Cases from 1945 to 1991 — the era that produced most of the archive's declassified programs, defections, and covert operations. 134 case files in the archive.
What the surviving documents prove, what was destroyed before disclosure, and what's still classified about the agency's experiments on civilians, soldiers, and prisoners from 1953 to 1973.
Nine Soviet hikers killed in the northern Urals. The 2020 official Russian study attributed the deaths to a slab avalanche; the 2021 Gaume-Puzrin paper proposed a mechanism for the injuries. Several questions remain.
The Joint Chiefs' formal proposal for false-flag attacks on US targets to manufacture justification for a Cuba invasion. Signed by Lemnitzer, rejected by Kennedy, declassified forty-seven years later.
Two federal commissions, the JFK Records Act, and 12 million pages of primary material. Warren Commission, HSCA, releases through 2025.
Five confirmed Northern California murders 1968-1969 by an unidentified killer who sent taunting letters and ciphers. Z408 solved 1969; Z340 solved December 2020.
The FBI's covert program of surveillance, infiltration, and disruption of US political organizations from 1956 to 1971. Five sub-programs, the King 'suicide letter,' the Hampton killing.
A 1950-1953 CIA program of chemical, hypnotic, and physical interrogation research, run out of the Office of Security under Morse Allen and absorbed into MKULTRA in April 1953.
The documented record of Cold War-era CIA relationships with American journalists and editors. Church Committee findings, Carl Bernstein's 1977 Rolling Stone report.
The August 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, orchestrated by Kermit Roosevelt Jr. under TPAJAX. Officially acknowledged by the CIA in August 2013.
The CIA program targeting the US anti-war and civil rights movements. Files on 7,200 Americans, 300,000+ names indexed. Disclosed by Hersh's December 1974 NYT story.
The two-decade military-intelligence engagement with parapsychology, from SRI's Targ and Puthoff through the AIR report that ended the program in 1995.
Coordinated under CORDS by Robert Komer and William Colby. Officially 'neutralized' 26,369 Viet Cong cadre. Critics characterized the program as a targeted-assassination operation.
The US Public Health Service's forty-year experiment on 600 Black men in Macon County, Alabama. Penicillin became standard care in 1947 and was deliberately withheld.
Daniel Ellsberg's leak of the McNamara-commissioned 7,000-page Vietnam War history. NYT v. United States (1971).
The Reagan-era arms-for-hostages and Contra-funding scheme. The Boland Amendments, the Al-Shiraa disclosure, the Tower Commission, the Walsh Independent Counsel investigation.
The Kennedy-era CIA-DoD program against Castro, run by Edward Lansdale with William Harvey's Task Force W. ZR/RIFLE, the mafia subcontract, the Castro assassination-methods inventory.
An unidentified man found dead on an Adelaide beach in 1948. Identified July 2022 via DNA genealogy as Carl 'Charles' Webb. Cause of death still unknown.
The body of an unidentified malnourished boy found in a cardboard JC Penney box in Fox Chase, Philadelphia. Identified December 8, 2022 via DNA genealogy as Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
Two electronic technicians found dead on Vintém Hill near Niterói, wearing matching lead masks of the type used for industrial alpha-radiation shielding.
A man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305 on Thanksgiving eve 1971, parachuted with $200,000, and was never identified.
August 15, 1977: Ohio State's Big Ear telescope detected a 72-second narrowband signal from Sagittarius. Over 100 follow-up observations have found nothing.
From Bill Kaysing's 1976 origin through Bart Sibrel and the Fox 2001 special. Each specific photographic and physical claim examined against independent verification.
The real annual private conference founded by Retinger, Bernhard, and van Zeeland in 1954. Documented attendees, the Steering Committee, and Chatham House Rule.
The classified USAF detachment officially acknowledged in declassified CIA history June 2013. U-2, A-12 OXCART, F-117 development.
The Bohemian Club's annual mid-summer encampment in Sonoma County since 1872. Documented past attendees including multiple US Presidents and Cabinet members.
