Branches Book

BRANCHES

The Olsons took the CIA to court a second time in 2012, this time claiming that they murdered Frank Olson. The CIA finally admitted that Frank Olson’s death was necessary as he was a national security risk. He was telling people top secret information about MK Ultra and their experiments. The case was dismissed due to the fact that a settlement was already given to the family. Additionally, Frank Olson was a national security risk so, the case would’ve been dismissed anyways. However, these court cases weren’t entirely a failure. The cause of death of Frank Olson was changed from “suicide” to “unknown” and MK Ultra is now known to the public. Even if it is just a name, it is still progress towards learning the secrets of our government. Theory #3: My Theory I don’t believe that Frank Olson’s death was suicide. While I do believe he was horrified to find out what his work was contributing to, I don’t believe that he killed himself (at least not willingly). Between the autopsy and the CIA’s death report, there were many contradictions including the fact that the autopsy showed that the bruises on Olson’s body were there prior to his demise. His death could be contributed to him being on LSD. Traces were found in his blood stream so that is something we can consider fact. Assuming that the CIA did drug Olson with LSD, his death could then be attributed to a “bad trip”. On March 18th, 2017, a freshman at Santa Monica High School high on LSD fell to his death. Knowing this, it makes me wonder what really happened and if we will ever know. Both possibilities could be right and both could be wrong. All we know is that something happened that night that resulted in the death of Frank Olson.

Works Cited Albarelli Jr., H.P. and John Kelly. “The Strange Story of Frank Olson.” Weekly Planet (Tampa, FL), December 6, 2000.

Fischer, Mary A. “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” Gentlemen’s Quarterly , January 2000.

Gup, Ted. “The Coldest Warrior.” The Washington Post Magazine , December 16, 2001.

Hornberger, Jacob G. "The CIA's Murder of Frank Olson Goes to Court."

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