Counterintelligence & Tradecraft — 2026-04-26

CIA Ran MK-ULTRA Experiments on Prisoners of War, Declassified Documents Confirm

The Intercept published an investigation on April 26 drawing on the National Security Archive's collection of over 1,200 declassified CIA records released between December 2024 and April 2025. Key documents include an April 5, 1950 memo to CIA Director Hillenkoetter outlining Project Bluebird's goals and budget, and an August 8, 1951 account confirming 25 North Korean POWs as experimental subjects for polygraph testing, drug combinations including sodium amytal with benzedrine and picrotoxin, and hypnosis. A 1952 memo to Allen Dulles stated the CIA proceeded despite finding no evidence any American POWs were subjected to drug-induced hypnosis. The collection is accessible via the Digital National Security Archive through ProQuest.

Analysis
The 1,200-document DNSA release is the most substantial primary-source disclosure on MK-ULTRA's POW experimentation track since the 1977 Senate hearings. Per a single Intercept investigation drawing on records independently verifiable through ProQuest, the April 1950 Bluebird memo and 1951 POW account together confirm what those hearings could only infer from fragments: CIA proceeded despite finding no evidence that adversaries had applied the same techniques. Additional reporting from the archive is likely in the coming months given its scale and public accessibility, though the collection may already have been substantially mined by researchers before this publication, limiting the prospect of further revelations. Congressional oversight action is unlikely this quarter absent sustained media pressure.

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CIA Ran MK-ULTRA Experiments on Prisoners of War in U.S. Custody, Declassified Docs Confirm - The Intercept