A spokesperson for the director of national intelligence is denying claims that the CIA raided DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard’s office to seize dozens of boxes containing files related to the MKUltra Program and assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Olivia Coleman, press secretary for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), referenced a since-deleted post by Fox News host Jesse Watters on X late Wednesday regarding the alleged raid.
“This is false—the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office,” Coleman wrote.
About an hour earlier, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida 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 on X late Wednesday.
The lawmaker previously told NewsNation that she was notified that the CIA “took documents out of ODNI, multiple boxes pertaining to the JFK files as well as MKUltra.”
Luna told the outlet that the alleged incident was “troubling” because of an executive order from President Donald Trump directing the declassification of all files related to JFK and MKUltra, the CIA’s Cold War-era mind control experiment.
Newsweek contacted Luna’s office and ODNI for comment via email, and the CIA by website form, outside normal business hours.
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 referenced testimony to the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that alleged the CIA had taken 40 boxes that were being processed for declassification from Gabbard’s office.
The CIA, which is under the oversight of ODNI, has not commented on the allegations.
“These are allegedly those documents that apparently never existed,” Luna told NewsNation.
She later clarified her remarks on X, writing that the CIA “took documents that ODNI has jurisdiction over.”
“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.,” she added.
What Sparked Luna’s Allegations?
Luna’s claims appear to originate from CIA whistleblower James Erdman, who said during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday that the agency had taken about 40 boxes related to JFK and MKUltra.
A CIA spokesperson commented on the hearing on X, writing on Wednesday: “The Committee acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously. The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul.
“This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing. As the CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous.”
Declassifying JFK Files
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.
During his first term, the president had authorized the release of tens of thousands of documents related to JFK’s assassination. But he kept some files classified after the CIA, FBI and other government agencies said releasing them could pose national security risks.
In March 2025, the National Archives released some 80,000 pages of declassified records related to JFK’s assassination. More than 6,000 files, totaling more than 230,000 pages, relating to King’s assassination were published that July. According to the National Archives, more files will be released as they are reviewed.
The documents related to King detailed the FBI’s investigation into his assassination, including internal agency memos, news clippings, leads pursued by investigators and interviews with individuals who knew the convicted assassin James Earl Ray.
Thousands of documents related to JFK’s assassination were also made available to the public during the Biden administration.
What Is MKUltra?
During the Cold War, the CIA explored mind control techniques under code names Bluebird, Artichoke and MKUltra, which began in 1953. The experiments included administering LSD, employing sensory deprivation and inducing amnesia on unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens.
MKUltra experiments often targeted unwitting individuals and left lasting psychological damage on participants. A CIA director told workers to destroy records of the project in 1973.
In December 2024, the National Security Archive and ProQuest declassified about 1,200 documents pertaining to the program, detailing the CIA’s experiments with drugs, hypnosis and other mind control techniques during the era.
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