The Intelligence Agency That Literally Tried to Weaponize Hell

Operation OFTEN represents the CIA's most spectacular descent into medieval thinking: a documented program from 1968-1973 that investigated whether demonic possession could be weaponized for intelligence operations. Through declassified documents and FOIA releases, we trace how the agency hired practicing witches like Sybil Leek, consulted with Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, and attempted to create reproducible protocols for summoning demons—complete with standardized forms for "entity contact reports" and metrics for "possession intensity." This isn't conspiracy theory but verified fact: CIA operatives attended voodoo ceremonies in Haiti, conducted possession experiments in Houston, and wrote bureaucratic assessments of whether supernatural forces could be directed against the Soviet Union, who were conducting parallel occult research in their own desperate bid to avoid a "demonic gap" in the Cold War arms race.

The program's dark absurdity reached its peak when the agency spent six months investigating a subject who claimed demonic possession enabled him to speak Russian, only to discover he was reciting grocery lists and nursery rhymes—a perfect crystallization of what happens when institutional paranoia meets unlimited budgets and zero oversight. Operation OFTEN proves that during the Cold War, even Satan became a potential intelligence asset, though declassified records suggest the Prince of Darkness declined recruitment, maintaining higher standards than either superpower's intelligence apparatus.

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