Astrology at the CIA
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Astrology at the CIA is John Kiriakou's confirmation, in answer to a viewer question, that the agency did in fact pursue astrology, and his account of the institutional logic that made such projects possible.

The answer

"Somebody also asked at the very beginning of the show about the role of astrology. Has astrology ever played a role in the CIA's work? And the answer is yes. It did in the 1950s into the early 1960s as a part of that overarching MK Ultra program."

His characterisation of the programme's breadth: "Like every bit of craziness that you can come up with that had the MK Ultra label attached to it, they tried."

Pressed for the list, he supplied it without hesitation, time travel, teleportation, LSD, "all of it. Because they were panicked at the idea that the Russians were doing it too, and they were ahead of us."

The link to the occult

Asked whether there was any connection to the Nazi interest in the occult a decade earlier, Kiriakou said there was, and located it in incentives rather than ideology.

"There is a link because all these people in positions of authority where they don't have to report back to the public and they have unlimited or virtually unlimited budgets think, you know what, there's probably nothing to it. But just in case there is, and it'll make me a star if it leaks out."

Astrology in the White House

Later in the same conversation, a viewer noted that Nancy Reagan had been influenced by an astrologer over the war on drugs. Kiriakou confirmed it: "Yes, very much so."

The agency's related attempts to turn animals into listening platforms, cats, pigeons, are covered at CIA animal surveillance experiments.

See also

- MK-Ultra
- CIA animal surveillance experiments
- Havana Syndrome
