[pp744-752]
[...] Donovan contributed little to the Nuremberg process, but
there is one legacy that must be explored. At one stage Donovan had included in his party an OSS doctor who was known in the medical profession to have conducted experiments into the development of so called
truth drugs. The presence of the doctor in the group led to some speculation in medico-legal circles that the OSS had developed a truth drug, speculation that contained much truth. The question was: Did the United States permit the use of such drugs on the principal German prisoners at Nuremberg---on such war criminals as Goring, Ribbentrop, and Speer?
For some years before the war scientists and chemists had been experimenting with truth drugs for medical, surgical, criminological, and forensic purposes. But the inquiry was regarded widely as being like the search for the agent that would turn lead into gold---a truth drug was a scientific impossibility. Nevertheless, WJD had authorized a small research program---the budget was $5,000---when, in November 1941 , the idea of a truth drug program was presented to the COl by a liberal novelist, Arthur Upham Pope, an expert in Persian art who lived in New York and ran a patriotic organization called the Committee for National Morale.
Doctors associated with Pope on the committee and who had conducted some research in the use of truth drugs in criminology were seen by COI doctors, who expressed an interest in the potential of scopolamine, also known as hyoscine, a drug obtained from plants of the nightshade family. When combined with morphine, the doctors advised the COI, scopolamine produced a tranquilized state similar to twilight sleep. It had been used widely to induce relaxation and calm in obstetrics, and under certain circumstances it could be used to make men talk about matters they would not discuss if they had not been under the influence of a drug.
Pope proved to be an unsatisfactory collaborator, there were certain dangers attached to the use of scopolamine, and the program was for the moment abandoned. It was, however, revived in the remote hope that it might provide some of the intelligence needed to help the Allied navies clear the North Atlantic of enemy submarines in time to give the Torch convoys safe passage to French North Africa.
More research was undertaken into the use of scopolamine mixed with morphine, but the combination proved too dangerous. The program was again abandoned and then revived again in September 1942, under the direction of Stanley Lovell, Donovan's chief scientist, employing only OSS doctors. Lovell was to state that his branch "instituted a search for a drug or narcotic capable of forcing the subject to tell the truth," and ''As was to be expected, the project was considered fantastic by the realists, unethical by the moralists, and downright ludicrous by the physicians.''30
Lovell assured WJD there was no hope whatsoever a drug that would make any contribution to the Torch anti-U-boat program could be found. But he did state some such drug that might prove useful to later operations might be found. Aware that this was going to be a long war, with much naval warfare, Donovan agreed to allow the program to continue and expand.
Lovell stated: "The need for such a national weapon was too acute to deny any and every possible attempt to find it." To the need for U-boat crew interrogations Lovell added the need for the interrogation of prisoners of war of high rank, for use on enemy secret agents, "and for the strategic testing of selected personnel entrusted with the highest secrets of state." Against such people, he asserted, such a weapon would, "if properly secured as to secrecy, be a tremendous national asset."
Lovell and his associates
"set down the following simple description of what we wanted: (1) It must be administered without the subject's knowledge. (2) It must induce a talkative mood and if possible a full exposé of the truth, as the subject knew the truth. (3) It must not be habit-forming or physiologically harmful. (4) It must leave no remembrance or suspicion of any kind." However, the unscientific basis of such a search gave only the faintest hope of its realization."
The project was ''given the most secret classification," its "whole research [was] limited to four men of known security,'' and
''scores of drugs were tested singly in various combinations [sic], including mescaline, various barbiturates, scopolamine, benzedrine, cannabis indica, etc." Some ''were too toxic, others produced hallucinations or sleep, while others were eliminated because of readily detectable odors or tastes.''
The team then turned to chemical experimentation and developed eventually a new drug,
tetrahydrocannabinol acetate, which could be injected into food or cigarettes but remained "quite undetectable.'' Lovell continued:
A few minutes after administration, the subject gradually becomes relaxed, and experiences a sensation of well-being. In a few minutes this state passes into one in which thoughts flow with considerable freedom, and in which conversation becomes animated and accelerated. Inhibitions fall away, and the subjects talk with abandon and indiscretion. During this talkative and irresponsible period, which lasts from one to two hours, skillful interrogation usually elicits information which would not be revealed under other circumstances.
