National Personnel Records Center. St. Louis MO, Volunteer’s Participation Agreement, U.S.
Army Chemical Center. A Cml C From 6-9
Considering the secrecy with which the government treat matters related to its clandestine
services and national security, sources detailing the internal workings of both are few and far
between. The information that is released and what is redacted says much about the intentions of
the government willing to release those documents. This Volunteer Agreement is an excellent
resource in research into the LSD experiments on humans occurring at Edgewood Arsenal in the
1950s. Additionally, its direct use by the test subjects makes it invaluable as a record of the US
Army’s test subjects.
The source is a photocopy of a “Volunteer’s Participation Agreement.” This form was
issued by the U.S. Army Chemical Center in Maryland. The photocopy was sent in response to
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for any and all medical records regarding the testing
of LSD-25 on Robert Hunt. The Agreement asks for basic identifying information from the
signatory to include name, rank, serial number, and organization. It also certifies that the
signatory have been nature of the experiment they are to undertake. Below these blanks are three
paragraphs of liability release language with signature and dates for the signatory and two
witnesses. Additionally the first clause reminds the signatory that they have the right to
discontinue the experiment at any time. The agreement is signed and dated on February 1959,
but the form template is dated to May of 1957.
The apparent purpose of the form is to serve as a release signifying that test subjects in
experiments at the US Army Chemical Center had been properly educated regarding their
participation in the experiments. The form is written in “legalese” in the manner of a consent and
liability release form. However, the source mentions an additional reading that would have been
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attached to the release. The text has no further mention of what this document would have
contained. An odd sentence occurs at the end of the second paragraph of the document that states
that the undersigned must “rely upon. . . the physician supervising the experiment to institute
whatever medical or surgical measures are indicated to protect me.” In all likelihood this
statement was included to reduce the liability of the US Army in the event that a participant
disagreed with the actions of one of the Army’s physicians.
Unlike many of the forms included in the FOIA request, this document is photocopied in
whole without any redacting or editing, as such it is one of the few photocopies made that
include the entirety of the page without any apparent omissions from the text of the document,
with the exception of the aforementioned missing briefing materials (Medical Research
Volunteer Program). While most of the forms included consisted of medical records or
questionnaires this is the only contract present in the FOIA request. The letter from the National
Archives that accompanied the requested materials stated that the documents included were the
entirety of relevant records, suggesting that this might be the most relevant source regarding
what consent the experimenters obtained and what information was given to participants.
The final clause of the agreement states that the undersigned had entered this agreement
to participate in human experimentation absent any “coercion, element of fraud or deceit, undue
moral suasion, or other adverse pressure to bear.” In regards to the question of whether or not
these men were coerced into participation this is in no way a definitive answer, but it does
suggest that this signatory, “Robert W. Hunt”, entered into this agreement on his own volition.
However, absent any handwriting to compare the document to, there is no way to definitively
show that Hunt was the actual signatory and that it was signed without coercion.
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This agreement is a valid source in investigating the process that test subjects underwent
before participating in the US Army’s experiments. The information queries at the top of the
agreement also clearly indicate it was to be given to military personnel as a civilian form
wouldn’t have requested the grade (rank) or serial no of the applicant. It is, however, important
to note that the document at no point mentions the nature of this experiment that is known to
have consisted of the human dosing of LSD-25. This contract does not explicitly mention any of
that. Instead the document serves as a general agreement, and would also allow that document to
be released without revealing any sensitive information.
The source is not without its difficulties, the page is not numbered, and there is no
indication of what additional materials might have accompanied this agreement. Additionally
there is no clear indication how to locate the missing “Medical Volunteer Research Program”
document as it bears the same name as the program that issued it. There is no way of knowing
whether the original documentation was even given to the subjects signing this document.
Additionally since the document was accessed via a FOIA request there remain questions
about the US government’s motives for releasing it. The FOIA process by which the document
was unclassified is not transparent, so there is no way to know what was not declassified to be
released. The researcher is forced to rely on the government to be forthcoming with information
about clandestine human experimentation.
This source, while not directly redacted, is missing enough additional information and
context that while useful it can only tell so much as a standalone document. However its value as
a primary source cannot be overstated despite the questions raised about what accompanying
documents may not have been declassified.
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