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The clandestine world of the CIA’s mind-control program, known as MKUltra, is once again drawing public scrutiny as a congressional hearing has been scheduled for later this month. The hearing will delve into the murky details of this Cold War-era initiative.
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna made an announcement on Wednesday about the upcoming hearing, which is organized by the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. The session is slated for May 13 and will focus on the controversial MKUltra project.
Active between 1953 and 1964, the MKUltra program was an ambitious yet ethically dubious endeavor by the CIA to develop techniques and substances for interrogation purposes. The methods used included efforts to weaken individuals mentally and physically, facilitating confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.
Rep. Luna has been a vocal advocate for revisiting congressional hearings on MKUltra, particularly after a report from the Daily Mail brought new attention to the subject. The article mentioned a newly uncovered document about mind-control experiments that had surfaced in the CIA’s reading room just the year prior.
This renewed attention has reignited discussions about the CIA’s use of drugs, hypnosis, and psychological testing on human subjects during the program. Perhaps most notably, it has also brought back questions surrounding the mysterious death of one of the agency’s scientists involved in the project.
Dr Frank Olson, a biological warfare scientist, was covertly dosed with LSD at a meeting and died nine days later after falling out of his hotel room in New York City, which was declared a suicide – although some people, including family members, believe he was murdered.
A total of 144 projects were carried out under MKUltra during that period, highlighting the vast scale of the CIA’s secret experimentation program.
One such document from 1956 detailed how the CIA considered testing the substances on foreign nationals, but ultimately concluded that ‘unwitting testing on American citizens must be continued.’Â
Anna Paulina Luna had pushed to restart congressional hearings on the matter, citing a February Daily Mail article that reported a newly surfaced document on mind-control experiments had been placed in the CIA’s reading room the year before
Pictured is Dr Frank Olson with his wife Alice and their children (L-R) Eric, Lisa and Nils
A CIA spokesperson previously told DailyMail.com: ‘The MKULTRA program ran from 1953 until the lack of productive results and ethical concerns about unwitting testing led to its cessation in 1963.
‘CIA is committed to transparency regarding this chapter of its history, including by declassifying information on the programs and making it publicly available on CIA.gov.’ The Daily Mail has contacted the CIA for comment regarding the hearing announcement.
MKUltra has become a renewed focus on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers raising concerns about the program’s controversial past.
Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett raised the experiments with the Daily Mail this week, comparing them to what he believes is unfolding within the US scientific community as the White House investigates cases of missing and dead scientists.
‘I just go back to the whole concept of MKUltra. They kidnapped people and loaded them up with acid or other mind-altering drugs. They tried to erase their memories,’ he said.
‘They were sued in court. Then they claimed it didn’t exist. In 1975, they ordered records destroyed, and later admitted it had existed but no longer did. Which lies are we supposed to believe?’
Olson was one of at least eight men given LSD on November 19, 1953, as part of an MKUltra experiment, Paul Vidich, Olson’s nephew, previously told the Daily Mail.
In statements made during a 1977 hearing about the activities of the CIA, according to Gottlieb, a ‘very small dose’ of LSD was added to the bottle of Cointreau, which was served after dinner.Â
The CIA was testing drugs and other techniques on American citizens during the 1950s and 60s to develop new interrogation processes, such as mind control. Former US Deputy Director of the CIA Allen Dulles (pictured) ordered the agency to develop mind-controlling drugsÂ
In the days that followed, Olson became paranoid, barely ate and even threw away his wallet, identification badge and money after believing his boss, Vincent Ruwet, had instructed him to do so.
Olson was scheduled to travel to a mental health facility on November 27. At approximately 2.45am on November 28, 1953, Ruwet received a call from Dr Sidney Gottlieb reporting that Olson had died.
Olson’s body was later found outside the Statler Hotel, where he had been staying on the 13th floor.
Vidich said his uncle had ‘moral qualms about the nature of the work he was doing’ and was eventually seen as a security risk.
‘Getting thrown out the window was a very convenient way of disposing of a national security risk,’ he added. ‘To summarize my view, he was murdered.’
His family was not allowed to see his body and was told he had suffered severe facial injuries in the fall and had taken his own life.
Later reports confirmed that Olson had LSD in his system at the time of his death.
The National Security Archive published more than 1,200 pages of MKUltra documents in 2025, detailing the scope of the experiments.
Subjects included criminals, mental patients, drug addicts, Army soldiers and ordinary citizens who were given drugs without their knowledge.
Gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, a former organized crime boss, was used as a test subject in 1957 while an inmate at the Atlanta penitentiary. He explained he was one of eight convicts in a panic and paranoid state while in MKUltra
Gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger was among those used as a test subject in 1957 while imprisoned at the Atlanta penitentiary.
He later described experiencing paranoia and hallucinations during the experiments.
‘Total loss of appetite. Hallucinating. The room would change shape. Hours of paranoia and feeling violent,’ Bulger wrote.
The NSA said in a statement: ‘The CIA conducted terrifying experiments using drugs, hypnosis, isolation, sensory deprivation and other extreme techniques on human subjects, often US citizens, who frequently had no idea what was being done to them.’
While most documents were destroyed in 1973, a 1975 investigation led by Senator Frank Church exposed the existence of the MKUltra program.
That investigation sparked widespread public outrage and criticism of the CIA’s practices.
It also led to the creation of permanent congressional oversight committees for intelligence agencies.