0:00 America's darkest CIA program >> [music] >> they couldn't keep under wraps. House hearing revives CIA's MKUltra mind control conspiracy. [music] >> I know there's a lot of speculation out there about the uh Butler shooting and I guess even Charlie Kirk shooting. >> Has America's Central Intelligence Agency gone rogue? Did it carry out the killing of Charlie Kirk or the attempts on Trump's life? >> Whether those guys were programmed through radio waves or through their computer activity. So, I would never hazard a guess except to say what I've already said that they developed means that we've never been told about.
0:58 >> Let me ask you a question. Is it possible that I could hire you to assassinate Donald Trump without you even knowing it? That one day you are an ordinary school teacher, the next you are carrying out an assassination believing you're acting of your own free will. Sounds impossible? Like something straight out of Hollywood. Hold that thought [music] because I'm not talking about a movie. I'm talking about one of CIA's most controversial [music] Cold War programs. A program officially known as Project MKUltra. For years it remained hidden from the
1:44 public. When parts of the truth finally emerged, it shocked America. Now, decades later that program is back in spotlight after explosive discussion [music] during a house hearing. And it's fueling an extraordinary online claim including allegations attempting to link the CIA to recent political violence. But before you get to those claims, we need to understand what MKUltra actually was. The year was 1953.
2:30 The Cold War was intensifying. Washington believed America was falling behind its enemies. Reports of Soviet and Chinese brainwashing terrified intelligence officials. Could prisoners be psychologically broken? Could memories be manipulated? Could loyalties be rewritten? The CIA wanted answers. So, it launched Project MKUltra. Officially, the objective was to study the methods of influencing human behavior. Unofficially, critics say the agency crossed ethical lines that still haunt it today.
3:16 Researchers experimented with LSD, hypnosis electroshock sensory deprivation, powerful drugs, and psychological conditioning. Many people involved never gave informed consent. Some never even knew they were part of an experiment. Years later, Congress investigated. The CIA admitted the program existed. But one mystery remained. Did any of it actually work? >> This is where history and mythology begin [music] to overlap.
4:02 For decades, writers, filmmakers, and conspiracy theories have asked the same question. Could someone actually create the perfect assassin? Someone who receives hidden commands, switches personalities, carries out a mission, and remembers nothing afterwards? It's the idea behind countless spy theories and thrillers. But, what does the evidence say? Government investigators confirmed MK Ultra existed. They confirmed unethical experiments. They confirmed secrecy. But, they did not find evidence that CIA successfully created mind-controlled
4:50 assassins. Still, because many MK Ultra records were destroyed, questions never disappeared. Instead, they multiplied. Fast forward to today. During a June 30 US House hearing, old CIA controversies resurfaced. Lawmakers and witnesses revisited questions about intelligence agencies, government transparency, [music] and long-running public distrust. >> I can't speak directly to AID, but it's certainly true that during this period after the Second World War,
5:37 the United States was using publicly announced and official US government agencies to carry out covert action. We now know, for example that 5% of all of the money appropriated for the Marshall Plan was diverted for covert activities. A number of US agencies were used as cover by covert operatives and uh that AID could have been one of them sounds very likely to me. >> And the NIMH admitted to allowing itself to be used for covert funding of MK Ultra experiments in the 1970s when the operation was disclosed. >> I remember when all the talk about MK Ultra broke and then they were talking about lawsuits and there were lawsuits
6:23 and the CIA and the federal government said that this didn't exist and then they came back and said, "Well, it does exist and then but we're not doing it anymore." I guess my question to y'all first is which lie do we do we believe? Cuz Thank you. Obviously there was an open bar before this thing started. So, thank y'all. But Dr. Kinzer Hit your mic, brother. You're not on the mic. It's an old CIA trick. >> I'm just kidding. >> I put myself in the place of one of those senior CIA officers and I'm thinking to myself like the ones back in the 1950s. Well, other people must be doing this.
7:09 We'd be falling behind if we don't do it and nobody's looking over our shoulders and that I think is is your job. So, I I think there is a definite air of urgency and total secrecy. If the if any current research is going on and if it's conducted in any >> [music] >> comparable level of secrecy to the original MK Ultra, it's very deeply secret. >> But but one thing you said though, it's going to be hard for Congress to act when they're so dadgum compromised. Let's just be honest. I mean, y'all are in the business of of twisting ears and and telling us things that we've done. And that that that sways a lot of people
7:54 up here. Somebody doesn't want to wreck a marriage or their business or lose this glamorous job that we have. Um and so I I I I suspect that has a lot of play into it. Sorry to interrupt you. I'm I apologize. >> All I mean to say is that I think if there are such projects going on inside the US government, uh there there might be a sense that uh we can do this without any hostile supervision. >> What are the possibilities that that what we've learned in MK Ultra now that it is advanced so much to algorithms and and the computer and getting the loners that some of these loners could through this just mass
8:41 propagation of whatever you're doing uh could cause someone to maybe take a shot at a president. >> I I know there's a lot of speculation out there about the uh Butler shooting and I guess even the Charlie Kirk shooting. I just hate to speculate um because I don't know. I have no firsthand knowledge whether those guys were programmed through radio waves or through their computer activity. So, I would never hazard a guess except to say what I've already said that they developed means that we've never been told about many many years ago and I imagine
9:26 they've evolved to be much more effective now. >> So, why do these theories [music] keep coming back? Because MK Ultra wasn't fiction. It was real. The secrecy was real. The experiments were real. The public outrage was real. When governments hide something extraordinary, people naturally wonder what else stayed hidden. That's the space where conspiracy theories thrive. A documented historical scandal mixed with modern political violence creates a powerful narrative. But history is not evidence. Questions are not proof.
10:12 An extraordinary allegation [music] requires extraordinary evidence. More than 70 years after Project MK Ultra began, its legacy remains larger than the program itself. It permanently changed how many Americans view intelligence agencies. It became a symbol of government secrecy. A warning about unchecked power. And a reminder that even genuine historical scandals can become the foundation for new claims that still have to be tested against evidence.
10:59 Today [music] Project MK Ultra continues to fascinate. Not because we have proof the CIA can secretly program assassins, >> [music] >> but because we know the agency once conducted experiments that many believe could never happen. That history is real. The modern allegation [music] remains under scrutiny.
