Good Soldiers Follow Orders Part I: The Dissociation of Clone Troopers and Sequel Trilogy Stormtroopers and Allusions to MKULTRA, BLUEBIRD, and other C.I.A. Brainwashing Operations
TW: This series of essays contains several written depictions of documented human rights violation
“Jones learns to respond to stimuli intended for a Smith, as though he were that Smith. He has been “conditioned” to Smith, “deconditioned” to Jones….Such trainings are integrated on all levels, conscious and subconscious. Hypnosis can assist in establishing the desired conditioned responses.” - CONDITIONING (& Deconditioning), PROJECT BLUEBIRD, United States Central Intelligence Agency, 1952
“No, the young recruits are plugged into their beds like datapads downloading new information. Gentle, droning voices at night fill their heads with sayings, propaganda, warnings, reminders that the First Order is the only answer, the only way to save the galaxy from itself, from destruction…Armitage Hux grew up at the Imperial Academy on Arkanis, watching his father deliver, manipulate, and program children to become killing machines…The children lose all sense of individuality, of self.” -Phamsa, Delilah S. Dawson
The Clone Troopers, “Nightmares,” and Brain Electrode Implants
In Season 6 of The Clone Wars, the clone troopers must grapple with the discovery of the inhibitor chips — implants in the clones’ brains that — when activated — would cause them to turn on the Jedi and complete Order 66, Chancellor Palpatine’s grand plan to exterminate all Jedi from the galaxy. Tups is the first member of the 501st to begin to experience the effects of the chips. He experiences states of amnesia, unable to remember killing General Tiplar. He begins to be perceived as crazy or “malfunctioning.” This sparks several conversations that begin to dehumanize the clone troopers as just that: soulless clones to be reduced to soldiers of war. For example, when speaking to the Jedi Council after Tups dissociates and begins to commit violent acts towards those on his side, Jedi Master Shaak-Ti explains that she would “like to implement a level 5 atomic brain scan to see if [Tups’] thought processes are still functioning normally.” Mentions of “thought processes” explicitly implies that the clone troopers’ thoughts were never really their own. Chancellor Palpatine reinforces this reality by referring to the clone troopers’ actions as their “programming.” Furthermore, Dooku refers to the troopers as “assets.”
The dehumanization of the troopers is meant to be seen as evil, especially when Fives has several moments where he refutes other characters referring to him as anything less than human. For example, as Fives searches for the cause of the “tumor” implanted in Tups’ brain, he has to confront the horror that he and the rest of the troopers have been programmed since birth for some nefarious plot he is not yet aware of. He attempts to affirm his identity, explaining that he is “not a piece of hardware,” and that he is indeed a “living being.”
In another example, a droid dehumanizes Fives, calling him by his number. Fives pushes back, stating that the droid is not like the clones and could not empathize with his feelings towards Tups because the droid is incapable of knowing what it feels like to have a brother.
After discovering Order 66, Fives begins to suffer a psychological breakdown and is unable to trust any of his comrades. His attempts to convince Anakin and the 501st that Palpatine is behind the plot to brain control the troopers is cast aside. Fives is — like Tups — treated like a crazy person who is dissociating from his own mind. Lost questioning his friends, identity, and purpose, Fives arms himself against oncoming troopers, who, out of perceived self defense, kill Fives. As he dies, Fives speaks to “the nightmare — ” the reality that all clone troopers will soon face when they lose control of their thoughts and personalities and dissociate into killing machines.
Like here in The Clone Wars and in general in the Star Wars prequel era, dissociation was a supposedly effective tactic used in real life military brainwashing programs when leaders needed brainwashed super spies to carry out orders (for more context on “super spies” please refer to the introduction of this essay series). However, before comparing how these episodes in The Clone Wars relate to Cold War era implementations of the same tactics, I want to point out where else this plot can be found in fiction and why it’s important.