This drug was not habit-forming, and there were no other ill effects, Lovell reported.
All experimentation was done on volunteer enlisted U.S. Army personnel, under cover of a search for a shell-shock remedy.'' Lovell ended his report:
The treatment is by no means a magic key to the secrets of the mind, but it does constitute an assistance to interrogation of inestimable value to the government of the United States. Certain disclosures of the greatest value are in the possession of our military intelligence as a result of this treatment, which it is felt would otherwise not be known. It is believed that use of this method under proper secrecy and only on problems involving the vital interests of our country will further confirm this preliminary conclusion. Properly employed, with its use known to the smallest possible number of people, perhaps only at the discretion of and request of the Commander-in-Chief [i.e., Roosevelt], it may be a national asset of incalculable importance.
In a further paper to Donovan on the development of tetrahydrocannabinol acetate, Lovell's deputy, Allen Abrams, recorded that on January 1, 1943, the army chief of intelligence,
General George V. Strong, requested that "experiments be carried out so that definite recommendations could be made concerning drugs which might be useful in the interrogation of prisoners-of-war.''31 This was after Torch had taken place, and whether the drug was used against the U-boat crews for the purposes of that operation is not known. However, Lovell's paper would suggest that it was put to an important operational use, was successful, and did provide intelligence of what he called "the greatest value." That would certainly suggest U-boat secrets.
At Strong's request there was formed a committee consisting of
Dr. Winfred Overholser (director of St. Elizabeths Hospital),
Dr. Lawrence S. Kubie (a New York neurologist),
E. P. Collby (director of FBI laboratories),
H. J. Anslinger (commissioner of narcotics),
Dr. Roger Adams (National Defense Research Council and a specialist in organic reactions), and
Stanley Lovell and Allen Abrams of OSS Research and Development.
The committee appears to have started with mescaline tests, conducted at a hospital in Philadelphia on January 30 and 31, 1943. The volunteers to whom the
mescaline was administered were colonel Ainsworth Blogg of the OSS and two noncommissioned officers whose names were given by Abrams as Wagner and Kessler. The tests were a failure, for they did not produce ''a proper relaxation of the men," none of whom ''divulged any information whatsoever.''
The next test involved
cannabis indica, administered under the direction of Dr. Kubie. Again the tests were a failure, for as Abrams's report stated, ''the men suffered considerable physical discomfort without disclosing confidential information which had been furnished to them." Further tests involving eight men were then carried out at the Neurological Institute, where cannabis was administered by both mouth and cigarette. Again these tests were a failure, and this time one of the volunteers, a certain Simila, "suffered some after effects and was sent to the Walter Reed Hospital." Six weeks later Simila was still in hospital, although it was thought his complaint might be due to causes other than the cannabis.
In subsequent tests, fumes from the new drug, tetahydrocannabinol
[sic] acetate, were allowed to percolate into a room, but volunteers were not induced to discuss secret matters, and the tests were abandoned. The panel returned to the program, and
members of the committee and OSS headquarters staff were used as volunteers with "good results in that it appeared possible to administer an amount of the [acetate] which would bring about a state of irresponsibility, causing the subject to become loquacious and free in his impartation of information (some of which it was felt he would certainly not divulge except under the influence of the drug), yet without causing symptoms during, or after, the tests."At that point
the committee authorized a field test of the acetate on a New York gangster, August Del Gaizo, alias Augie Dallas, alias Dell, alias Little Augie. The test was conducted by
Captain George H. White, of the OSS, who had been a law enforcement officer before military service and knew the subject and enjoyed his confidence. White stated in his report: "On May 27, 1943 I conducted a field test with cigarettes containing [acetate] upon a subject who did not know he was the subject of an experimentation and who, because of his position, had numerous secrets he was most anxious to conceal, the revelation of which might well result in his imprisonment.''32
Little Augie was "about 46 years of age, in good health, and is an occasional user of opium. He is known as a 'pleasure' smoker, which means that while he is not addicted to the use of opium he uses it once or twice during a month." The subject was also "a notorious New York gangster'' who "in his youth had served prison sentences for felonious assault and murder." In 1936 "he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Germany for a two-year period on narcotic law charges. . . . For the past 20 years he has been one of the outstanding international narcotic dealers and smugglers.'' At one time he operated "an opium alkaloid factory in Turkey," and he was ''a leader of the Italian underworld in the Lower East Side of New York City, where he resides and owns considerable property.'' During Prohibition "he engaged in liquor smuggling and at one time had considerably more than one million dollars in cash in his possession."
