Morality/Ethics and Perspectives

The horrible events of MKUltra completely break common moral codes. Experimenting on people with dangerous, not fully tested drugs, is dangerous, and very unacceptable, also using kids, cancer patients and defenceless people is pushing the boundaries. Merely having the idea of locking up people and torturing them is already far enough, so those who actually did, are quite merciless and cold blooded. They spent part of their lives looking down on human lives and experimenting on people like they have no mind, which seems to be one of the worst things to do.

While MKUltra was a horrible tragedy, there is a reason for the actions of the CIA. MKUltra was started from external pressures, so the CIA was scared into action. The pressures the cold war and rumors put on them, made them need to find a way to fight back, and what way would be better than learning that the enemy was rumored to have. The CIA sacrificed a very small part of their citizens in order to protect the larger number. In a twisted way the experiments that were meant to help the people, hurt them, causing arguably more pain than without MKUltra.

MKUltra was a large overlook on human ethics, and after the events were released out into the public, the CIA established oversight committes, so that events like MKUltra wouldn't happen again so easily. The main reason that information on MKUltra is accessible is because of FOIA (Freedom Of Information Acts). MKUltra was one of the major events that showed how governments abuse in power can lead to horrible results, but a big reform in human rights, protection, trust, and information for the public. Finally human ethics have definitely been reformed, and testing such as this is not as easy to get funding for, conduct, and hide.

Whether or not the CIA was in the wrong for making MKUltra more that just an idea, MKUltra arguably could have saved the United States, from a different type of reform in human ethics, one that could potentially have been a lot worse.​​​​​​​