What is, or was MKULTRA?

Question

Someone just referred to it as a secret UK government policy during WWII- so what was it precisely, I've never heard of it...

Yup, the fifth answerer there has got it... it's the 'ULTRA' code-breaking device I was looking for info on... but, to be fair, I did mispell it as MKULTRA, which is the CIA mind control thing... hmm... it'll be a dilemma picking the best answer for this one, sorry guys...

Still, the CIA information is very interesting too... those sneaky spooks!

Answer 1

I think that they are confusing MKUlTRA and Ultra which was a secret intelligence project in WW2 decoding German cyphers - ie the ENIGMA machines.

Ultra (sometimes capitalized ULTRA) was the name used by the British for intelligence resulting from decryption of German communications in World War II. The term eventually became the standard designation in both Britain and the United States for all intelligence from high-level cryptanalytic sources. The name arose because the code-breaking success was considered more important than the highest security classification available at the time (Most Secret) and so was regarded as being Ultra secret.

Much of the German cipher traffic was encrypted on the Enigma machine, hence the term "Ultra" has often been used almost synonymously with "Enigma decrypts."

Until the name "Ultra" was adopted, there were several cryptonyms for intelligence from this source, including Boniface. For some time thereafter, "Ultra" was used only for intelligence from this channel.

Later the Germans began to use several stream cipher teleprinter systems for their most important traffic, to which the British gave the generic code-name FISH. Several distinct systems were used, principally the Lorenz SZ 40/42 (initially code-named TUNNY) and Geheimfernschreiber (code-named STURGEON).

These also were broken, particularly TUNNY, which the British thoroughly penetrated. It was eventually attacked using the Colossus, considered to be the forerunner of the electronic programmable digital computer. Although the volume of messages read from this system was much smaller than that from the Enigma, they more than made up for it in their importance.

F.W. Winterbotham, in The Ultra Secret (1974), quotes the western Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, as at war's end describing Ultra as having been "decisive" to Allied victory in World War II.

This article discusses how Enigma-derived intelligence was put to use. For a description of the machine itself, see Enigma machine. For the history and techniques of Enigma-breaking, see Cryptanalysis of the Enigma.

Answer 2

No, USA CIA program spanning from the 30s-80s, a mind control system using subliminal images mostly. If you've seen the Manchurian candidate, that's what the movie's about. Original, not remake.
http://www.hiddenmysteries.com/freebook/mk/

Answer 3

Some kind of seceret psychic and psychology and hypnotism
You can put it in the search engine and find a bunch of stuff aobut it.
I think it was learned from the Germans who came here after WW II, according to the National Geo. channel and the History channel.

Answer 4

It was a US project aimed at mind control. They experimented with various drugs and other techniques.

Answer 5

http://peyote.com/jonstef/mkultra.htm