Since his release from the concentration camp and his return to the United States, Little Augie had been the "object of close investigation and observation by the U.S. Treasury Department." White, who had worked as a Treasury investigator, had arrested Little Augie on several occasions "but was never able to obtain sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction."
White explained:
In connection with a plan to utilize members of the New York Italian under- ground in [the OSS] SO and SI operations in Italy, I have had frequent occasion to talk intimately with the subject during the past six weeks. During the course of these conversations, we have frequently discussed the narcotics situation in New York in general terms.
However, ''upon no occasion did the subject show willingness to provide any concrete information whatsoever which might be of value to the government as evidence against narcotics law violators." Little Augie prided himself "on the fact that he has never been an informer and that he has been instrumental in killing some persons who have been informants." He was "intimately acquainted with all the major criminals in the New York area."
Captain White then related how much acetate he administered, how he administered it, and its effect upon Little Augie:
On the day of the experiment, I requested subject to visit me at my apartment in New York on the pretext that I wanted to talk further about plans to utilize his services in Italy. I had previously prepared cigarettes of the same brand I knew him to smoke loaded with both .04 grams of [acetate] and .01 grams of [acetate]. Subject entered the apartment at 2 P.M. and at that time stated that he could not remain long as he had a friend waiting for him in an automobile outside.
After a short conversation regarding the pretext on which he had come to the apartment, I gave him a .04 cigarette at 2:10 P.M. AT 2:30 P.M., having noticed no perceptible effects, I gave him a .01 cigarette. Shortly thereafter subject became obviously "high" and extremely garrulous. He monopolized the conversation and was exceedingly friendly. I turned the conversation into ''Enforcement'' channels, whereupon with no further encouragement subject divulged the following information:
(1) A prominent enforcement official had been receiving a bribe over a period of years from subject and his associates. This bribe amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars and eventually included an outside investigator who had been sent in to the city for the purpose of detecting this violation. . . .
(2) Jack Solomon, owner of Gallagher's restaurant, 50th and Broadway in New York, is the contact through which the inspector in the Elizabeth Street Station, N.Y.C., receives bribes. . . . Connected with Solomon in this activity is one Nathan Ulrich, alias "Hawkey,'' who recently finished serving a prison sentence for narcotic law violation. Solomon and Hawkey also have similar connections with the inspector in charge of the mid-town area.
(3) The place formerly occupied by "Lucky'' Luciano in the American underworld has been taken over by a "combination'' headed by: Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Bugsey Seigal [sic], Longie Zwillman, Willie Moretti.
(4) A man named Benny Silver was a partner with a man named Hans Brown in both the narcotic and the liquor business. Some time past Brown was the subject of a $15,000 extortion plot by two enforcement officers. The subject's brother acted as the collector for this bribe, which was handled through Brown's brother-in-law, Benny Watkins, who retained $2,000 of the bribe for himself.
(5) At one time subject loaned $104,000 to Waxie Gordon. He had a $50,000 interest in a King's brewery in Brooklyn. Subject purchased and still owns a gas station in the Bronx for which he paid $70,000. Subject had more than one million dollars in cash during the prohibition era. . . . Subject is now working a deal to handle black market whiskey. He has connections with Pennsylvania distillers who are making whiskey in excess of their quota, after regular operating hours. . . .
The information was given to White over two hours, during which time Little Augie apparently did not know that he was under the influence of a drug. Little Augie knew that White had been investigating all the persons he had named for the Treasury over a period of years, but Little Augie's only stricture was: "Whatever you do, don't ever use any of the stuff l'm telling you." He forgot completely the man waiting for him in the automobile, and he left White's apartment at 4:30 P.M. when it had been expected that he would remain only fifteen minutes.