Several scenes from Tups and Fives’ last moments are very similar to scenes in John Frankenheimer’s 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate, which follows a World War II soldier after he has been brainwashed by enemy forces. In the film, Captain Bennett Marco (played by Frank Sinatra) and members of his platoon have recurring nightmares of Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (played by Laurence Harvey) killing two of his comrades after being brainwashed. In The Clone Wars, Tups and Fives experience a nightmare where they are killing their comrades (the Jedi) after being brainwashed. Additionally, one of the soldiers who is also experiencing the same nightmare, Allen Melvin (played by James Edwards), desperately attempts to convince the people around him that he is not crazy for having these dreams, just as Fives attempts to do before his death.
The Manchurian Candidate is often cited in any book or article discussing real life operations of military brainwashing since the film takes a deep dive into dissociation and multiple personality disorder (both common goals of brain control programs). Brain control programs (namely MKULTRA) also have been documented as trying to cause amnesia, dissociation, and behavior modification through the use of brain electrode implants, which are similar to the chips used in The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith.
According to Dr. Colin Ross, author of The CIA Doctors: Human Rights Violations by American Psychologists, MKULTRA Subproject 94 “involved placing electrodes into the brains of animals in order to control their behavior.” Doctors on the project would use a remote transmitter to control the animals’ movements and use them for delivery of bombs and biological and chemical weapons.
This initiative appeared in other MKULTRA subprojects and subprojects of different CIA initiatives including MKULTRA Subproject 142. Each subproject had the ultimate goal to control the behavior of subjects, create dissociation, and create controlled amnesia through the implants. This is very similar to what happens to Tups who experiences limited amnesia as the inhibitor chips begin to activate before Order 66.
While many of the documents are still declassified, brain electrode implants were utilized on human subjects including two 14 year old girls according to Dr. Ross. The most notable research was conducted at Harvard University during the time of MKULTRA by Dr. Vernon Mark, Dr. Frank Ervin and Dr. William Sweet. On one occasion, Dr. Mark and Dr. Ervin wrote about one of their brain electrode patients at Massachusetts General Hospital:
“This 14-year old…girl was brought up in a foster home and was of borderline intelligence. On two separate occasions her violent behavior resulted in the death of a young foster sibling, and she subsequently assaulted a 7-year old child at the state hospital where she was confined … Depth electrodes were placed in each amygdala through the posterior approach.”
Dr. Ross explains that “the…doctors saw their patients as biological machines, a view which made them sub-human and therefore easier to abuse in mind control experiments.” This is similar to how Palpatine views the clone troopers; vessels to be corrupted and utilized for his own political purposes.
The Sequel Trilogy Stormtroopers and Hypnosis, Drugging, Subliminal Messaging, and Psychic Driving
In Delilah S. Dawson’s Phasma, the mind control tactics initiated by First Order General Brendol Hux and continued by his son Armitage make it very clear that the purpose of the First Order mind control experiments are to create an army out of uncorrupted children to transform them into First Order killing machines. As Finn exclaims in The Force Awakens, “I’m a stormtrooper. Like all of them, I was taken from a family I’ll never know. And raised to do one thing.”
The methods that “raised” these troopers are methods that were also conducted by the CIA in their compartmentalized experiments including drugging, reconditioning, and hypnotic methods like subliminal messaging and psychic driving.
