US Army Secret Experimentation

Army Continues Cover-Up of Secret Experimentation 65 Years Later

Pentagon moves to block release of court documents

Adan Salazar

The D.O.D. and U.S. Army are attempting to delay a court order that would force them to provide certain notice to Vietnam veterans disclosing the extent to which they had secretly been used as test subjects for experimentation during the Cold War.

Under ‘Project Paperclip,’ the U.S. government recruited Nazi scientists for “postwar intelligence purposes.”

The federal lawsuit, filed by Vietnam Veterans of America as well as individual soldiers, has dragged on since January 2009, and requests the Army disclose details about covert testing performed during “Project Paperclip,” an operation through which the U.S. Office of Strategic Services recruited Nazi scientists for “postwar intelligence purposes.”

“With the help of Nazi scientists recruited through ‘Project Paperclip,’ the Army and CIA used at least 7,800 veterans as human guinea pigs at the Edgewood Arsenal, [Maryland] alone,” the veterans’ class action suit states.

Starting in the 50s, the Army casually went about using troops to research the effects of various psychoactive elements on the human mind. “[T]he U.S. government sought drugs to control human behavior, cause confusion, promote weakness or temporary loss of hearing and vision, induce hypnosis, and enhance a person’s ability to withstand torture,” the lawsuit states.

“These experiments also used civilian ‘volunteers’ such as college students, who were paid small sums to participate, or prisoners,” the complaint alleges.

Carried out under project names such as “Bluebird,” “Pandora,” “Monarch,” “Artichoke” and “MKUltra,” subjects were unknowingly “administered at least 250 and perhaps as many as 400 types of drugs, among them Sarin, one of the most deadly drugs known, amphetamines, barbiturates, mustard gas, phosgene gas and LSD,” in efforts to develop drugs that would produce the desired effects.

“Defendants videotaped many of the experiments involving ‘volunteers; at Edgewood, as evidence by releases signed by many of the ‘volunteers.’ Varying doses of each substance were administered to the ‘volunteers,’ typically through multiple pathways, including through intravenous, inhalation, oral and percutaneous,” the suit states (.pdf).

It is also alleged chemicals administered were “above the known toxic threshold,” and left many service members suffering “excruciating pain, blackouts, memory loss, hallucinations, flashbacks, trauma, psychotic disorders, and other lasting health problems.”

“The crux of the veterans’ argument,” reports Courthouse News, “is that the Administrative Procedure Act obligates the defendants to provide notice to test subjects and to provide them medical care.”

Additionally, plaintiffs are citing a 1962 Army regulation mandating that experiment participants “will be told as much of the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment, the method and means by which it is to be conducted, and the inconveniences and hazards to be expected, as will not invalidate the results.”

Among several claims for relief, the veterans are chiefly seeking the disclosure of medical information “concerning all tests conducted on Plaintiffs (including any results thereof),” as well as a court order “stating Defendants’ duty to provide Plaintiffs with all necessary medical treatment on an ongoing basis is mandatory.” 

New Xbox Reportedly Won’t Let You Play (Unless It Can Spy On You)

http://www.infowars.com/new-xbox-wont-let-you-play-unless-its-spying-on-you/

Adan Salazar

People throughout the world could soon be voluntarily outfitting their homes with indefinitely active cameras, infrared sensors and microphones if they purchase Microsoft’s new Xbox video game console, slated for release sometime next year.

According to leaked screen captures, the new console, codenamed “Durango,” will be “Always On, Always Connected,” meaning it will require a perpetual Internet connection, in addition to a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor, “which will be required for the system to operate,” representing a huge win for Big Brother in infiltrating homes across the across the world under the guise of trendiness.

Being touted as a measure to ensure “software and games are always current,” the new Xbox will not allow users to play games unless a permanent Internet connection is established, according to leaked screenshots obtained by the website Vgleaks.

Screenshot via VGleaks.com

“Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use,” the grainy, leaked screenshot states, adding, “The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that software and games are always current. With this ‘Always On, Always Connected’ design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.”

“Durango would require a permanent internet connection,” writes Vgleaks. [emphasis theirs] “Yes, if you want to play a single adventure, you would have to be online. Whatever you will play, you must be online. Take the time machine and come back 3 years ago to erase the responsible person.” [emphasis ours]

Likewise, the new system reportedly will not “operate” unless “a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor” is attached, which will reportedly be sold with the console, granting the new Xbox eerie Big Brother-like powers.

As the current Xbox 360 Kinect device is already equipped with motion sensors, infrared sensors (enabling it to map out environments – like your room – and detect different faces), a multi-array microphone (capable of distinguishing different voices) and a 640×480 pixel VGA camera (enabling it to see as we do), we can expect the next Kinect’s technology to be exponentially more intricate and dangerous.

These additional nuances might be argued as expected and even necessary in the Internet age we live in, where everything from dishwashers to refrigerators are connected, but Microsoft also recently applied for patents that could take information obtained to a frighteningly new Orwellian level.

The website Beta Beat reported last year that “Back in 2011, Microsoft applied for a patent that would allow cameras and sensors, much like the ones embedded in the Kinect, to track how many people are in a room. Developed by Microsoft’s ‘incubation team,’ which is where they test new approaches to hardware, the patent was recently made public. They’re calling the invention a ‘consumer detector’ and it’s just as frightening as it sounds.”

Beta Beat goes on, “Once it has identified how many people are there–and even who is there–the device will charge for content accordingly. If you pay for one content license but then more viewers join the room, it could halt playback and request that you pay for a different license. That means if you plan to have a movie marathon sleepover, Microsoft would like to charge you extra copyright money for the pleasure of snuggling and watching horror movies.”

In response to a Wall Street Journal article titled, “Is Your Videogame Machine Watching You?” Microsoft issued a statement regarding privacy and Xbox: “Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE do not use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes. Microsoft has a strong track record of implementing some of the best privacy protection measures in the industry. We place great importance on the privacy of our customers’ information and the safety of their experiences.”

While Microsoft’s response attempts to quell our concerns about privacy, it does not address the fact that Microsoft can, and most likely will, be spying on its customers, regardless of whether or not they are selling consumer information to advertisers.

It was also revealed, in March 2012, that a company called Obscure Technologies was working alongside the U.S. Navy to develop “computer forensic tools capable of hacking such consoles.”

“Such tools are expected to be made for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate — and there’s no particular mention of what Homeland Security might want with them,” reported Live Science last year.

We also saw Xbox cozy up to the U.S. government this past election cycle when Xbox allowed users to stream a presidential debate through their consoles, and then later polled users with questions regarding the debate.

“I think Bill Gates is about to kill his gaming platform,” states C.J.Oden, producer for the Alex Jones Show and a former-avid gamer. “It’s cyber espionage of everyone in America gullible enough to buy a system.”

Wikipedia claims, “The Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the ‘fastest selling consumer electronics device’ after selling a total of 8 million units in its first 60 days.”

Indeed, if previous sales are any indicator, the new Xbox and its high-fidelity Kinect device, with powers disturbingly similar to “telescreens” out of George Orwell’s novel 1984, will soon be infiltrating millions of homes across the globe with little to no resistance.