-Caveat Lector- Newshawk: M & M Family Pubdate: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Fredric N. Tulsky, Mercury News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Frank+Olson
Scientist Was Murdered, Sons Say RELATIVES CONCLUDE CIA HAD A HAND IN '53 FATAL FALL FREDERICK, MD. - Relatives of Frank Olson laid out for reporters Thursday their evidence that the research scientist was the victim of something far more sinister than a CIA experiment with LSD gone awry in 1953 when he fell to his death from a hotel. Speaking to reporters in the back yard of their family home, not far from the Fort Detrick research facility where Frank Olson worked, his sons and grandchildren took turns reading a lengthy statement that contends his fall through a New York hotel window was no accident. "We have satisfied ourselves that Frank Olson was murdered because of security concerns regarding his work," said one son, Eric Olson, citing his father's work both on biological weapons and on interrogation techniques. It was not, he said, a conclusion that the family came to easily. The Olson family has spent years trying to piece together what happened to Frank Olson, ever since learning through newspaper accounts in 1975 that an unnamed scientist who jumped to his death out a New York hotel window in 1953 had been given LSD days earlier. In July 1975, the family called a news conference at the same backyard site to announce that they felt "violated by the CIA." White House officials quickly called family members, saying they would support their bid to be compensated for the incident. President Gerald Ford called the family to the Oval Office and then directed CIA Director William Colby to meet with them and reveal all the circumstances of Frank Olson's death. Ever since, the Olsons have struggled to make sense out of what happened, assembling a series of details that raise questions about the government version of the story, even if their efforts did not prove that Frank Olson's research caused him to be killed. They also discovered through internal White House memorandums that at the very time the White House was promising to cooperate, key officials were discussing how to keep the family from learning the truth about Frank Olson's work. Soon after the family learned that Olson had been the victim of a CIA experiment that went awry, the White House began outlining a strategy "that would ensure that we did not request pertinent information regarding what had actually happened," said a second son, Nils Olson, Thursday. White House officials told the Olsons "they were concerned that if we went to court we might lose and not obtain what the White House regarded as appropriate compensation," Nils Olson said. But the real concern within the White House, he said, was to hide as much information as possible about Frank Olson's research. That strategy, said Nils Olson, is evident from reading memorandums, reported Thursday in the Mercury News, between Ford administration officials that included Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, now the vice president and secretary of defense, respectively. Those memorandums express concerns that the White House might find itself ordered to reveal details of Frank Olson's work -- details that the CIA felt should not be revealed -- if the case went to court. Among those gathered for the news conference Thursday was Dr. James Starr, who conducted a forensics investigation that led him to conclude, he said, "that the most likely scenario was that Frank Olson was the victim of a murder." Starr's investigation occurred in 1994, after Nils and Eric Olson had their father's remains exhumed. The family intends to rebury Frank Olson at a ceremony today, since "we believe there is nothing more to be learned," Eric Olson said. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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