In a June 30, 2026 hearing of the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a former CIA officer and expert witnesses testified that the MK-Ultra mind control program — officially active from 1953 to 1973 — was never fully dismantled and continued to influence mass shooters and Hollywood celebrities through hypnosis, drugs, and psychological techniques.
Related coverage on Planet Today details explosive claims that figures such as Jack Ruby and Charles Manson served as MK-Ultra assets under the direction of CIA-linked psychiatrist Dr. Louis Jolyon West.
The hearing, titled “Mind Control and Accountability: Uncovering the Truth of the CIA’s MKULTRA Experiments,” highlighted the 1973 destruction of 152 MK-Ultra files ordered by CIA Director Richard Helms and renewed calls for full declassification of remaining records. Witnesses referenced declassified documents showing successful memory implantation via hypnosis and drew connections to the Church Committee revelations of the 1970s.
Historical records confirm MK-Ultra involved non-consensual experiments with LSD, electroshock, and sensory deprivation on unwitting Americans, including hospital patients and prisoners — practices later described by Rep. Luna as “crimes against humanity.” Authors Tom O’Neill (Chaos) and Stephen Kinzer (Poisoner in Chief) provided testimony on these documented abuses and the program’s reach into counterculture and high-profile cases.
Modern testimony also raised concerns about advanced technologies potentially extending similar capabilities today. The American public continues to seek transparency on these historical government programs and their possible lingering effects.
For further context on the congressional testimony and specific claims linking MK-Ultra to well-known figures, see this in-depth report: MKUltra in Congress: Explosive Testimony Claims Jack Ruby & Charles Manson Were CIA Assets
Declassified MK-Ultra documents remain available through the official CIA Reading Room for independent review. The latest hearing underscores growing demands for accountability and complete release of all surviving files.
In a hearing that sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, a former CIA officer delivered chilling testimony before Congress, declaring that the agency’s infamous mind control program, MK-Ultra, was never shut down and is still used to mind-control subjects including entertainment industry stars and mass shooters.
The dramatic allegations unfolded during the House Oversight Committee session titled “Mind Control and Accountability: Uncovering the Truth of the CIA’s MK-Ultra Experiments,” chaired by firebrand Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).
Lawmakers and witnesses painted a picture of decades-long government abuse: unwitting American victims subjected to LSD-fueled nightmares, psychological torture, electroshock, hypnosis, and sensory deprivation – all in a quest for total mind control.
“This was a deliberate, systematic governmental operation… authorized by the very top of the U.S. intelligence apparatus,” Luna declared, branding the experiments “crimes against humanity” committed by the CIA against its own citizens.
Records Burned, Truth Buried
The hearing laid bare one of the darkest chapters in American intelligence history – and raised explosive new questions about whether it ever ended.MK-Ultra officially ran from 1953 to 1973, targeting hospital patients, prisoners, veterans, and everyday Americans without their knowledge or consent.
Then-CIA Director Richard Helms personally ordered the destruction of all related records in 1973 as he left office amid the Watergate scandal.According to testimony and historical records, MK-Ultra mastermind Sidney Gottlieb and his team spent an entire day incinerating 152 files.
Gottlieb even had his personal papers destroyed. When the head of the CIA’s own records center objected in writing, he was overruled.“That is obstruction of justice. That is criminal destruction of federal records,” Luna stated forcefully. “No one went to prison. No victims received formal compensation.”
The CIA has long insisted the program was a “failure.” But multiple witnesses, including investigative journalist Tom O’Neill, author of Chaos, accused the agency of deliberately misleading Congress for over 50 years.
I believe this opening statement by Anna Paulina Luna will go down in history.
— RealAF Patriot (@RealAF_Patriot) June 30, 2026
MK Ultra is REAL and the CIA committed Crimes Against Humanity with it. pic.twitter.com/D6wWFuAeKs
Whistleblower: CIA Removed 40 Boxes of JFK and MK-Ultra Files
The most jaw-dropping testimony came from CIA whistleblower and former officer James Erdman III. Erdman revealed that roughly 40 boxes of sensitive records – including JFK assassination files and MK-Ultra documents – were abruptly removed from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during declassification efforts led by DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
Erdman, who previously testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in May 2026, described the move as part of “documented efforts to circumvent oversight.” In response, Luna and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) issued a formal preservation letter demanding the records be returned immediately.
Luna later clarified on X that the documents were specifically requested by her task force and stressed the incident was “not a raid” – but the brazen removal has only fueled suspicions that powerful forces within the agency are still actively blocking transparency.
Secret German Torture Site? Remains Possibly Still Hidden
In another bombshell moment, Luna revealed she is investigating allegations of a secret CIA black site in Germany where MK-Ultra victims were reportedly tortured. A witness claimed to have identified the possible location, prompting Luna to vow contact with the German government and potential law enforcement involvement to locate and identify any remains.
The program, Luna said, operated “unvetted, unchecked, and with no accountability.”
“I Don’t Believe the Research Stopped”
The most alarming statement of the day came from a former CIA officer who looked lawmakers in the eye and declared: “I don’t believe that the research stopped.”
That single line struck at the heart of the official narrative. While the public was told MK-Ultra died in the 1970s, witnesses argued the agency had every incentive to hide, rebrand, or quietly continue its work using new cover stories and advanced technology.
O’Neill presented evidence showing the CIA’s 1977 claims about the program’s “failure” directly contradicted earlier internal documents. He also highlighted disturbing connections involving psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West and figures like Charles Manson and Jack Ruby – suggesting MK-Ultra’s tentacles reached far deeper into American history than previously admitted.
Disturbing declassified documents referenced at the hearing described successful experiments in memory replacement: using hypnosis to erase real events from a person’s mind and implanting entirely fictional ones in their place – all without the subject’s awareness.
Modern Tools, Ancient Agenda
Experts warned that today’s technological arsenal makes the original MK-Ultra look primitive. With artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, advanced neuroscience, surveillance tech, and directed energy weapons now available, the potential for abuse has skyrocketed.Author Stephen Kinzer, a leading chronicler of Gottlieb’s work, told the committee the scientist essentially operated with a “license to kill” from the U.S. government.
The CIA used universities and trusted institutions as “cut-outs” to conceal its involvement while experimenting on unwitting civilians.Kinzer and O’Neill both emphasized that the agency poured too much time, money, and effort into these programs to simply walk away. The capabilities were too valuable. The secrecy too ingrained.
The Fight for the Truth Continues
For more than half a century, the American people have been fed the comforting lie that MK-Ultra was just a Cold War relic – a “failed” experiment best forgotten.This hearing shattered that illusion.
Congress now confronts not only what the CIA did to its citizens, but what it might still be doing with far more powerful tools in the digital age.
The American public deserves full declassification, accountability, and answers. After destroyed records, stonewalled investigations, and whistleblowers risking everything to come forward, the time for secrecy is over.
The question is no longer if the truth was buried. The question is: How deep does it still go?