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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology.md
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@ -49,6 +49,18 @@ relations:
end: 1963
role: "$2,000 grant for a book on the psychology of writing, per Price's table of the Fund's 1961-1963 report; the Fund is thanked in the posthumous Encyclopedia of the Written Word"
fn: 9
- type: funded
with: "[[Anthony J. Wiener]]"
role: "1958-59 study of Soviet scientists as potential agent recruits, $12,000 in total, as reported by Oster"
start: 1958
end: 1959
fn: 17
- type: funded
with: "[[Frank Haronian]]"
start: 1961
end: 1963
role: "Human Ecology Fund grant, Physique and psychological functioning, $39,000 (Price table)"
fn: 9
---
The Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] front foundation established in [[New York City]] around 1955 to channel covert funding from [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA]] to academic researchers, psychiatric institutions, and other organizations conducting behavioral modification research on the CIA's behalf. Operating under the guise of a legitimate foundation supporting behavioral science research, the Society provided institutional cover that allowed MKULTRA funding to reach recipients whose participation might have been refused or compromised if the CIA's role had been disclosed.[^1]
@ -91,7 +103,7 @@ An October 1977 NBC television segment, "The Children and the CIA," reported tha
### Renaming and Phase-Out
Marks states that "In 1961 the Society changed its name to the Human Ecology Fund," and continues to call the body the Society throughout his book.[^2] The Human Ecology Fund's 1961-1963 report, as tabulated by [[David H. Price]], lists grants including $2,000 to Klara G. Roman for "Book: The Psychology of Writing" and $39,000 to Frank Haronian for "Physique and psychological functioning." Price gives James L. Monroe as the Fund's executive director from 1961 to 1963 and David Rhodes from 1964, and states that operations shifted from New York City to Cornell University's medical school.[^9] The posthumous Encyclopedia of the Written Word (1968) thanks "The Handwriting Institute and The Human Ecology Fund" for helping Roman, and Dr. Walter P. Pasternak "of the Human Ecology Fund."[^10] A February 1963 CIA memorandum on MKULTRA Subproject 137 states that "The Fund will receive its usual acknowledgement in the publication of the manuscript."[^11] At the 1977 hearing Gittinger testified that "As far as I was concerned, it was the period of time ending in 1961," and that the Society and the Human Ecology Fund were phased out. He gave the phase-out end date for the Fund as 1965: "I believe the Human Ecology fund finally phased out in 1965, but I was not involved in this phasing out."[^12] Marks records that in 1962 Gittinger and his co-workers moved their base of operations from the Human Ecology headquarters in New York to [[Psychological Assessment Associates]], a CIA proprietary company in Washington.[^5]
Marks states that "In 1961 the Society changed its name to the Human Ecology Fund," and continues to call the body the Society throughout his book.[^2] The Human Ecology Fund's 1961-1963 report, as tabulated by [[David H. Price]], lists grants including $2,000 to Klara G. Roman for "Book: The Psychology of Writing" and $39,000 to Frank Haronian for "Physique and psychological functioning." Price gives James L. Monroe as the Fund's executive director from 1961 to 1963 and David Rhodes from 1964, and states that operations shifted from New York City to Cornell University's medical school.[^9] The first-page note of a 1964 paper by [[A. Arthur Sugerman]] and [[Frank Haronian]] states: "This study was partly supported by a grant to Frank Haronian from the Human Ecology Fund."[^10] A February 1963 accounting for MKULTRA Subproject 134, the study whose investigator was Haronian, closes with the statement that it is a true account "as reported to the Fund." The Subproject 134 status page lists the contractor "as a grantee of the" redacted body.[^11] The posthumous Encyclopedia of the Written Word (1968) thanks "The Handwriting Institute and The Human Ecology Fund" for helping Roman, and Dr. Walter P. Pasternak "of the Human Ecology Fund."[^12] A February 1963 CIA memorandum on MKULTRA Subproject 137 states that "The Fund will receive its usual acknowledgement in the publication of the manuscript."[^13] At the 1977 hearing Gittinger testified that "As far as I was concerned, it was the period of time ending in 1961," and that the Society and the Human Ecology Fund were phased out. He gave the phase-out end date for the Fund as 1965: "I believe the Human Ecology fund finally phased out in 1965, but I was not involved in this phasing out."[^14] Marks records that in 1962 Gittinger and his co-workers moved their base of operations from the Human Ecology headquarters in New York to [[Psychological Assessment Associates]], a CIA proprietary company in Washington.[^5]
### Disclosure
@ -101,11 +113,13 @@ The disclosure that a foundation with academic and scientific board members had
### 1977 Public Accounts
Asked at the August 3, 1977 hearing about the Society's funding, Gittinger said: "The Agency in effect provided the money. They did not direct the projects." He also said that "there are a lot of innocent people who received the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology money which I know for a fact they were never asked to do anything for the CIA," and that "They had no knowledge that they were getting CIA money."[^12] Asked about the budget, he replied: "I honestly do not remember," and guessed "about $150,000 a year, but don't hold me to that."[^12]
Asked at the August 3, 1977 hearing about the Society's funding, Gittinger said: "The Agency in effect provided the money. They did not direct the projects." He also said that "there are a lot of innocent people who received the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology money which I know for a fact they were never asked to do anything for the CIA," and that "They had no knowledge that they were getting CIA money."[^14] Asked about the budget, he replied: "I honestly do not remember," and guessed "about $150,000 a year, but don't hold me to that."[^14]
Marks reports that James Monroe told The New York Times on August 2, 1977 that "only about 25 to 30 percent" of the Society's budget came from the CIA, a figure Marks says Monroe knew to be false because "the actual figure was well over 90 percent."[^13]
Marks reports that James Monroe told The New York Times on August 2, 1977 that "only about 25 to 30 percent" of the Society's budget came from the CIA, a figure Marks says Monroe knew to be false because "the actual figure was well over 90 percent."[^15]