At their second meeting, While reported, he gave Little Augie a cigarette containing 0.04 grams of acetate. When twenty minutes later there was no evidence that it was having any effect, White gave him a second cigarette also loaded with 0.04 grams of the acetate. White recorded:
At about 4:15 P.M. subject suddenly complained that he felt a "strange'' feeling come over him. He had been engaged in playing a game of chess with the writer and suddenly leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He said he felt that the ''room was going around" and that his scalp, hands and feet felt like they had ''pins and needles sticking in them." I suggested subject take a small quantity of brandy. Subject does not drink, but agreed to take the brandy for medicinal purposes. Upon drinking it he then immediately attributed his symptoms to the brandy. He said that he had not eaten for three days and that he had also taken a heavy physic that morning.
During that disturbance, White continued, subject volunteered that he could arrange to have J. L. Lewis murdered, if I thought that would be helpful to the war effort''---John L. Lewis, the labor leader, founder of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and president of the United Mine Workers of America, had organized so many strikes during the war that he had earned general public and official disapprobation. White ''explained that any such action would merely make Lewis a martyr." Little Augie did not appear to accept White's advice and repeated that he could have Lewis killed "by some employees of Lewis' union." Only after some difficulty did White ''dissuade him from such activity."
At a third session, held while Little Augie was driving White out to Long Island, White gave the gangster a 0.02 cigarette. After he had smoked the cigarette, Little Augie began to give White some extremely interesting information:
(1) A man by the name of Lindeman, who operates Lindy's Restaurant in New York City, paid Congressman Dickstein $7,000 for Dickstein's services in bringing Lindeman's family to the United States. On another occasion subject gave Congressman Dickstein $3,000 to assist him in obtaining a passport to Europe in connection with the case for which he was later imprisoned in Germany.
(2) About two years ago he was approached by a man whom he did not know who had started the business of producing opium in Mexico for smuggling into the United States. This man had 300 5-tael cans of opium which he wished to sell for $350 each. Subject stated he did not have the money to handle this deal and arranged for this man to deal with Italians on the upper East Side. This man, according to subject, had been in the narcotics business for many years and is not known to the members of the underworld or to the authorities and has never been apprehended.
(3) There is a man in California who taught the subject the opium racket. This man was formerly a partner of Oscar Kirshon. He is from San Francisco and is about 75 years of age. He is worth about five million dollars which he made in the drug traffic. In addition to the subject, a man named Hymie Hundred was working for this man.
On that matter-of-fact note White ended his report with this observation: "All of the foregoing information could be damaging to the subject and is a class of information that subject would never give under ordinary circumstances. There is no question but that the administration of the drug was responsible for loosening the subject's tongue."
Upon examining the evidence, including White's reports, the committee agreed in the conclusion that the cigarette experiments indicated that we had a mechanism which offered promise in relaxing of prisoners to be interrogated.''33 But
at that point Donovan again ordered the experiments to be terminated without giving a reason---although it probably had to do with the Geneva Convention's prohibition of the use of such drugs, the effects on Allied prisoners of war in German hands if it became known that the Allies were using, or even planning to use, such drugs against German prisoners, and the serious political dangers inherent in the entire project. But all that was communicated to the committee was that Donovan "apparently did not want to know more about the subject."
However, the question of using truth drugs against the principal German war criminals at Nuremberg---Goring, Ribbentrop, Speer, and the other eight men---was revived when Donovan was appointed to Jackson's staff. According to Donovan's papers on the subject, Jackson gave his approval for the use of the drug. A doctor who had been involved in the program was asked to join Donovan's party, although the doctor concerned had expressed doubts that the drug would have any real value or use. He also pointed to the political dangers involved in both his presence in the party and the use of the drug itself should the fact become known. The papers show that Donovan recognized the dangers, too, and when the party set off for Germany, the name of the doctor was not on the passenger list. Nor was the name of any other doctor associated either with the truth drug program or with the OSS. Although there is no definite statement in Donovan's papers that the project was dropped, it is suggested and is very probable.
Certainly there is no evidence whatsoever that the drug was administered to anyone other than OSS and Army personnel and Little Augie.
