The Central Intelligence Agency removed approximately 40 boxes of classified documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — including files on the JFK assassination and the Cold War-era MKUltra mind-control program — while Tulsi Gabbard was in the process of declassifying them under a direct presidential order. The removal happened last year, in the middle of the night during the government shutdown. Congress learned about it on Wednesday.
The story broke when James Erdman III, a senior CIA operations officer, testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the CIA had “took back” the 40 boxes just as the records were nearing release under Trump’s Executive Order 14176, which directs the full declassification of historically sensitive federal records, including JFK assassination files.
Erdman also alleged the CIA “illegally monitored the computer and phone usage” of Gabbard’s investigators during their probe into an alleged COVID-19 origins cover-up.
“These were Americans being spied on illegally while carrying out duties directed by the President and under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence,” he said. Two intelligence sources confirmed the document seizure to The Daily Caller.
By Wednesday evening the story had been amplified and distorted. Fox News host Jesse Watters told viewers the CIA had “just raided” Gabbard’s office that day.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna — who chairs the House Oversight Committee Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets — confirmed the removal on social media, which Watters cited as corroboration. ODNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman then denied the Fox News version.
“This is false — the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office.” Luna subsequently clarified her own account: the CIA did take documents that fall under ODNI jurisdiction, it did not happen Wednesday, and it was not technically a raid — though the removal did occur and Congress was only now learning of it.
NewsNation‘s Katie Pavlich, citing an intelligence official, confirmed the documents were taken from the National Reconnaissance Office last year during the government shutdown.
The files have not been returned. Neither Gabbard nor CIA Director John Ratcliffe has commented. Luna issued an ultimatum: the CIA has 24 hours to return the documents or she will move to issue a congressional subpoena. “These documents have been requested by Congress,” Luna posted on X.
She also filed a “preservation notice,” arguing ODNI holds explicit presidential authority to declassify records related to JFK, RFK, and MKUltra.
The CIA has not explained its legal basis for taking the documents. ODNI oversees all 18 US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, and Trump’s executive order gives the DNI explicit authority to declassify them. The CIA answers to the DNI — not the other way around.
MKUltra ran from the early 1950s through the late 1960s, subjecting unwitting American and Canadian civilians to LSD, electroshock therapy, hypnosis, and psychological torture to develop mind-control and interrogation techniques. The CIA destroyed most MKUltra records in 1973; a cache of financial documents survived a 1977 FOIA request. Erdman’s testimony suggests additional records exist — or existed — in government archives.
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