Covert
Operations Archive

The CIA's systematic human experimentation program. Subjects were dosed with LSD without consent, subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, hypnosis, isolation, and psychological torture. Program Director Sidney Gottlieb oversaw 150+ subprojects across 80 institutions. Most records destroyed in 1973 by DCI Richard Helms.

The CIA's program to infiltrate and influence American and foreign news organizations. Journalists at major outlets including Time, Newsweek, the Washington Post, and CBS were recruited as assets. Frank Wisner ran the program; Church Committee confirmed it in 1975. Scale of current operations unknown.

CIA and MI6 jointly overthrow Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh. The operation, codenamed TP-AJAX, uses bribery, propaganda, and mob violence. Shah Pahlavi is restored. The U.S. publicly apologized for the coup in 2013. It directly caused the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The CIA trains and equips 1,500 Cuban exiles (Brigade 2506) for an amphibious invasion of Cuba. Kennedy withholds air support; the invasion collapses in 72 hours. 1,200 fighters are captured. The disaster leads to Kennedy firing CIA Director Allen Dulles and vowing to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces."

The CIA's systematic program to neutralize the Viet Cong political infrastructure. Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs) captured, "turned," or assassinated suspected VC members. Official reports credit 20,587 killed; independent estimates range up to 40,000. Interrogation methods included water torture and electric shock.

The NSA and CIA's mass digital surveillance program, collecting internet communications from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and others under FISA Section 702. Edward Snowden leaked the program in June 2013. An estimated 1.7 billion emails, phone calls, and texts collected daily. Program continues under modified legal authority.

The secret U.S. intelligence program to recruit former Nazi scientists, engineers, and intelligence officers. Over 1,600 individuals were brought to the United States. Their work shaped NASA (Wernher von Braun), U.S. chemical weapons programs, and CIA interrogation and mind-control research that became MKUltra.

The CIA facilitates illegal arms sales to Iran via Israel and funnels $30+ million in profits to Nicaraguan Contra rebels, in direct violation of the Boland Amendment passed by Congress. NSC staffer Oliver North becomes the public face. CIA Director William Casey dies of a brain tumor before he can testify. Fourteen administration officials are indicted.