Stansfield Turner
US Navy admiral; Director of Central Intelligence, 1977–1981
- Born
- December 1, 1923
- Died
- January 18, 2018
- Service
- US Navy, 1946–1978 (admiral)
- Office
- Director of Central Intelligence, 1977–1981, under Jimmy Carter
- Known for
- 1977 Senate testimony on newly found MKUltra files
Navy admiral and Carter's CIA director who told senators in 1977 that 149 MKUltra subprojects had turned up in overlooked financial files.
What is Stansfield Turner known for?
Stansfield Turner was a US Navy admiral who had been president of the Naval War College and a NATO commander before President Jimmy Carter made him Director of Central Intelligence in 1977. He served until 1981 and is remembered for cutting hundreds of clandestine-service positions and favoring technical intelligence.
In 1977 Turner reported that the CIA had found MKUltra records that had escaped the 1973 destruction of the program's files because they were stored in budget and fiscal records. At a joint Senate hearing on August 3, 1977, he testified that the material covered 149 MKUltra subprojects from 1953 to 1964, including drug research, studies of behavior modification and a single project on extrasensory perception.
He also described the 1953 death of Army scientist Frank Olson after he was given LSD without his knowledge. Turner's testimony is one of the main official sources on what MKUltra actually did.
His 1977 Senate testimony is the main source for the 149 MKUltra subprojects.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeMKUltra: The 1977 Senate Hearing
- PersonDaniel Inouye
- PersonFrank Olson
Sources
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 'Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification' (joint hearing, August 3, 1977)Primary text
- Wikipedia, 'Stansfield Turner'Reference
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