A House Oversight Committee hearing examining the CIA's historic MKULTRA program renewed questions about decades of classified intelligence activities, document destruction, and whether Congress received complete information about the controversial operation, as reported by The Gateway Pundit.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who chairs the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, led Tuesday's hearing titled "Mind Control and Accountability: Uncovering the Truth of the CIA's MKULTRA Experiments."

The hearing focused on the CIA's MKULTRA program, which operated from 1953 through 1973.

Lawmakers and witnesses discussed allegations that the program subjected unwitting individuals, including American citizens, hospital patients, prisoners, and veterans, to experiments involving LSD, hypnosis, electroshock, sensory deprivation, and psychological techniques intended to study mind control.

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During her opening remarks, Luna described the operation as "crimes committed by the Central Intelligence Agency against American citizens" and "crimes against humanity."

"This was a deliberate, systematic governmental operation… authorized by the very top of U.S. intelligence apparatus," Luna said.

Luna also reviewed the destruction of MKULTRA records in 1973. According to her remarks, then-CIA Director Richard Helms ordered agency records destroyed as he departed office.

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She said Sidney Gottlieb and members of his team spent an entire day destroying 152 files before Gottlieb later had his personal papers destroyed.

Luna noted that the head of the CIA's records center objected in writing but was overruled.

"That is obstruction of justice. That is criminal destruction of federal records," Luna stated.

She added that no one was imprisoned over the destruction of the records and that victims did not receive formal compensation.

Luna further announced that the CIA is working to declassify newly discovered documents connected to what she described as a previously unknown "forgery program."

Former CIA officer and whistleblower James Erdman III also testified before the committee.

Erdman said approximately 40 boxes of sensitive records were removed from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during declassification review efforts.

The testimony echoed statements Erdman previously made before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in May 2026, when he alleged the CIA "took back 40 boxes of JFK files and MKULTRA files being processed for declassification by DNI Tulsi Gabbard" during what he described as "documented efforts to circumvent oversight."

Following those allegations, Luna and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) sent a preservation letter requesting that all related records be preserved and returned.

Luna later stated on X that her task force had specifically requested the MKULTRA documents for its investigation.

Luna emphasized that the removal of the records "was not a raid," but said the incident raised questions about the CIA's compliance with congressional oversight and declassification efforts.

The hearing also examined allegations involving a CIA facility in Germany where MKULTRA subjects were allegedly tortured.

Luna questioned witnesses about the reported location and said she intends to contact the German government to seek assistance, including potential law enforcement cooperation, to locate and identify possible victims.

One witness testified that he may have identified what could have been a secret CIA prison or black site in Germany connected to the program.

Luna described the operation as "criminal in nature" and "horrifying," adding that it went "unvetted, unchecked, and that there was no accountability."

Another notable moment came when a former CIA officer testified, "I don't believe that the research stopped," referring to MKULTRA-related work.

Witnesses also discussed historical documents referenced during the hearing describing experiments involving memory manipulation.

One document stated: "It's feasible to take the memory of a definite event in the life of an individual, and through hypnotic suggestion, bring about the subsequent conscious recall to the effect that this event never actually took place. But that a different fictional event actually did occur."

Author and journalist Stephen Kinzer also testified about Sidney Gottlieb's role in the program. Kinzer said Gottlieb effectively operated with "a license to kill" issued by the U.S. government.

He testified that the CIA relied on "cut-outs" through universities and other institutions to conduct research while concealing the agency's involvement.

Kinzer also warned that advances in modern technology could expand capabilities beyond those available during the original MKULTRA era.

"There have been enormous advances in cyber technology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Covert agencies may have access to tools for mind control that Sidney Gottlieb could not have imagined."

Witness O'Neill agreed that the significant investment in research and resources made it unlikely such capabilities would simply have been abandoned, arguing that the technology developed during the program remained valuable.

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