The USAF investigation that reviewed 12,618 reports and classified 701 as unidentified. Ruppelt, Hynek, the Robertson Panel (1953), the Condon Committee (1968-69).
The September 19, 1961 White Mountains encounter. Subsequent hypnosis with Dr. Benjamin Simon, the star map and Marjorie Fish analysis.
RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge, December 26-28, 1980. Sgt. Penniston's contemporaneous notes; Lt. Col. Halt's 18-minute tape; the January 1981 Halt memo to the UK MoD.
Approximately 2,000 sightings of large triangular objects across Belgium over five months. March 30-31, 1990 F-16 intercept with radar locks.
The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest case. Walton struck by a beam of light in front of six witnesses; reappeared five days later.
A fireball seen across five states on December 9, 1965. Witnesses near Kecksburg, PA described an acorn-shaped object with hieroglyphic markings.
The August 2 USS Maddox engagement (real); the August 4 'second attack' (didn't happen). NSA historian Robert Hanyok's 2005 study finding SIGINT was deliberately misrepresented.
The NATO/CIA stay-behind paramilitary networks across Western Europe. Andreotti's October 1990 parliamentary disclosure; the Italian parliamentary investigation.
The CIA-organized invasion of Cuba by Brigade 2506. Four days of military failure. The Kirkpatrick Report (classified until 1998).
The former Teamsters president vanished from a Detroit-area parking lot on July 30, 1975. The FBI HOFFEX investigation. Tony Pro and Tony Jack.
Found dead at her Brentwood home, August 5, 1962. Coroner's ruling: probable suicide by barbiturate. The 'no water glass' anomaly. The Kennedy connections.
Authorized April 20, 1950 under DCI Hillenkoetter and the Office of Security; renamed ARTICHOKE in August 1951.
The Israeli Air Force and Navy attack on the US Navy SIGINT ship USS Liberty during the Six-Day War. 34 American dead, 174 wounded.
Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom intercepts of an unknown object over Tehran. Multiple instrumentation and weapons-systems failures during approach.
Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, fishing on the Pascagoula River in Mississippi, reported encounter with an oval craft and three humanoid creatures.
The June 1954 CIA-orchestrated overthrow of democratically-elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz. The 1999 CIA acknowledgment.
18 Manhattan Project-era patients injected with plutonium without informed consent at Strong Memorial, University of Chicago, UCSF, and Oak Ridge.
The November 1966 first sighting by four witnesses at the TNT area. Approximately 100 subsequent reports through 1967. The December 1967 Silver Bridge collapse.
Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and 7-year-old Colby Landrum encountered a diamond-shaped object emitting flames on FM 1485 near Huffman, Texas. Severe radiation-burn-like injuries.
The NSA's secret bulk-interception of essentially all international telegrams entering or leaving the United States, with the cooperation of Western Union, ITT, and RCA.
The US Army Signal Intelligence Service's decryption of Soviet diplomatic cables. Gene Grabeel's 1943 start; Meredith Gardner's 1946 breakthrough.
The 702-page internal CIA compilation of illegal activities prepared in 1973 under Director Schlesinger. Leaked to Seymour Hersh.
The Philadelphia Police Department's helicopter bombing of the MOVE row house at 6221 Osage Avenue. 11 MOVE members killed including 5 children; 65 row homes destroyed.
The CIA's 21-year mail-opening program at JFK Airport and the San Francisco Hubbard Mail Facility. ~215,000 international letters opened.
The NSA watchlist program tracking ~1,650 American citizens, including Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Tom Wicker, Senators Frank Church and Howard Baker.
The US Army Chemical Corps' three-decade program of chemical-warfare-agent and incapacitating-drug testing on ~7,000 soldier-volunteers. LSD, BZ, VX.
The Swedish Prime Minister shot on Sveavägen street in central Stockholm, February 28, 1986. 34 years of unsolved investigation followed by the June 2020 identification of Stig Engström.
