MK Often - Houston

According to some sources, MKOFTEN went beyond the mere research of mind control and incapacitation of enemies, and branched out into the world of black magic, witchcraft, and the occult. The accusation was first put forth by British investigative journalist and author Gordon Thomas, who wrote the 2007 book Secrets and Lies, and who claims that a Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, chief of the CIA’s Technical Services Branch and also known as the “Black Sorcerer” due to his expertise with poisons, used the program to “explore the world of black magic and harness the forces of darkness and challenge the concept that the inner reaches of the mind are beyond reach.”

To this end, people involved with MKOFTEN purportedly met with, consulted, studied, or employed numerous mystics and occultists, including fortune-tellers, palm-readers, clairvoyants, astrologists, mediums, psychics, practitioners of voodoo and witchcraft, black magicians, demonologists, Satanists, and even a monsignor in charge of exorcisms for the Catholic archdiocese of New York. The program also allegedly pursued magical rituals for possible military use. According to Thomas, the CIA employed three astrologers for telling the future, as well as two palm readers whose abilities were looked at for their use in intelligence activities, a sorceress from Houston named Sibyl Leak, and various other psychics and occultists.

MK Often involved both CIA and military.