James Monroe

Lieutenant Colonel James Monroe had worked closely with the CIA as head of the Air Force's study of Korean War prisoners before the Agency hired him to run the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology after its formal separation from Cornell in 1957. Monroe led a staff of four whose salaries the Agency paid, taking over the Society's dealings with the outside world and the monitoring of several hundred thousand dollars a year in research projects.¹

Running the Human Ecology Society

Monroe personally supervised dozens of grants, including D. Ewen Cameron's brainwashing work in Montreal. The Society had moved from its Manhattan town house to Forest Hills, Queens, and Monroe managed the transition from a Cornell-affiliated study group to an independent foundation that could approach academics anywhere in the world. When granting money, Monroe used a standard cover story, telling recipients the funds came from rich New York doctors and Texas millionaires who gave it for tax purposes. Dr. Carolyn Sherif, who received a grant with her husband Muzafer Sherif for teenage gang research, states that Monroe lied directly to them about the source of the money.¹

Monroe's role was to maintain the Society's legitimacy while ensuring that MKULTRA interests were served. Sid Gottlieb and the TSS hierarchy in Washington made the major decisions, but Monroe managed day-to-day operations, visited grant recipients, and kept track of developments in the behavioral sciences. He let Carl Rogers know that once he agreed to serve on the Society board, he could expect a grant, and Rogers received about $30,000 over three years. Monroe's operation gave the CIA a "legitimate basis to approach anyone in the academic community anywhere in the world," as one Agency source put it.¹