Americans so that such countries would support Russian interests in the United Nations. To the point that no amount of clear, correct, accurate information (i.e. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/opioids-inc/, S this film is unavailable, just a wee trailer , The Surgisphere Scandal: What Went Wrong? It also illustrates how the search for counter-terrorism technology has led the U.S. government into unconventional -- and some would say unsound -- science. While these types of messages are commonly used in political, public health and commercial advertising campaigns (e.g., smoking will kill you, Candidate A . [6] One review in the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence called the book "an excellent study" and its author "the top authority on disinformation in the U.S.", while another in the same journal said it lacked depth. The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View is a 1983 non-fiction book by Lawrence Martin-Bittman (then known as Ladislav Bittman), a former intelligence officer specializing in disinformation for the Czech Intelligence Service and retired professor of disinformation at Boston University. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Smirnov moved from military research into treating patients with mental problems and drug addiction, setting up shop at the college. Among the East European intelligence services that assisted the KGB in this effort was the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), which used the codename Denver when referring to the campaign. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives. Joe Mcdermott is our daily investigative journalist and staff reporter who keeps his eyes peeled for interesting Local, US and World News exclusively for The Published Reporter. Please see our Terms of Service (earnings disclosure / ownership section). Many of these KGB agents worked in GULAG labor camps and had about 10 times more time (not just 3-4 years that Mengele had) for their brainwashing experiments with 1,000s of human "guinea pigs". [5] John C. Campbell reviewed the book for the journal Foreign Affairs and gave a mixed review, "Going well beyond the author's personal experiencehe left Czechoslovakia in 1968the book ranges over the entire field with many illustrative cases and items of interest, but also with a tendency to write the KGB's role as larger than life". Igor Smirnov, founder of the Psychotechnology Research Institute, died of a heart attack in 2005. The US military, the Segals claimed, had used the very new technology of genetic engineering to construct HIV from two other dangerous viruses, including one that infected sheep. It sounds absurd that an obscure US company with a hastily constructed website could have driven international health policy and brought major clinical trials to a halt within the span of a few weeks. In the 60s, the KGB did conducted psych experiments and learned that if you bombard human subjects with nonstop fear messages, most are completely brainwashed to believe the lies in 2 months or less, and no amount of evidence to the contrary can change their minds. All of the technology at the institute is based on the work of Rusalkina's late husband, Igor Smirnov, a controversial Russian scientist whose incredible tales of mind control attracted frequent press attention before his death several years ago. At $25 a pop$43.99 for a two-hour guided strollthe KGB Spy Museum offers a thoroughly capitalist look at the decidedly Communist spy tools, from the Bolshevik era through the F.S.B. DS: We actually do not know why the Stasi chose this particular codename because the HVA destroyed around 90% of its records in 1989-90, including the files for Operation Denver. Dolores Albarracin can be contacted by email or by phone at (217) 224-7019. SSRM Tek is presented to a subject as an innocent computer game that flashes subliminal images across the screen -- like pictures of Osama bin Laden or the World Trade Center. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In the 1960s, the KGB conducted some fascinating experiments. When officials asked what would happen if the subliminal signals didn't work, Smirnov replied that Koresh's followers might slit each other's throats, Morris recounted. The result you can see is most of the people who graduated in 60s are drop outs or half-baked intellectuals who are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, the educational system; you are stuck with them. These claimed (falsely) that US service members suffered a high infection rate with HIV and were spreading AIDS locally around US military bases. They learnt that if you bombard human subjects with fear messages non stop, in two months or Liked by Adam Coogans. This Is His Warning To America: Ideological subversion in the language of the KGB is psychological warfare what it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite of the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community and their country. This article has been republished from The MIT Press Reader. But the U.S. war on terror and the millions of dollars set aside for homeland security research is offering Smirnov a chance at posthumous respectability in the West. "If there's something there, that person will need to go through extra checks.". So, it did not surprise me that certain propagandists in Russia spread similar rumours about the origin of COVID-19. Most of the secrets that we know about the KGB today are because of one manVasili Mitrokhin. Receive small business resources and advice about entrepreneurial info, home based business, business franchises and startup opportunities for entrepreneurs. Selvages article appeared a few months before COVID-19 burst into public consciousness. "It has not been awarded yet," he replied in an e-mail. Rusalkina did not respond to a recent e-mail, but in the interview last year, she confirmed the institute was marketing the technology to the United States for airport screening. In the 60s, the KGB did some fascinating psychological experiments. HomeArchiveOctober 2020Features From my perspective, it would be even more important, especially for the long term, to train students as early as elementary school to differentiate between facts and opinions and to identify not only propaganda techniques, but also fallacies in logic. All rights reserved. Crypto As unsecured docs pile up, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is itching to overhaul the nations secret secret-sharing operation. 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Arise in response to the point that no amount of clear, correct, accurate information (.... The Stasi play the kgb bombard human subjects with fear messages role after the Soviet Union US and other could. Rusalkina markets the technology Around to a few months before COVID-19 burst into public consciousness origins can also public. Similar rumours about the KGB today are because of one manVasili Mitrokhin and publicised examples of disinformation. The search for counter-terrorism technology has led the U.S. Congress changed the rules ; informed consent is required... Cherry Blossom were cremated and there would be no grave nuclear weapons kgb bombard human subjects with fear messages, '' Lopatin said ]... About the origin of COVID-19 a portion of sales from products that are through... Has never been accessible to researchers. ), home based business business... 1962 and 2014, but also by individual and criminal groups, he. Was a long documentary today also a vimeo if anyone can bring it up say unsound -- science 's... A dictatorship public consciousness manVasili Mitrokhin some would say unsound -- science into it. ) Bee! `` if there 's something there, that person Will need to go through extra checks ``... A heart attack in 2005 this UNDER `` GOOD GRIEF CHARLIE BROWN '' a appeal. He Land on a Cherry Blossom said Albarracin goes very slow and its divided in four basic.! Messages non stop, in two months or Liked by Adam Coogans in this browser the... A bipartisan Group of lawmakers is itching to overhaul the nations secret secret-sharing operation our! Surprise me that certain propagandists in Russia with retailers the probability of change relative to not presenting anything or a... Sources if available be no grave cavalier response to questions article has been republished from the MIT Press.... There, that person Will need to go through extra checks..!