Lawmakers renewed calls for transparency even after a spokesperson for Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, denied claims that the CIA raided her office and seized boxes of files tied to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the MKUltra program—the CIA’s Cold War-era mind control experiment.
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On Wednesday, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida had told NewsNation that she was notified that the CIA had taken “documents out of ODNI [Office of the Director of National Intelligence], multiple boxes pertaining to the JFK files as well as MKUltra.” She later specified that it was not a “raid.”
On Thursday, Representative Eric Burlison of Missouri said he and Luna, both Republicans, referencing President Donald Trump’s call for “disclosure,” visited the CIA headquarters, as part of an effort to gain access to files pertaining to JFK or MKUltra,
The CIA has not commented publicly on the alleged event. Newsweek contacted Luna’s office and the ODNI for comment via email, as well as the CIA via its website form.,
Were JFK and MKUltra Files Taken?
Writing on X late Wednesday, Luna clarified that the CIA took documents “that ODNI has jurisdiction over” during the purported incident.
“Also, this did not happen today and was not a ‘raid’ however it did take place and we are just being made aware of it based on reporting etc.,” Luna wrote.
Luna’s claim appears to originate from testimony made by CIA whistleblower James Erdman to the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Wednesday, which alleged the CIA had taken 40 boxes that were being processed for declassification from Gabbard’s office.
Referencing a since-deleted post by Fox News host Jesse Watters on X late Wednesday regarding the alleged raid, Olivia Coleman, press secretary for the ODNI, wrote:
“This is false—the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office.”
After the ODNI’s denial, and speaking on NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight on Thursday, Pavlich said unnamed sources in the intelligence community told the show that files associated with MKUltra—the Cold War mind control program—and Kennedy “were indeed taken by the CIA at some point last year,” adding that sources confirmed the event was not “a CIA raid.”
Newsweek has not independently verified these claims.
Pavlich said that the materials were “under DNI Gabbard’s jurisdiction llegedly taken from the National Reconnaissance Office, a Department of Defense agency, “by people from the CIA during the last year’s government shutdown.”
She said the CIA has not returned the materials and that Gabbard’s office had been preparing them for declassification “in line with an executive order issued by President Trump.”
The CIA has not commented on the claims.
What Action Are Lawmakers Taking?
On X, Luna shared a letter addressed to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, asking him to preserve all existing and future records and materials related to the subjects.
She said the documents “need to be returned to the ODNI” and referenced an executive order from President Donald Trump directing the declassification of all files related to JFK and others.
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On Thursday, Burlison said on X that he visited the CIA headquarters with Luna “to deliver a message.”
He wrote: “This president is demanding disclosure and we wanted assurances that they are understanding of that and on the same page. That message was received and we expect to be able to see all of the files for JFK and MK ultra, etc. and we await these actions. I am grateful that the CIA met with us so quickly. But, trust is a series of promises kept.”
Newsweek reached out to Burlison’s office by email.
What Could The Files Say?
It is not known what future files could disclose, but at the beginning of his second term, Trump ordered the release of documents related to the assassinations of the 35th president, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy’s brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Tens of thousands files had also been released during his first term and during the Joe Biden administration.
In March 2025, the National Archives released some 80,000 pages of declassified records related to Kennedy’s assassination.
They provided further details on the CIA’s surveillance of Lee Harvey Oswald, the U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated Kennedy, and included a notebook with witness testimony from the shooting.
In December 2024, the National Security Archive and ProQuest declassified about 1,200 documents pertaining to the MKUltra program, a series of CIA mind control experiments that started in 1953, during the Cold War.
The December 2024 MKUltra files detailed the CIA’s experiments with drugs, hypnosis and other mind control techniques during the era.
The records included a 1950 plan for “interrogation teams” to use drugs and hypnosis and a 1956 memo approving high-dose LSD experiments on federal prisoners.
Another document describes the 1963 CIA inspector general report that questioned using unknowing Americans as test subjects.
The records also delve into the mysterious 1953 death of Frank Olson, a scientist covertly dosed with LSD who died 10 days later in a fall from a New York hotel. Officially ruled a suicide, Olson’s death remains a focal point for conspiracy theories alleging CIA foul play.
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