[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

Harvey Oswald, the CIA, and Mind Control, published in 2002. Leonard offered what he
called “a unifying ‘conspiracy’ theory: that there was a CIA-backed plot to assassinate
the president and that Oswald was the one who pulled the trigger.” However, Oswald
was also “an innocent patsy” because he was “a victim of the CIA’s secret program to
train ‘involuntary’ assassins to do its bidding through advanced mind control
technology.” 533 Leonard acknowledged that much of his theory was based on
supposition, combining both historical facts about what is known about CIA experiments
in mind control with the unproven claim that Oswald was a victim of this research.
Leonard described how declassified documents from various mind-control
programs code-named ARTICHOKE, MKDELTA, AND MKULTRA sought to develop
mind-controlled intelligence couriers, double agents, and even assassins. One study from
1954 discussed how an individual could be “induced under ARTICHOKE to perform an
act, involuntarily, against a prominent (deleted) politician or if necessary, against an
American official.” The study assumed the individual would be taken into custody and
“’disposed of.’” 534 Leonard claimed that such a scenario may have been played out less
than 10 years later in the assassination of President Kennedy.
Leonard outlined the various techniques the CIA researched, including hypnosis,
the creation of multiple personalities, and the use of drugs such as LSD. According to
Leonard, “By compartmentalizing the behavior modification-oriented research grants and
farming out the developmental work to numerous (and often suspecting) researchers,
533
Jerry Leonard, The Perfect Assassin: Lee Harvey Oswald, the CIA, and Mind Control,
(1
234
st Books, 2002), vii.
534
Leonard, 2.