Three of four Finnish teenagers killed by lakeside in June 1960; the fourth (Nils Gustafsson) survived and was himself prosecuted in 2004 and acquitted in 2005.
Five young men with intellectual or developmental disabilities returning from a basketball game in February 1978, found dead in the Plumas National Forest.
The 59.5-second Bluff Creek 16mm film of an apparent large bipedal hominoid. The 1998 Heironimus and 2004 Morris confession claims.
Founded 1973 by David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Approximately 390 members across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Founded 1832, 15 new members tapped per year. The Tomb. Notable members: William Howard Taft, both Bushes, John Kerry.
The allegations of a classified hypersonic reconnaissance program (USAF/DARPA/Lockheed Skunk Works, late 1980s-1990s).
The alleged underground joint human-alien facility on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Paul Bennewitz's 1979 origin claims; the AFOSI Doty disinformation campaign.
Two consecutive weekends of radar tracks over Washington, DC. Andrews AFB radar detection; F-94 Starfire intercepts; Truman briefed.
Socorro, New Mexico police officer Lonnie Zamora's daylight close-encounter with an egg-shaped object on legs in an arroyo. Physical traces: four ground imprints, burned creosote bushes.
Multi-witness sighting of a 60-foot object descending into Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, October 4, 1967. RCMP and Coast Guard response.
~7,000 reports across Hudson Valley NY and adjoining Connecticut of a large boomerang/triangle object.
The alleged 1947 Truman-established Majestic 12 committee for Roswell UAP issues. Documents surfaced 1984 via anonymous 35mm film.
Late August through November 1951: multiple sightings of V-formations of bluish-green lights over Lubbock, TX.
11 independent reports of vehicle electrical-system failures associated with a glowing object near Levelland, Texas, over a 5-hour period.
Mass sighting at Westall High School in Clayton South, Melbourne, Australia, April 6, 1966 around 11:00 AM. ~200 student and staff witnesses.
The CIA MK-Ultra subproject run out of safe houses in San Francisco and New York. George Hunter White's prostitute-procured operation; clients dosed with LSD; CIA officers observed through one-way mirrors.
South American Cold War intelligence-cooperation program coordinated by DINA's Manuel Contreras. The Letelier-Moffitt bombing in Washington (1976); the 1992 Archives of Terror discovery; 60,000-80,000 estimated victims.
The Navy SIGINT ship under Commander Bucher captured by North Korea in disputed waters. One sailor killed, 82 crew taken prisoner, 11-month captivity. The ship remains in Pyongyang as a war trophy.
270 killed when a Semtex bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Camp Zeist trial; Megrahi's 2001 conviction and 2009 release. Libya's 2003 acknowledgment.
The US Vela 6911 satellite's detection of a double flash characteristic of an atmospheric nuclear test in the South Atlantic. The Carter-era Ad Hoc Panel's non-nuclear ruling; the continuing Israeli-South African joint-test hypothesis.
The actress drowned during a Splendour yacht trip off Catalina Island. Reopened 2011; reclassified 2012 to drowning and other undetermined factors. Wagner named a person of interest in 2018.
The recurring atmospheric light phenomenon in the Hessdalen Valley, peak observations 1981-1984. Project Hessdalen's automated monitoring station (1998-present). The plasma, piezoelectric, and Coulomb-crystal hypotheses.
The June 1968 Ambassador Hotel shooting. Sirhan's conviction and his lifelong recantation. The Noguchi autopsy's powder-burn evidence and the second gunman question.
The 1968 Lorraine Motel killing. James Earl Ray's guilty plea and lifelong recantation. The 1979 HSCA conspiracy finding. The 1999 King v. Jowers civil verdict for the King family. The 2000 DOJ investigation's contrary finding.
Banco Ambrosiano's collapse and Calvi's hanging under Blackfriars Bridge. The IOR's unsecured loans under Marcinkus. The P2 Lodge. The 2002 City of London Police forensic re-examination revising the ruling to almost certainly murder.