Reconditioning and Disposal
Reconditioning and disposal have been documented as a means to solve side-effects and other unplanned symptoms experienced by subjects of CIA brainwashing experiments. A MEMORANDUM dated 25 January 1952 from declassified ARTICHOKE documents describes re-conditioning techniques including electric shock, hypnosis, and drugging. The memo additionally discusses disposal of the agent. The document reads:
“On Friday, 25 January 1952, the writer was called to the office [whited out] for the purpose of a conference…[whited out]…
According to [whited out] our people discovered that [whited out] Intelligence Service were attempting to bribe [whited out] and make him a double agent and [whited out] was looking with favor upon the [whited out] offers. Accordingly, a plot was rigged in which [whited out] was told he was going to be assassinated and as a “protection”, he was placed in custody of the [whited out] Police who threw [whited out] into a [whited out] prison. [Whited out] was held in the [whited out] prison for six months until the [whited out] authorities decided that [whited out] was a nuisance and they told our people to take him back. Since our people were unable to dispose of [whited out] they flew him to [whited out] where, through arrangement, he was placed in a [whited out] as a psychopathic patient…
[Whited out] explained that they can dispose of [whited out] by the simple process of sending him to a friend of his in [whited out], and as far as they are concerned, that type of disposal is perfectly o.k. However, because of his confinement in [whited out] prison and his stay in [whited out] hospital, [whited out] has become very hostile toward the [whited out] and our intelligence operations in particular. Hence [whited out] considering an “Artichoke” approach to [whited out] to see if it would be possible to re-orient [whited out] favorably toward us. This operation, which will necessarily involve the use of drugs is being considered by [whited out] with a possibility that [whited out] will carry out the operation presumably at the [whited out] hospital in [whited out]…
[Whited out] pointed out that there was a strong possibility that the military authorities would not permit their hospital to be used for this type of work and also that a re-conditioning operation of this type might take 30–60 days…
While the technique that [whited out] are considering for use in this case is not known to the writer, the writer believes the approach will be made through the standard narco-hypnosis technique. Re-conditioning and re-orienting an individual in such a matter, in the opinion of the writer, cannot be accomplished easily and will require a great deal of time and the fact that an interpreter is necessary in the case complicates it considerably more…did not suggest to [whited out] that perhaps a total amnesia could be created by a series of electric shocks, but merely indicated that amnesias under drug treatments were not certain.”
Similar tactics of disposal and re-conditioning are used by the First Order to correct a trooper’s behavior or to eliminate them from the system if they do not meet the First Order’s requirements. For example, in The Force Awakens, Hux speaks to Kylo about his “methods” for “training” stormtroopers. He also mentions that his soldiers are “programmed from birth.” The Force Awakens novelization by Alan Dean Foster elaborates further on the First Order’s methods of “programming.” According to the novel, when Finn defects and escapes, Hux stalks about “analyzing psychological profiles in search of an anomaly.” He actively looks for “[indications] of mental imbalances.” In other words, Hux is searching for a deficiency in Finn much like a programmer looks for errors in their code.
These anomalies do not appear to be common, but they do happen. When talking about Finn’s break from the First Order, Phasma states that Finn showed “no prior signs of non-conformity,” suggesting a pattern of troopers breaking conditioning. Additionally, according to The Force Awakens novelization, these breaks are common enough for the First Order to employ psytechs who counsel the stormtroopers when an anomaly occurs.
Phamsa also hints that the First Order has some system for reconditioning troopers when she mentions that Finn was “sent to reconditioning.” And finally, additional insight is offered into reconditioning in the animated TV show Star Wars Resistance when the stormtroopers briefly mention that a fellow trooper would have to endure a “brain scrape” after they perceive him to be acting out of the ordinary.
As for disposal, there is a system for disposing of troopers who cannot be reprogrammed. The Phasma novel notes:
“[Cardinal] doesn’t know how they weed out the undesirables, but he knows it happens. He’s watched children disappear over the years, or at least discovered their absence in the training room, their serial numbers erased from the records and scoreboards as if they’d never existed. They were always the slow ones, the clumsy ones, the ones who fought their programming or questioned the sims or pushed back when given commands. Almost like they were wired incorrectly. He’s always known it has to happen, but he’s never asked why or how. Maybe that’s part of the training — to not miss what’s gone, what’s been taken.”
Hypnosis and Trance States: Signaling, Subliminal Messaging, and Psychic Diving
Psychic driving and subliminal messaging were two hypnotic techniques utilized within CIA experiments under ARTICHOKE and BLUEBIRD. The goal of hypnosis within these programs was to transfer subjects into a “trance like” state where suggestions could be made beyond the subject’s control.
This was demonstrated in the following case study from a declassified ARTICHOKE/BLUEBIRD document entitled “SI and H Experimentation (25 September 1951)” wherein two female subjects planted a bomb under hypnosis. The document reads:
“[Whited out] was instructed that upon awakening, she would proceed to [whited out] room where she would wait at the desk for a telephone call. Upon receiving the call, a person known as “Jim” would engage her in normal conversation. During the course of the conversation, this individual would mention a code word to [whited out]. When she heard this code word she would pass into a SI trance state, but would not close her eyes and remain perfectly normal and continue the telephone conversation…
[Whited out] being in a complete SI state at this time, was then told to open her eyes and was shown an electric timing device. She was informed that this timing device was an incendiary bomb and was then instructed how to attach and set the device. After [whited out] had indicated that she had learned how to set and attach the device, she was told to return to a sleep state and further instructed that upon concluding of the aforementioned conversation, she would take the timing device which was in a briefcase and proceed to the ladies room.
