CIA Removes JFK, MKUltra Files From DNI Office Amid Declassification Push
A former CIA officer testified the agency seized 40 boxes of classified JFK assassination and MKUltra documents from the DNI's office, triggering a congressional transparency showdown and raising questions about intelligence bureau accountability.
A former CIA officer testified that his own agency pulled roughly 40 boxes of classified documents from the Director of National Intelligence's office. The files include JFK assassination and MKUltra records that were being processed for public release under President Trump's executive order. The revelation has ignited a transparency showdown between Congress and the intelligence bureaucracy.
Senior operations officer James Erdman III appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on May 13 and testified that the CIA "took back 40 boxes of JFK files and MKUltra files being processed for declassification by DNI Gabbard." Erdman made the allegation under subpoena, over the CIA's objections. He served on joint duty at Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's office from March 2025 to April 2026.
President Trump signed Executive Order 14176 on Jan. 23, 2025, directing officials to submit a plan within 15 days for the full release of all JFK assassination records. Plans for RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. records followed within 45 days. The National Archives released over 80,000 pages of JFK documents in March 2025 and more than 230,000 pages of MLK records last July. The seized files represent the next batch in this declassification pipeline.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, chair of the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, gave the CIA a 24-hour ultimatum on May 13. "The CIA has 24 hours to return the documents to Tulsi Gabbard's office or else I will make a motion to issue a subpoena," Luna posted on X. "These documents have been requested by Congress."
Luna later clarified that the removal did not happen that day and was not a raid, though the act itself occurred. She told NewsNation that the CIA lacks jurisdiction to work against a presidential executive order. "The fact that someone did this when the president is out of country — from what I gather I believe that [CIA director John] Ratcliffe is with him, and so this seems like it was an internal coup, to be honest," Luna said.
ODNI press secretary Olivia Coleman denied the raid characterization but did not dispute the removal itself. "This is false — the CIA did not raid the DNI's office," Coleman stated on X. The CIA has not publicly commented on the file removal allegations. Agency spokesperson Liz Lyons addressed only the hearing, calling it "dishonest political theater" and criticizing the Senate committee for subpoenaing Erdman against the agency's wishes.
Rep. Eric Burlison joined Luna at CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia, on May 14 to demand answers. Luna told The Washington Times that lawmakers received "conflicting information" about at least 11 of the 40 boxes. The CIA offered no explanation that satisfied them. The House Oversight Committee sent a preservation-of-evidence letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
"This president is demanding disclosure and we wanted assurances that they are understanding of that and on the same page," Burlison stated. "That message was received and we expect to be able to see all of the files for JFK and MKUltra, etc. and we await these actions."
NewsNation's Katie Pavich reported that unnamed intelligence community sources told her the documents were taken "last year during the government shutdown" from the National Reconnaissance Office, a Department of Defense agency, rather than directly from the ODNI office. The connection between NRO custody and ODNI custody remains unclear.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe was in Havana, Cuba, on May 14-15, meeting with Cuban officials as part of Trump's Cuba policy. President Trump was in Beijing for a state visit during the initial days of the public controversy. The timing raises questions about whether lower-level CIA officials acted without senior leadership knowledge.
The MKUltra program ran from 1953 through approximately 1973, overseeing experiments with LSD, hypnosis, and sensory deprivation on unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens. CIA Director Richard Helms ordered records of the program destroyed in 1973. Approximately 20,000 MKUltra documents were released in 1977, though thousands were destroyed. In December 2024, the National Security Archive and ProQuest declassified about 1,200 additional MKUltra documents.
This episode highlights the ongoing structural tension between the Trump administration's transparency agenda and the intelligence bureaucracy's resistance to oversight. Luna's ultimatum and the House Oversight Committee's actions signal that Congress intends to follow through. The question remains whether the CIA will comply or continue to operate with impunity — a pattern that former CIA officer Pedro Israel Orta says the agency has repeated across multiple administrations.
"The CIA is aware that it can get away with certain violations of laws and regulations, and they have done so on multiple occasions," Orta said. When Congress demands accountability, the agency often dismisses requests with "a blatant disregard for transparency."