Tag: Pentagon

by Katie Drummond / wired / May 11,2010

More than 30 years after it was written, the Pentagon has released a memorandum detailing its involvement in the CIA’s infamous Cold War mind-control experiments.

But a warning to conspiracy theorists on the lookout for new fodder: This isn’t quite Men Who Stare at Goats II.

The 17-page document (.pdf), “Experimentation Programs conducted by the Department of Defense That Had CIA Sponsorship or Participation and That Involved the Administration to Human Subjects of Drugs Intended for Mind-Control or Behavior-Modification Purposes,” was prepared in 1977 by the General Counsel of the Department of Defense and released on May 6 after a Freedom of Information Act request.

Former Congressman Tom Andrews, National Director of the Win Without War Coalition, released the following statement today:

Yesterday’s comments by Army Chief of Staff General George Casey that the Pentagon needs to begin planning to leave U.S. combat troops in Iraq for another decade …

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced today that he is lifting a 1991 ban on news coverage of the return of the remains of fallen service members to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, although he will leave the decision about press coverage up to the family of the dead.

The controversial ban on photography and other media coverage of the solemn return of flag-draped coffins — upheld by both Republican and Democratic administrations — has generated lawsuits as well as conflicting emotions on the part of military familiies.

For all the rolling up of sleeves and “everything is going to change” exuberance, however, taking on the Pentagon, with its mega-budget and its mega-power, may be the hardest task he faces.

Suppressed Evidence Could Clear Young Afghan Detainee Held for 6 Years; Now Four Prosecutors Have Quit Gitmo Trials Over Allegations…

Critics of Gates’ Proposals Say Pentagon Funding Could Make Universities an “instrument rather than critic of war-making” by Maria Glod…

Despite reports that the company is leaving the mercenary business, Blackwater’s future is secure by Jeremy Scahill / The Guardian…