In the ladies room, she would be met by a girl whom she had never seen who would identify herself by the code word “New York”. After identifying herself, [whited out] was then to show this individual how to attach and set the timing device and further instructions would be given the individual…[Whited out] was further instructed to tell this other girl that as soon as the device had been set and turned on, she was to take the briefcase, leave [whited out] room, go to the operations room and go to the sofa and enter a deep sleep state.”
This example of hypnosis utilized code words to set off “trances,” which Dr. Ross refers to as “hypnotically implanted codes and triggers.” The document suggests that the hypnotic states were controlled via a telephone or other subtle signals. These signals made it easy for subjects to pass from one individual (their true identity) to another (their hypnotized identity) without difficulty or without causing a scene. This was ideal for clandestine operations during wartime.
Along with signals, MKULTRA subproject 49 also mentioned the use subliminal messaging. The memo recalls that a doctor’s voice was recorded at a subliminal level to induce trance-like states. Dr. Alden Sears, a doctor who worked on CIA hypnotic techniques from the University of Denver and the University of Minnesota, wrote in a proposal under Subproject 49:
“In order to investigate the possibilities of hypnotic induction of non-willing subjects who have only a knowledge of some other language than that of the hypnotist….An investigation should be made into non-verbal induction techniques, such as long duration of monotonous audio or visual stimulation. A variation of this in which I am interested and in which I have done some work, a few pilot studies, is to use soft restful music in which my voice was also recorded at a subliminal level. With some subjects in the past this has been very effective.”
Hypnosis and trance states also include a concept called “psychic driving.” The topic of “psychic driving” was introduced by a Canadian psychiatrist named Dr. Ewan Cameron and it takes subliminal messaging and the use of signals one step further.
A letter from the CIA to Senator Pete Wilson dated 11 December 1985 states that Dr. Cameron was contacted directly by the CIA for his information on the hypnotic method. The correspondent reads that the “CIA contacted a prominent and highly respected Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Ewen Cameron, who was conducting research into treatment of mental illness with drugs such as LSD, and the CIA provided minimal and partial funding for a short time period. In return, the CIA received periodic reports on his research into behavioral modification through a process which he termed “psychic driving.”
According to Dr. Ross this method was carried out in two stages. Ross writes:
“In the first stage, patients were depatterned, which meant they were reduced to a vegetable state through a combination of massive amounts of electroconvulsive shock, drug-induced sleep and sensory isolation and deprivation. When fully depatterned, patients were incontinent of urine and feces, unable to feed themselves, and unable to state their name, age, location, or the current date.
In the second stage, psychic driving was introduced. This consisted of hundreds of hours of tape loops being played to the patient through earphones, special helmets or speakers in the sensory isolation room. The tape loops repeated statements of supposed psychological significance.”
Hypnosis and Trance States in Star Wars Canon
Signaling, subliminal messaging, and psychic driving are all utilized on First Order stormtroopers in Dawson’s Phasma. For example, when detailing his methods for controlling troopers, Brendol Hux refers to “rhymes” that can be interpreted as songs passed to subjects on a subliminal level or words recorded on loop. Brendol explains:
“My greatest responsibility is to design the program that will train up the young warriors, teach them how to fight while helping them understand why we fight. As you can imagine, this involves not only the physical aspects of instruction, which I leave to younger and fitter officers, but also education. We have sayings like the rhyme about wounds, songs and stories and parables that we use to instill our values and beliefs into our fighters from the earliest age.”
Along with this hint towards the hypnotic technique, the novel does later identify subliminal messaging by name. Cardinal, a leader of the First Order troopers, recalls that “[the troopers] will be waking up shortly, the klaxon calling them out of their bunks, where Brendol’s carefully designed program feeds them subliminal messages all night long…Cardinal finds it comforting when he checks on the children at night, to hear the soft murmur of the First Order’s doctrine droning on, the same as when he was a child.”