Lazar's anonymous 1989 KLAS-TV interviews with George Knapp. S-4, the Sport Model, Element 115, the alleged reverse-engineering work. The credibility issues including missing MIT/Caltech records.
The 1953-1970 CIA-Army program at Fort Detrick to develop, store, and deliver biological agents and toxins. Nixon's 1969 renunciation, the retained shellfish toxin discovered in 1975, and the Church Committee dart-gun display.
The 1964-1973 CIA program that continued MK-Ultra's research under Sidney Gottlieb. Its subprograms MKOFTEN and MKCHICKWIT, the January 1973 destruction of the records, and the 1977 financial-record recovery.
The US Public Health Service deliberately infected prisoners, soldiers, psychiatric patients, and sex workers with STDs without consent. Discovered by Susan Reverby in 2010; Obama's apology; the 2011 'Ethically Impossible' report.
Dr. Albert Kligman's dermatological and chemical testing on Philadelphia inmates. The Dow dioxin studies, Army chemical-agent trials, Allen Hornblum's 'Acres of Skin,' and the 2022 University of Pennsylvania apology.
The US Army biological-defense program in which ~2,300 Seventh-day Adventist conscientious objectors volunteered as test subjects at Fort Detrick under informed consent. Q fever, tularemia, the Eight Ball; no participant died.
The US Navy's covert release of Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii over San Francisco to test a biological attack on a city. The Stanford infection cluster, the death of Edward Nevin, the 1977 disclosure, and Nevin v. United States.
The US Army Chemical Corps' largest open-air test, dispersing zinc cadmium sulfide tracer from aircraft across the continent. Particles detected 1,000+ miles downwind; the cadmium concern; the 1997 National Research Council review.
The Project 112 tests that exposed Navy ships and sailors to chemical and biological agents and simulants to study vulnerability. Crews often not informed; the 2000-2003 DoD disclosure; the 2007 Institute of Medicine health study.
The AEC's medical study of the Marshall Islanders exposed to Castle Bravo thermonuclear-test fallout. The 15-megaton yield, the contamination of Rongelap, the thyroid-disease toll, and the contested research-versus-care question.
MIT and Harvard researchers fed radioactive tracers to disabled boys at a Massachusetts state school via a 'Science Club,' with misleading consent letters. Funded by the AEC and Quaker Oats; the 1993-94 disclosure and 1998 settlement.
The AEC program to measure strontium-90 fallout accumulation in human bone, which covertly collected human remains worldwide, many from deceased infants without family consent. The Libby 'body snatching' remark and the 1995 ACHRE findings.
The Hanford plutonium plant's radioactive releases, including the December 1949 Green Run intentional release of iodine-131 over eastern Washington. The downwinders, the 1986 FOIA release, and the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study.
Illinois inmates deliberately infected with malaria to test antimalarial drugs for the WWII effort. The University of Chicago and Army involvement, Nathan Leopold's participation, and the program's invocation at the Nuremberg doctors' trial.
The Five Eyes signals-intelligence collection and sharing system under the UKUSA Agreement. Satellite interception, Duncan Campbell and Nicky Hager's reporting, the 2001 European Parliament investigation, and the commercial-espionage allegations.
The FBI's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King Jr.: the 1963 wiretap authorization, the hotel-room bugging, the 1964 anonymous 'suicide letter,' the Church Committee findings, and the recordings sealed at the National Archives until 2027.
The December 1969 police killing of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Chicago, the FBI informant who supplied the floor plan, the discredited 'shootout' account, the COINTELPRO campaign against the BPP, and the 1982 civil settlement.
The FBI campaign against AIM, the 71-day 1973 Wounded Knee occupation, the Pine Ridge 'reign of terror,' the 1975 firefight that killed two FBI agents, and the contested conviction of Leonard Peltier, commuted in 2025.
