Two experts warned members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday that the CIA's infamous MKUltra mind control program, which involved experimenting on American citizens, may still be active today.
Stephen Kinzer, a senior fellow at Brown University's Center for International and Public Affairs, and investigative journalist Tom O’Neill presented their findings during a congressional hearing. They suggested that the agency might possess advanced tools for mind control, far beyond what was available during the program's original run.
Kinzer stated that enormous advances in cyber technology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence could provide covert agencies with capabilities that the program's original leader, Sidney Gottlieb, could not have envisioned. O'Neill expressed a similar sentiment, noting that while he lacks direct evidence, he finds it difficult to believe the program ceased to exist given its historical scale and investment.
"Is it happening today? Did it continue? I don't know. I can't imagine that it didn't, though, because the technology they worked to establish over 20-25 years and spent more money than any operation the CIA ever conducted was successful," O'Neill said.
The original MKUltra program, which operated from the 1950s to the 1970s, involved approximately 149 subprojects. Its objective was to develop interrogation techniques, often through drugging unsuspecting Americans, to elicit confessions and break down individuals. The program used methods such as brainwashing and torture during the Cold War.
During the hearing, committee members raised questions about whether MKUltra experiments, potentially designed to create assassins from ordinary citizens, might have continued and been used to target political figures. Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee specifically asked Kinzer and O'Neill if they suspected that individuals involved in assassination attempts may have been manipulated by such programs, suggesting that modern iterations could use computer algorithms instead of drugs.
While O'Neill declined to speculate on specific incidents, he reiterated that the CIA developed methods years ago that have likely become more effective over time. Burchett has previously theorized, without providing evidence, that mind control programs utilizing radio waves and computer programs are still in operation and are used to transform American citizens into potential aggressors.
Government records confirm that the CIA engaged in testing drugs and other techniques on American citizens during the mid-20th century to develop new interrogation methods. The extent to which these practices, if any, may have continued or evolved remains a subject of concern and investigation.