What Is MKUltra Anna Paulina Luna Announces Hearing

Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida announced a hearing on the CIA mind control program MKUltra, scheduled for next month. 

The MKUltra program, launched during the Cold War, continues to be a controversial chapter in U.S. intelligence history. Its experiments often targeted unwitting individuals and left lasting psychological damage on participants. In 1973, the CIA director told workers to destroy records of the project. 

“Hearing on May 13. MK Ultra. House Oversight Taskforce,” Luna wrote on X on Wednesday. 

Newsweek reached out to Luna for comment. 

What is MKUltra? 

MKUltra was a mind control program established by CIA Director Allen Dulles in 1953, with experiments focusing on behavior modification using electroshock therapy, hypnosis, polygraphs, radiation and various drugs, toxins and chemicals, according to History.com.

Some of the test subjects willingly volunteered, while others volunteered under coercion, and some did not know they were involved in a defense research program, according to the outlet. 

The program has led to some conspiracy theories, including ones related to the 1953 death of Frank Olson, a scientist covertly dosed with LSD who died 10 days later in a fall from a New York hotel. His death was officially ruled a suicide. 

The program ended in 1963 after the CIA inspector general told the agency to bring all programs involving non-consenting volunteers to an end, History.com reported. 

New declassified records related to MKUltra were published by the National Security Archive and ProQuest in 2024.

When is the hearing on MKUltra? 

Luna said the hearing is scheduled for May 13. 

Who is Anna Paulina Luna? 

Luna is a Republican representing Florida’s 13th congressional district in the House of Representatives. She is the first Mexican-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress to represent Florida. She is currently serving her second term. 

Luna serves on the Oversight and Government Reform committee and as chairwoman of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. 

Luna was raised in Southern California and joined the military as a young adult. She later graduated from the University of West Florida with a bachelor’s degree in biology. 

She currently resides in St. Petersburg with her husband, Andy. 

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