The New York Times reported on October 9, 1977 that "Sociological, cultural and anthropological studies were financed through the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology," and that the list of 80 institutions given to Senate investigators "is still classified, but each of those institutions has been notified separately by the C.I.A."[^14]
The New York Times reported on October 9, 1977 that "Sociological, cultural and anthropological studies were financed through the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology," and that the list of 80 institutions given to Senate investigators "is still classified, but each of those institutions has been notified separately by the C.I.A."[^16]
[[Patrick Oster]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] of September 11, 1977 that the CIA had financed a research project at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] on how to turn Soviet scientists into agents. The article said that, "As part of its Project MK-ULTRA," the agency, "using a private foundation as a 'front,'" spent a total of $12,000 in 1958 and 1959 on determining "what criteria can be developed in spotting and assessing [Soviet scientists] as potential agent recruits," according to CIA memos the Sun-Times had obtained. The research, "which relied heavily on interviews with American and Western scientists returning from the Soviet Union," was conducted by [[Anthony J. Wiener]], then affiliated with MIT's [[Center for International Studies]] and later a consultant to the [[Hudson Institute]], whom the article called "apparently an unwitting pawn in the CIA's mind-control project." It described the Society as "the now defunct Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, A New York-based CIA front set up in the 1950s to provide a legitimate cover for CIA research projects, including some involving 'brainwashing.'" A CIA memo of September 17, 1958 quoted there said that "Given a model or prototype [of a scientist], it is desired that guidance be provided as regards the most effective way or ways in which repressed and rationalized anti-regime motivations may be aroused or, more properly, re-activated."[^17]
### Footnotes
@ -113,13 +127,16 @@ The New York Times reported on October 9, 1977 that "Sociological, cultural and
[^2]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control* (Times Books, 1979), chapter 9, "Human Ecology," p. 149, note ("In 1961 the Society changed its name to the Human Ecology Fund").
[^3]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 9.
[^4]: Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, Annual Report, 1957 (34 pp.). Wayback Machine capture of https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21090820/1957-annual-report-society-human-ecology.pdf , https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21090820/1957-annual-report-society-human-ecology.pdf .
[^5]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 9, "Human Ecology," p. 168 (grant to Saunders and the move to Psychological Assessment Associates in 1962). Sole source for the dollar figure and the 1962 move: Marks.
[^5]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 9, "Human Ecology," p. 168 (grant to Saunders and the move to Psychological Assessment Associates in 1962).
[^6]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 10, "The Gittinger Assessment System," p. 170.
[^7]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 10, "The Gittinger Assessment System," p. 171, note (asterisk note on graphology).
[^8]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996.
[^9]: David H. Price, "Buying a piece of anthropology, Part 1," *Anthropology Today* 23(3), June 2007, text and fig. 4 (source given: Human Ecology Fund, Report, 1963, pp. 13-42). https://archive.org/details/human_ecology_torture_suicide . Sole source for the grant rows: Price's table.
[^10]: *Encyclopedia of the Written Word* (New York: F. Ungar, 1968), acknowledgments, Internet Archive full-text index of https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwr0000roma
[^11]: MKULTRA Subproject 137, CIA release DOC_0000017396, accounting memorandum of February 1963. https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017396
[^12]: *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification*, Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, United States Senate, 95th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1977, testimony of John Gittinger. Available: intelligence.senate.gov.
[^13]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, "Conclusions" chapter, note on p. 207 (quoting James Monroe in *The New York Times*, August 2, 1977). Sole source for the Monroe statement: Marks.
[^14]: Jo Thomas, "Extent of University Work for C.I.A. Is Hard to Pin Down," *The New York Times*, October 9, 1977 (dateline Washington, October 8). CIA reading room copy: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3 ; archive.org copy: https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3 .
[^9]: David H. Price, "Buying a piece of anthropology, Part 1," *Anthropology Today* 23(3), June 2007, text and fig. 4 (source given: Human Ecology Fund, Report, 1963, pp. 13-42). https://archive.org/details/human_ecology_torture_suicide .
[^10]: A. Arthur Sugerman and Frank Haronian, "Body type and sophistication of body concept," Journal of Personality 32(3), September 1964, pp. 380-394, first-page note. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1964.tb01347.x
[^11]: Accounting for MKULTRA Subproject 134, grant period 9-1-61 to 8-31-62, dated February 1963; New School copy NS010102_000027, PDF p. 17 (status page at p. 10); release DOC_0000017393.
[^12]: *Encyclopedia of the Written Word* (New York: F. Ungar, 1968), acknowledgments, Internet Archive full-text index of https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwr0000roma
[^13]: MKULTRA Subproject 137, CIA release DOC_0000017396, accounting memorandum of February 1963. https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017396
[^14]: *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification*, Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, United States Senate, 95th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1977, testimony of John Gittinger. Available: intelligence.senate.gov.
[^15]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, "Conclusions" chapter, note on p. 207 (quoting James Monroe in *The New York Times*, August 2, 1977).
[^16]: Jo Thomas, "Extent of University Work for C.I.A. Is Hard to Pin Down," *The New York Times*, October 9, 1977 (dateline Washington, October 8). CIA reading room copy: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3 ; archive.org copy: https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3 .
[^17]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8