Nixon's 1970 proposal to coordinate the FBI, CIA, NSA, and DIA against anti-war groups using illegal techniques including burglary and mail-opening. Approved and rescinded within days after Hoover's objection; disclosed via Watergate and the Church Committee.
The FBI's counterintelligence program against the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists. Its informants and disruption tactics, the troubling case of agent provocateur Gary Thomas Rowe and the murder of Viola Liuzzo, and the Church Committee's assessment.
The US Air Force's first UFO investigation, at Wright-Patterson. The post-Arnold 1947 wave, the Mantell and Chiles-Whitted cases, the disputed 'Estimate of the Situation' favoring an interplanetary origin, and General Vandenberg's rejection of it.
Project SIGN's debunking-oriented successor. The 1949 Grudge Report concluding UFOs posed no threat, the period of institutional neglect, and Edward Ruppelt's revitalization that produced Project Blue Book.
The CIA-convened scientific review of UFOs after the 1952 Washington flap. Its conclusion of no threat from the objects but danger from the reporting, and its recommendation of a public debunking campaign and the monitoring of civilian UFO groups.
The University of Colorado UFO study whose 1968 report led to the termination of Project Blue Book. The 'Low memo' suggesting a predetermined conclusion, the ~30% of cases left unexplained, and the AIAA critique.
The alleged secret experiments in mind control, time travel, and teleportation at Camp Hero on Long Island. The origin in Preston Nichols' 1992 book, the claimed link to the Philadelphia Experiment, the real Cold War radar station, and why the claims are unfalsifiable.
The influential foreign-policy think tank founded in 1921. Its documented role and Foreign Affairs versus the conspiracy mythology casting it as a secret cabal steering the US toward world government.
The master conspiracy theory of an emerging secret one-world government. Its roots in post-Revolution and antisemitic traditions, George H. W. Bush's 1990 speech, the 1990s militia elaborations, and its evolution into the QAnon era.
Propaganda Due, the clandestine Italian Masonic lodge under Licio Gelli. The 1981 discovery of the 962-name membership list, the Banco Ambrosiano collapse, the Strategy of Tension links, and the parliamentary investigation. A documented elite conspiracy.
The campaign of terrorism during Italy's Years of Lead in which elements of the state and the far right conducted or facilitated bombings to be blamed on the left. Piazza Fontana, the Bologna bombing, the Gladio and P2 connections.
Beyond the documented scandal: the 'real reason' for the break-in (the Bay of Pigs/CIA theory), the call-girl and John Dean theories of 'Silent Coup,' the identity and role of Deep Throat, and the claim that the CIA engineered Nixon's fall.
The Army biological-warfare scientist who fell from a New York hotel window in 1953, nine days after the CIA dosed him with LSD under MK-Ultra. The suicide ruling, the 1975 disclosure, the 1994 exhumation suggesting homicide, and the unresolved manner of death.
The region of Alaska with a disproportionate disappearance rate, including the 1972 loss of Congressmen Hale Boggs and Nick Begich. The geography-and-scale explanation, the indigenous folklore, and why a vast harsh wilderness produces a high disappearance rate.
The Australian pilot who radioed that a large unidentified aircraft was pacing his Cessna over Bass Strait moments before he vanished. The transcript, the UFO interpretation, and the spatial-disorientation explanation.
The East Area Rapist and Original Night Stalker responsible for at least 13 murders and dozens of rapes across California from 1974 to 1986, and the 2018 investigative genetic genealogy breakthrough that identified former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo.
The serial killer who murdered gay men in San Francisco in 1974-1975, reportedly sketching his victims before killing them. The surviving witnesses who would not testify, the decades-old prime suspect, and the renewed investigation using forensic genetic genealogy.
The cluster of killings and disappearances along Oregon US Route 20, tied to highway-department worker and suspected serial killer John Arthur Ackroyd. The one conviction, the bodies found in the forest, and the cases that died with him in 2016.
