Project MKOFTEN

Project MKOFTEN
Codename	MKOFTEN
Parent project	MKSEARCH
Op. Agency	C.I.A.
Purpose	Study of drug effects on animals, humans

Project MKOFTEN was a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency program conducted in cooperation with the Department of Defense, operating under the aegis of Project MKSEARCH, for the purpose of testing "the behavioral and toxicological effects of certain drugs on animals and humans." It is likely the same as Operation OFTEN, which has been described as focusing primarily on investigating occultism and psychicism and their potential uses in intelligence operations.

One MKOFTEN subproject identified as running from 1971 through 1973 at Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories involved the study of a compound designated EA#3167, a glycolate class chemical, which was tested on animals and human volunteers, to determine if it "could be used effectively if applied to the skin through some type of adhesive tape." Another subproject of MKOFTEN featured collaboration with the United States Navy, which acted as a channel for CIA payments from 26 February 1971 through 23 June 1972, "providing the contractor with credible sponsorship" and ensuring "Agency association will be confidential," to an unidentified Massachusetts contractor, who was initially working on analogs of DOPA, dopamine, and picrotoxin, later expanding to include ibogaine analogs and narcotic antagonists, the objective of the study being the synthesis of "new classes of pharmacologically active drugs affecting the central nervous system so to evaluate their modification of man's behavior," using analogs to find drugs "which will be more specific in action as well as more reliable."