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House Republicans revisited long-standing questions last week about possible links between the CIA’s infamous MKUltra program and Charles Manson’s murderous cult, as lawmakers revealed newly discovered agency records are being prepared for declassification.
Tuesday’s hearing before the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets quickly delved into allegations that the CIA concealed the true scope of its Cold War-era mind-control program, with witnesses reviving claims involving Manson, Jack Ruby and decades of alleged government secrecy.
Task Force Chair Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., opened the hearing by accusing the CIA of carrying out illegal human experimentation on unwitting Americans before destroying evidence to hide the program.
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“This hearing is about the crimes committed by the Central Intelligence Agency against American citizens,” Luna said. “The American people deserve a complete and truthful record.”
Luna also revealed she recently traveled to CIA headquarters with Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., after reports surfaced that previously unknown MKUltra records had been located. She said the agency is currently declassifying those files, which she said pertain to a forgery program housed under MKUltra.
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Manson questions take center stage
Much of the hearing centered on testimony from investigative journalist Tom O’Neill, author of Chaos, who told lawmakers his decades-long investigation uncovered correspondence between CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb, the architect of MKUltra, and psychiatrist Dr. Louis “Jolly” West discussing experiments involving LSD, hypnosis, memory manipulation and behavioral control.
O’Neill testified that West later established operations near a San Francisco clinic where Manson and members of his inner circle received free medical treatment in 1967, the same period Manson transformed from a recently paroled criminal into the cult leader who would order the Tate-LaBianca murders two years later.
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“I believe Congress was never told the truth about what this program actually achieved,” O’Neill testified, arguing the CIA misled lawmakers in the 1970s when it characterized MKUltra as a failed experiment.
The hearing reached its most dramatic exchange near the close when Luna asked O’Neill whether it was his opinion that Manson had been an intelligence asset connected to MKUltra.
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O’Neill responded that he has never been able to prove such a theory regarding Manson, describing it as theoretical. He testified, however, that federal authorities repeatedly allowed Manson to violate parole, avoid prosecution and continue building his cult while under government supervision.
When asked about Ruby, the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, O’Neill testified he believes West’s involvement after Ruby’s arrest prevented Ruby from ever publicly telling his story, a claim that has not been established by official government investigations.
After O’Neill described West’s role, Luna responded simply: “Wow.”
CIA cover-up allegations
Historian Stephen Kinzer, author of “Poisoner in Chief,” testified that MKUltra amounted to “the most extreme experiments on human beings” ever carried out by a U.S. government agency, alleging victims included prisoners, psychiatric patients and unwitting civilians in the United States and overseas.
Kinzer argued the CIA intentionally obscured the program by destroying records before congressional investigators could review them and urged lawmakers to seek the removal of decades-old redactions from surviving documents.
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Later in the hearing, Kinzer alleged he identified what he believes was an early CIA “black site” in Germany where MKUltra experiments were conducted alongside former Nazi scientists. He testified that residents told him people died there and may be buried nearby — allegations that have not been independently verified.
Luna pledged to contact the German government.
“If there are indeed people that were victims of this… we would like to know who those people are and who their families are as well,” she said.
‘A massive cover-up’
Republicans repeatedly questioned why no CIA officials were prosecuted after former Director Richard Helms ordered MKUltra files destroyed before leaving office.
“No one went to prison. No victim was ever formally compensated,” Luna said.
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., asked witnesses directly whether MKUltra represented “a massive cover-up by the U.S. government.”
“It’s certainly a cover-up of what happened in the past,” Kinzer replied.
“Oh, absolutely yes,” O’Neill answered.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., also questioned whether advances in technology and social media could accomplish today what MKUltra attempted during the Cold War. O’Neill declined to speculate about modern cases, saying he had no evidence connecting current events to government programs, though he testified he believes technology has advanced significantly since the 1950s.
Historian urges caution on new files
David Barrett, a Villanova University professor, told Fox News Digital that while Tuesday’s hearing revisited provocative questions about MKUltra, much of the program’s documented history is already well established.
“The thinking was, ‘The other side is doing it, so we need to do it,'” Barrett said of the Cold War mindset that gave rise to MKUltra, referring to U.S. intelligence officials’ belief that China and North Korea were using drugs to influence American prisoners during the Korean War.
Barrett said there is no dispute that MKUltra existed or that unwitting Americans were subjected to drug experiments.
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“We know the program existed. We know drug tests were done on unwitting human subjects,” he said. “We don’t know the number.”
He also noted that the historical record remains incomplete because Helms ordered most MKUltra files destroyed in the early 1970s.
“Most of the records, as far as we can tell, were in fact destroyed, but not all of them,” Barrett said.
Still, Barrett cautioned against expecting the newly discovered records now being reviewed by the CIA to dramatically rewrite the historical record.
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“I don’t think there’s going to be a smoking gun,” Barrett said, adding that he expects the files are more likely to be operational records than documents revealing major new information about senior-level decision-making.
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Luna concluded the hearing by promising lawmakers will continue pressing the CIA to release additional records, including the newly discovered MKUltra documents currently under review.
While the CIA has long acknowledged the existence of MKUltra and previous congressional investigations documented unethical human experimentation during the Cold War, many of the hearing’s most explosive allegations, including purported links to Manson and Ruby, remain disputed and have not been confirmed by official government findings.
The CIA has previously pushed back against O’Neill’s claims.
“The author cannot definitively tie Manson to MK-ULTRA or CHAOS; he can only imply it on circumstantial evidence,” the CIA said in a review of O’Neill’s book.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
