Pregled posta

MKNAOMI was the code name for a joint Department of Defense/CIA research program lasting from the 1950s through the 1970s. Unclassified information about the MKNAOMI program and the related Special Operations Division is scarce. It is generally reported to be a successor to the MKDELTA project and to have focused on biological projects including biological warfare agents—specifically, to store materials that could either incapacitate or kill a test subject and to develop devices for the diffusion of such materials.

During the first twenty years of its establishment, the CIA engaged in various projects designed to increase U.S. biological and chemical warfare capabilities. Project MKNAOMI was initiated to provide the CIA with a covert support base to meet its top-secret operational requirements. The purpose was to establish a robust arsenal within the CIA's Technical Services Division (TSD) and of which was to consist of various lethal and incapacitating materials. This would enable the TSD to serve as a highly maintained center for the circulation of biological and chemical materials.

Surveillance, testing, upgrading, and the evaluation of special materials and items were also provided by MKNAOMI so as to ensure that no defects and unwanted contingencies emerged during operational conditions. For these purposes the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command (SOC) was assigned to assist the CIA in the development, testing, and maintenance procedures for the biological agents and delivery systems (1952). Both the CIA and SOD also modified guns that fired special darts coated with biological agents and various poisonous pills. The darts would serve to incapacitate guard dogs, infiltrate the area that the dogs were guarding, and then awaken the dogs upon exiting the facility. In addition, the SOD was also designated to research the potentials for using biological agents against other animals and crops.

A 1967 CIA memo which was uncovered by the Church Committee was confirmed to give evidence of at least three covert techniques for attacking and poisoning crops that have been examined under field conditions. In 1970 Project MKNAOMI was dissolved, and on November 25, 1969, President Richard Nixon abolished any military practice involving biological weapons. On February 14, 1970, a presidential order was given to outlaw all stockpiles of bacteriological weapons and nonliving toxins. However, despite the presidential order, a CIA scientist was able to acquire an estimated 11 grams of deadly shellfish toxin from SOD personnel at Fort Detrick. The toxin was then stored in a CIA laboratory where it remained undetected for over five years.[1]

FORMAL/INFORMAL

MKNAOMI was literally Subproject 110 under the MKULTRA overview designator [formal], and is often rumored to be the origin of the AIDS virus or literally penetration of the virus envelope in development of particular 'clades' or strains of the disease [informal]. Documentation released by the CIA to researcher John Marks in response to a Freedom Of Information Act request effort explicitly links MKNAOMI to MKULTRA Subproject 78 BIO LABS which in turn was a heading for viral research projects A/A-1 to A-7, with A-5 being perhaps the most promising. It is very possible Marks was either an innocent dupe or a CIA plant engaged in 'disinformation' activity [he never took obvious steps such as creating a table of the Subproject 78 data sheets that include references to diseases which have come to plague various wildlife populations - 'deer wasting' for example], but the released documention itself is generally accepted by the research community to be genuine if incomplete. While AIDS is of course controversial, the Subproject 119 'invasive neuroprosthetic' tie to the work of Giles Brindley is not [other aspects of the released documentation have been validated].