This 2026 congressional hearing, titled "FULL MKULTRA HEARING: CIA'S MKUltra Program Probed By Lawmakers Seeking Answers About 'Mind Control'", was convened by a house task force chaired by Representative Anna Paulina Luna to investigate the legacy, cover-ups, and potential modern implications of the CIA's MKUltra human experimentation program [00:00].

The session featured heavy debate regarding government secrecy, historical atrocities, and an unexpected clash over modern health policy.

1. Opening Statement: A Legacy of Destruction

Chairwoman Luna opened the hearing by characterizing Project MKUltra not as an overzealous program that simply "got out of hand," but as a deliberate, systematic criminal operation funded by American taxpayers [00:37]. She highlighted that right before leaving office in 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of MKUltra files [01:23]. The vast majority of what is known today only came to light because an archivist accidentally discovered seven boxes of misfiled financial records in 1977 [02:50]. Luna also revealed that she and Representative Eric Burlison recently visited Langley to confirm that the CIA is currently declassifying newly discovered documents related to an MKUltra forgery program [05:42].

1. Witness Testimony: The Architects and the "Success" of Mind Control

The task force brought forth prominent investigative authors to unpack how deep the program ran.

Stephen Kinzer (Author of Poisoner in Chief): Kinzer detailed the work of chemist Sydney Gottlieb, who operated with a government-issued "license to kill" [10:13]. Kinzer argued that Gottlieb believed that to implant a new mind, he first had to completely destroy the existing one [09:11], leading to extreme medical torture of "expendable" subjects globally. Kinzer called on Congress to demand an end to the heavy document redactions still in place after 70 years [12:14] and warned that while Gottlieb concluded mind control was a myth in the 1960s, modern advancements in AI, cyber tech, and neuroscience mean a 21st-century version of MKUltra could be fully operational today [13:00].

Tom O'Neal (Author of Chaos): O'Neal presented a striking challenge to history, arguing that the CIA misled Congress in 1977 by claiming MKUltra was a total failure [15:32]. Through his 20-year investigation into Charles Manson, O'Neal discovered personal papers from Dr. Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West—a top psychiatrist contracted by Gottlieb [19:00]. In a hidden 1956 report, West explicitly claimed he had successfully used LSD and hypnosis to entirely replace an individual's true memories with false ones without their knowledge [21:13]. O'Neal also highlighted a web of connections suggesting West was strategically placed by intelligence figures like Allen Dulles and Richard Helms to evaluate Jack Ruby alone in his cell to effectively keep him from coherently telling his story to the Warren Commission [25:07].

1. The Congressional Questioning and Operational Abuses

Lawmakers heavily questioned the authors on the specific horrors and operational covers of the program:

Nazi Collaborations: Kinzer confirmed that under Operation Paperclip, the CIA worked directly with top Nazi biological weapons and medical scientists [31:40] to continue gruesome experiments initially developed in concentration camps like Dachau [31:26].

Operation Midnight Climax: Lawmakers brought up the CIA bordellos where American citizens were covertly drugged with LSD and filmed [38:31]. Kinzer noted there was zero scientific merit to the program; it was a disturbing abuse of power where even Gottlieb requested women be provided for him during routine inspections [40:06].

The Manson Connection: Rep. Burlison probed O'Neal on how Charles Manson could control his followers. O'Neal detailed that from the moment Manson left prison, he was given extreme leniency by a federal parole officer who was simultaneously running an amphetamine and group-behavior research project out of the exact same San Francisco clinic where Jolly West was stationed [01:20:10].

1. The NIH Clash: A Complete Departure from the Topic

The strangest development of the hearing came from the minority witness, Dr. Elizabeth Janexi, a former senior program officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) [24:04].

Janexi did not speak about MKUltra [43:28]. Instead, she used her time to fiercely criticize an OMB federal financial assistance rule implemented by the current administration, which she argued allows political appointees to override scientific peer reviews and terminate ongoing clinical trials [24:47].

This prompted aggressive backlash from Republican representatives, including Nancy Mace, who called out Janexi for having no knowledge of MKUltra [55:25]. Lawmakers used the opportunity to grill Janexi on the NIH's integrity, public distrust, COVID-19 origins, and vaccine side effects—all of which Janexi deflected or stated fell outside her area of expertise [44:06].

Next Steps Announced: Rep. Luna concluded the hearing by stating she intends to contact the German government to investigate claims of fatal MKUltra black sites where victims may still be buried in unmarked forest plots [01:05:05]. She vowed to hold the CIA accountable as the newly discovered boxes continue to be declassified [01:26:04].

---

The House Oversight Committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets holds a hearing entitled, "Mind Control and Accountability: Uncovering ...