Spies & agencies
CIA, FBI and NSA programs, and the theories that grew around them.
On the record1953–1973 · Spies & agenciesMKUltra: the CIA's mind-control program
Mind control, secret LSD tests and a director who ordered the files shredded. The core of this one is in the Senate record.
On the record1956–1971 · Spies & agenciesCOINTELPRO: the FBI's war on activists
Forged letters, planted stories, infiltrators. A break-in at a small FBI office exposed it, and the Senate confirmed it.
On the record1964 · Military secretsThe Gulf of Tonkin attack that wasn't
A naval clash in the dark helped launch a war. Decades later, an NSA history concluded the second attack didn't happen.
On the record1970s–1995 · Spies & agenciesStargate: the Pentagon's psychic spies
Remote viewers at Fort Meade tried to spy with their minds. The program is real; whether it worked is another matter.
Partly documented1950s–1970s · Spies & agenciesOperation Mockingbird: the CIA and the press
A wiretap on two reporters is in the CIA's 'Family Jewels.' The famous media-control program is much harder to pin down.
Partly documented1955–today · UFOs & the unexplainedArea 51: what's really at Groom Lake
A secret base in the Nevada desert, decades of denial and a lot of strange lights. The CIA finally explained part of it in 2013.
Partly documented1963–today · Spies & agenciesWho killed JFK? The files on the assassination
Two federal investigations, a famous acoustics dispute and hundreds of thousands of pages. The most argued-over files in American history.