The First Order’s use of “droning voices” is also brought up again by Cardinal when he states:
“No, the young recruits are plugged into their beds like datapads downloading new information. Gentle, droning voices at night fill their heads with sayings, propaganda, warnings, reminders that the First Order is the only answer, the only way to save the galaxy from itself, from destruction…Armitage Hux grew up at the Imperial Academy on Arkanis, watching his father deliver, manipulate, and program children to become killing machines…The children lose all sense of individuality, of self.”
This last line in particular is revealing of what these messages aim to do. They aim to — like CIA programs — create another self, another personality, that is the direct result of hypnotic techniques and carefully crafted brainwashing. The end result is an army of controllable “killing machines” who would destroy entire villages on command, similar to the CIA’s hypnotic bomb experiment and the CIA’s eventual end goal of creating “super spies.”
Drugging
While more details are provided in Phasma on hypnotic techniques, the novel does mention that drugs were likely utilized to brainwash troopers. Vi, a member of the Resistance who is captured by Cardinal, notes that she is scared to drink the First Order water because of what may be inside. She muses that the water could include “a little boost of morale, a little softening of the chemicals to keep alert brains from coming fully awake and rioting. Or worse — questioning.”
“Softening of the chemicals” could refer to substances being used to keep troopers in conditioned states — another common tactic in brainwashing programs. In MKULTRA, for example, drugs, particularly LSD, were commonly used in creating amnesia and inducing dissociative personalities.
An MKULTRA document from 1955 revealed several of the goals the CIA wanted to accomplish by using mind-altering substances to manipulate human behavior. Several of the uses for drugs and other substances are as follows:
1. Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public. ‘
2. Substances which increase the efficiency of mentation and perception.
…
7. Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called “brain-washing”.
8. Materials and physical methods which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.
9. Physical methods of producing shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use.
10. Substances which produce physical disablement such as paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc.
…
12. Substances which alter personality structure in such a way that the tendency of the recipient to become dependent upon another person is enhanced.
13. A material which will cause mental confusion of such a type that the individual under its influence will find it difficult to maintain a fabrication under questioning.
Use of Children
Like the First Order, the CIA also used children in experimentation. According to Dr. Ross, MKULTRA Subprojects 102, 103, 112, 136 and 117 involved research on children, which included (according to Subproject 136) the “creation of multiple personality disorder in children.” These experiments involved drugging children with LSD as young as five and implanting children with brain electrode implants. The guardians were not informed of these experiments
The following memorandum from Subproject 103 notes the CIA’s intent to experiment on minors without a guardian’s consent. The document reads that , “this project will support the [whited out] need for cover. In addition it will assist in the identification of promising young foreign nationals and U.S. nationals (many of whom are now in their late teens) who may at any time be of direct interest to the Agency … No cleared or witting persons are concerned with the conduct of this project.”
What does this mean for Episode IX?
In the prequels, the clone troopers were robbed of their established identities when the inhibitor chips were activated and Order 66 began. In the sequels, the stormtroopers were never given the chance to establish identities and were indoctrinated by the First Order since birth. We have only seen one stormtrooper — Finn — establish an identity after breaking away from the First Order.
Finn serves as a reversal of Tups and Fives. Finn’s identity was taken from him as a child. He begins the film by breaking his conditioning and his journey has centered around him finding his belonging in the Resistance. Tups and Fives, on the other hand, begin The Clone Wars with established identities as loyal members of the 501st. Their stories end tragically when they discover their conditioning in the final moments of their lives and die knowing what is to become of their brothers.
Unlike Tups and Fives, Finn’s story will not end tragically. This deliberate reversal is likely leading to a First Order stromtrooper revolt lead by Finn. Finn will either help the troopers break conditioning or he will put together a group of those who have fallen from their conditioning but have yet to be reconditioned. They will help lead the charge against Palpatine, ultimately defeating him where Tups, Fives, and the 501st could not.
Further Reading
Phasma (Star Wars): Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Delilah S. Dawson
The CIA Doctors: Human Rights Violations by American Psychologists (2006), Colin A. Ross, M.D.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Alan Dean Foster
