Operation Mind Control: Our Secret Government’s War Against Its Own People by Walter Bowart, originally published in 1978, is a seminal work in conspiracy literature that investigates the CIA’s covert efforts to develop technologies for behavioral modification, brainwashing, and mind control. The book alleges that a "cryptocracy"—a hidden government—used hypnosis, drugs (specifically LSD), and other coercive techniques to turn ordinary citizens into "zombies" for use as assassins, spies, and couriers. Operation Mind Control was one of the first books to explore the CIA's MK-Ultra experiments in detail, transitioning the concept of the "Manchurian Candidate" from fiction to alleged fact. Bowart, a journalist and founder of the Freedom of Thought Foundation, wrote it as a warning about the abuse of power within the national security state. The book is often considered essential reading for those researching the history of intelligence agency abuses and the development of behavioral technology.