---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
  - Person
  - CIA
  - MKULTRA
  - SocietyForTheInvestigationOfHumanEcology
summary: "Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who succeeded Harold Wolff as director of the CIA-fronted Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology and supervised its behavioral research grant program."
location: Washington, D.C.
created: 2026-06-03
updated: 2026-06-03
---
Lieutenant Colonel James Monroe had worked closely with the [[CIA]] as head of the Air Force's study of [[Korean War]] prisoners before the Agency hired him to run the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]] after its formal separation from [[Cornell University Medical College|Cornell]] in 1957. Monroe led a staff of four whose salaries the Agency paid, taking over the Society's dealings with the outside world and the monitoring of several hundred thousand dollars a year in research projects.[^1]

### Running the Human Ecology Society

Monroe personally supervised dozens of grants, including [[D. Ewen Cameron]]'s brainwashing work in Montreal. The Society had moved from its Manhattan town house to Forest Hills, Queens, and Monroe managed the transition from a Cornell-affiliated study group to an independent foundation that could approach academics anywhere in the world. When granting money, Monroe used a standard cover story, telling recipients the funds came from rich New York doctors and Texas millionaires who gave it for tax purposes. Dr. [[Carolyn Sherif]], who received a grant with her husband [[Muzafer Sherif]] for teenage gang research, states that Monroe lied directly to them about the source of the money.[^1]

Monroe's role was to maintain the Society's legitimacy while ensuring that [[MKULTRA]] interests were served. [[Sidney Gottlieb|Sid Gottlieb]] and the [[TSS]] hierarchy in Washington made the major decisions, but Monroe managed day-to-day operations, visited grant recipients, and kept track of developments in the behavioral sciences. He let [[Carl Rogers]] know that once he agreed to serve on the Society board, he could expect a grant, and Rogers received about $30,000 over three years. Monroe's operation gave the CIA a "legitimate basis to approach anyone in the academic community anywhere in the world," as one Agency source put it.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, Chapter 9.