Newly declassified CIA files have pulled back the curtain on some of the agency’s most outlandish—and at times ethically alarming—psychological operations during the Cold War.
From distributing oversized condoms labelled “medium” to designing satanic action figures, the documents read more like surreal fiction than intelligence strategy.
One of the strangest proposals, dating back to the 1950s, involved dropping extra-large condoms labeled “small” or “medium” over the Soviet Union. The plan? To sow insecurity among Soviet troops and damage morale. The scheme, unsurprisingly, never made it beyond the drawing board.
Demonic Bin Laden action figure created in secret
Fast forward to 2005, and the CIA’s psychological games took on a new target: Osama bin Laden. The agency reportedly approached Donald Levine, creator of the iconic GI Joe action figure, to design a doll of the terrorist leader. But there was a twist—under sunlight, bin Laden’s face would peel away to reveal a demonic visage intended to scare children and their parents. Only three prototypes of the toy were ever produced before the plan was abandoned.
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Sex, politics, and sabotage: a failed film plot
In another covert operation that bordered on parody, the CIA bankrolled a pornographic film titled Happy Days featuring an American actor made up to resemble then-Indonesian President Achmed Sukarno. The agency’s goal was to circulate the tape as Soviet blackmail and tarnish Sukarno’s reputation. But the scheme backfired spectacularly. Instead of reacting with outrage, Sukarno reportedly embraced the film and even helped distribute it within Indonesia, blunting its intended effect.
The chilling reality of Project MKUltra
Among the most infamous operations detailed in the files is Project MKUltra, launched in 1953 and now synonymous with the dark side of intelligence work. Under its umbrella, the CIA conducted 149 secret experiments—many on unwitting participants—in an effort to manipulate and control human behavior. One case saw a Kentucky man dosed with LSD for 179 days straight. In another, women were hypnotized to commit violent acts with no memory afterward.
Though most documentation on MKUltra was destroyed in 1973 amid growing scrutiny, what survives paints a disturbing picture of ethical lapses and unchecked ambition in the name of national security.
Dogs, electrodes, and a remote control
Even animals weren’t spared. A declassified memo from 1963 reveals a bizarre program where CIA scientists implanted electrodes in the brains of dogs, attempting to control their movement remotely. The project was ultimately deemed impractical and shelved.
These revelations, though decades old, continue to raise questions about the lengths intelligence agencies may go in the name of influence, dominance, and control—and how often those experiments veered into the realm of the absurd.