Luigi Serafini 1981 illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world written in an invented script. The asemic writing, the partly decoded page numbers, and the artist own statement that there is no hidden meaning.
The 1955 Kelly, Kentucky encounter in which a farm family reported a nightlong siege by small silver creatures and fired guns at them. The witnesses, the police response, the great-horned-owl explanation, and the case place in UFO folklore.
The 1952 West Virginia encounter in which a group saw a glowing object land and a tall hissing creature in the woods. The witnesses, the nausea and metallic smell, and the meteor-plus-barn-owl explanation.
The US Air Force study of the green fireballs seen over New Mexico nuclear facilities from 1948. Lincoln LaPaz investigation, the underfunded camera network, the inconclusive result, and the natural-versus-anomalous debate.
The July 1948 sighting in which two Eastern Air Lines pilots reported a torpedo-shaped craft with windows passing their DC-3 over Alabama. The sighting that shaped Project Sign Estimate of the Situation, and the bolide-meteor explanation.
The 1948 Project SIGN document that reportedly concluded UFOs were interplanetary craft. Its rejection by Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg, the ordered destruction of copies, and what survives of it through Edward Ruppelt.
General Nathan Twining September 1947 letter stating the flying-disc phenomenon was something real and not visionary, which led to the creation of Project SIGN. The text, the context, and its place in UFO history.
The NASA-commissioned study on the implications of peaceful space activities, famous for its short passage on the societal consequences of discovering extraterrestrial life, and how UFO lore has overstated it into a cover-up directive.
The 1960s US research program into the Moscow Signal, the low-level microwave radiation the Soviets beamed at the US Embassy in Moscow. The bioeffects experiments, the eavesdropping-versus-mind-effects debate, and the health questions that echo into the Havana Syndrome era.
The CIA-organized group of Cuban exiles formed around the Bay of Pigs as a counterintelligence and political-action cadre. The documented core, the assassination-squad allegations, the JFK conspiracy accretions, and what the record actually supports.
The US Army-funded social science program of 1964-65 to model the causes of revolution and insurgency in developing nations. The Chile exposure, the diplomatic uproar, the cancellation, and its lasting mark on the ethics of government-funded research.
The Cold War CIA operation to acquire Soviet weapons technology supplied to Indonesia, including the K-13/Atoll missile, the SA-2, the Styx, a Whiskey-class submarine, and the Badger bomber. The intelligence coup, its impact in Vietnam, and the David Barnett betrayal.
The documented condition in which people blinded by damage to the visual cortex can still respond to visual stimuli they cannot consciously see. Weiskrantz patient DB, the second visual pathway, and what it reveals about consciousness.
The documented inability to recognize faces despite intact vision and intelligence. The fusiform face area, the acquired and developmental forms, and how people who cannot recognize their own families cope.
The rare inherited prion disease that destroys the thalamus and the ability to sleep, leading to dementia and death. The PRNP mutation, the Italian family that revealed it, and the sporadic form.
The documented condition in which a person hand acts purposefully but involuntarily, feeling as if it has a will of its own. The split-brain and frontal/callosal lesion causes, and what it reveals about will and agency.
The documented audiovisual illusion in which watching a mouth shape one sound while hearing another makes you perceive a third. The 1976 discovery, the multisensory-integration mechanism, and why it persists even when you know.
The documented condition of distorted perception of size, shape, body image, and time. The migraine and Epstein-Barr links, the 1955 naming, and why it is usually benign and transient.
The documented, harmless sleep phenomenon in which a person perceives a sudden loud noise, like a bang or explosion, while falling asleep or waking. The sleep-transition mechanism, the lack of pain, and why it is benign.
The claimed paranormal ability to speak or understand a language one never learned, attributed to past lives or spirits. The Ian Stevenson cases, the cryptomnesia and methodology critiques, and why no case is scientifically supported.
The young children who report past lives, studied by Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker at the University of Virginia. The case collection, the birthmark claims, the methodological critiques, and why mainstream science does not accept reincarnation.