---
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2026-06-03
location: Washington, D.C.
summary: Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who succeeded Harold Wolff as director of the
  CIA-fronted Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology and supervised its behavioral
  research grant program.
tags:
- Person
- CIA
- MKULTRA
- SocietyForTheInvestigationOfHumanEcology
updated: 2026-06-03
---

Lieutenant Colonel James Monroe had worked closely with the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) as head of the Air Force's study of [Korean War](/events/korean-war/) prisoners before the Agency hired him to run the [Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology](/organizations/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](/people/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](/programs/project-mkultra/) interests were served. [Sid Gottlieb](/people/sidney-gottlieb/) and the [TSS](/organizations/office-of-technical-service/) 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](/people/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]

[^1]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, Chapter 9.