J. Stephen Horsley at London Hospital notices that patients treated with the barbiturate Nembutal appeared to lose their inhibitions and share very personal information. Interested in this phenomenon as a possible aid to psychotherapy, he continued experimenting with sodium amytal and sodium pentothal.

From its earliest days, US intelligence research into psychoactive drugs depended heavily on the cooperation of civilian researchers. This research was directed by Dr. Winfred Overholser of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, D.C.

The Navy's embarassment was primarily due to the incompetence of their favorite researcher, Professor G. Richard Wendt, who had assured his Navy handlers that he had developed a reliable truth serum. After flying Wendt and his mistress to Europe and setting a covert operation in motion, the CIA and Navy operatives were chagrined to learn that Wendt's truth serum consisted of a thoroughly-studied and unreliable cocktail of Seconal, Dexedrine, and THC.

The operational division is called MKDELTA, and the whole project is run out of the CIA Technical Services Staff.

They continue funneling large amounts of money through various direct and indirect conduits into LSD research. Two primary conduits are the the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research and (for a year or two) the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. Much of the basic research on LSD over the next several years in the United States may not have been funded were it not for MKULTRA.

Patients, who are confined to the facility to receive treatment for addiction, are paid for participation in Isbell's experiments with hard drugs. Inmates are injected with large doses of bufotenine, psilocybin, scopolamine, LSD, mescaline, and DMT.

Although the CIA staffs psychiatrists with security clearances to help people in these circumstances, Gottlieb refers Olson to Dr. Harold Abramson, an immunologist with no training in psychiatry, for treatment. Gottlieb is clearly trying to cover for his malfeasance, as dosing Olson and subsequently failing to report it were in violation of CIA policy and federal law.

The Olson family made numerous inquiries into how Frank Olson was brought from contentment to suicidal depression literally overnight. The CIA responded by denying any role whatsoever in Olson's death, but an internal review uncovered that Gottlieb had violated CIA policy and federal law in dosing Frank Olson.

The total fallout of the internal investigation is a classified memo noting that Gottlieb exercised "poor judgment", but also stressing that this should not be considered a reprimand.

Earman finds "the concepts involved in manipulating human behavior ... to be distasteful and unethical." He finds that numerous unwitting civilian subjects became ill for hours or days because of substances they were given, and notes that outside doctors should be discouraged from learning the real reasons of illness. Gottlieb's supervisor Richard Helms advocates for the continuance of Midnight Climax. McCrone takes no action and the safe houses remain operational.

Several programs are discontinued, while several more carry on under new administration, including George White's safe houses, funding for LSD testing on Federal penitentiary inmates, sensory deprivation experiments, and covert funding for psychoactive research made through the Geschickter Foundation.