CIA's declassified files reveal Cold War-era plans involving condoms, mind control, fake sex tapes and psychic experiments

Recently declassified CIA documents revealed a strange and disturbing history of covert operations that veered into the surreal, according to a New York Post report. From psychological warfare using misleading condoms to failed mind control experiments and bizarre plots involving sex tapes and demonic action figures, these records expose the extremes the agency explored during and after the Cold War.

One of the most unusual plans, dating back to the 1950s, involved airdropping extra-large condoms labelled “small” or “medium” over Soviet territories to intimidate enemy soldiers and lower morale. While the CIA had previously dropped propaganda pamphlets via weather balloons, this specific tactic was never implemented.

In another covert attempt at psychological warfare, the CIA in 2005 commissioned GI Joe creator Donald Levine to design an Osama Bin Laden action figure with a face that would peel off in sunlight to reveal a demonic visage. “The action figure idea was proposed and rejected by the CIA before it got past the prototype stage,” the agency told the New York Post in 2014. Only three prototypes were ever made.

The CIA also allegedly produced a pornographic film titled Happy Days in the mid-20th century, featuring an American actor in a mask portraying Indonesian President Achmed Sukarno. The goal was to frame it as a Soviet blackmail ploy to embarrass the leader. But, according to reports, Sukarno was unbothered — even amused — and reportedly arranged for the film’s distribution in Indonesia.

Among the most notorious CIA initiatives was Project MKUltra , launched in 1953, which aimed to explore mind control through 149 secret experiments. Some of these were conducted without subjects' consent. In one extreme case, a Kentucky patient was allegedly given LSD for 179 consecutive days. Another experiment involved hypnotising women to commit acts of violence, with no memory of the events afterwards. Most MKUltra files were destroyed in 1973, but the surviving records paint a grim picture of unethical and at times criminal behaviour.

The CIA’s interest in controlling living beings wasn’t limited to humans. In 1963, it carried out mind control experiments on dogs by implanting electrodes into their brains, allowing handlers to direct their movements remotely. Declassified files cited by The Black Vault show dogs being steered to run, stop or turn using electrical signals. The programme was eventually discontinued.

The bizarre didn’t stop there. In the 1970s, the CIA backed Project Stargate, which investigated the military use of psychic powers. Uri Geller, a self-proclaimed psychic, was tested under controlled conditions and reportedly guessed concealed drawings and words with eerie precision. “[Geller’s] almost immediate response was that he saw a ‘cylinder with noise coming out of it’,” CIA documentation noted. Despite years of funding, the agency eventually concluded the project offered no strategic benefit.

One of the CIA’s most controversial programmes was Operation Paperclip , launched after World War II. It brought over 1,600 former Nazi scientists — including SS officers — into the United States to help counter Soviet advances. Figures like Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus were instrumental in the US space programme, despite their Nazi affiliations. Their recruitment caused unrest among American scientists, as described in Star Bound by Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III.