An investigative journalist alleged Tuesday that notorious figures from the 1960s were assets of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Project MK-Ultra.
Investigative journalist Tom O’Neill said during a Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets hearing that he believed convicted murderer Charles Manson and Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, were assets of MK-Ultra, an illegal human experimentation program conducted during the height of the Cold War. The program tested methods aimed at altering human behavior including hypnosis and drugs like LSD.
“I theoretically, Manson I’ve never been able to prove absolutely. Jack Ruby, I believe, this is something else … on the Warren Commission investigation was Allen Dulles, the former CIA director who authorized and ran MK Ultra until he was fired by [former] President [John F.] Kennedy,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill added that psychiatrist Dr. Louis Jolyon “Jolly” West was in charge of examining Ruby in his jail cell to prevent him from speaking out about the experiments. Ruby assassinated Oswald on Nov. 24, 1963, one day after Oswald allegedly killed former President John F. Kennedy.
Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, chairwoman of the task force, stated additional MK-Ultra documents will be declassified as part of the committee’s investigation.
“I will be personally following up with the director of the CIA on the MK-Ultra files that we do have. Also, as I noted earlier, there will be more that will be declassified, specifically pertaining to newly found records that were located that we were discussing earlier,” Luna said.
According to today’s expert witnesses: JACK RUBY AND CHARLES MANSON WERE MKULTRA ASSETS.
I am following up directly with the CIA to demand the full release of MKUltra records. The American people deserve and will be delivered the truth. pic.twitter.com/ZDjQxnRxob
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 30, 2026
O’Neill suggested Congress had never been told the truth about MK-Ultra, citing West’s work. He submitted a document appearing to contradict a CIA document submitted to Congress in 1977 regarding LSD experimentation, arguing that the program should be reexamined.
Former CIA Director Allen Dulles authorized MK-Ultra in 1953. It stemmed from fears that the Soviet Union, China and North Korea developed “brainwashing” methods to manipulate behavior for interrogation, espionage or assassination. Researchers used high doses of psychedelic drugs, electroshock therapy, sleep deprivation and more.
In 1973, then-CIA Director Richard Helms allegedly ordered the destruction of almost all MK-Ultra files to prevent the public from learning about the program. Thousands of pages of financial records were preserved in 1973 because they were misfiled, which allowed the truth to emerge during congressional inquiries like the Church Committee in 1975. When details were exposed in 1975, the CIA provided limited information to Congress.
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