The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is pushing back forcefully on viral claims that the CIA conducted a “raid” on its office, calling the reporting false and urging clarification amid a swirl of online speculation.
“This is false,” Olivia Coleman, a spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, wrote on the social platform X. “The CIA did not raid the DNI’s office.”
The statement was a direct response to a now-deleted post from Fox News host Jesse Watters, who had amplified claims tied to comments from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).
Luna had alleged that materials connected to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy and the CIA’s MK-ULTRA program were removed from the National Reconnaissance Office in Virginia. She linked the matter to broader concerns about historical intelligence records and declassification efforts.
According to its public records, the NRO periodically reviews collections tied to historically significant programs for potential declassification and public release, a routine process that can include older intelligence archives.
“The reason why this is troubling … there was an executive order that the president directed the full declassification of JFK, but then also to the MK-ULTRA files. Famously the CIA said that all documents were released and other documents had been destroyed,” Luna said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.”
“So, these are allegedly those documents that apparently never existed,” she added.
Luna also said she personally contacted CIA Director John Ratcliffe regarding the matter. In a follow-up post, she pushed back on interpretations of her comments and denied claims that she alleged a raid on Gabbard’s office.
“I am noticing a few large accounts stating falsely that I claimed there was a raid on Tulsi Gabbard’s office by the CIA. This is completely false …” Luna wrote on X. “There is no clip or statement that exists. Why is there an orchestrated push for this narrative”
“When Congress is notified of conflicting narratives from different agencies, i.e., the CIA and ODNI, it is our job to follow through to ensure documents are preserved and not destroyed,” she continued. “This is not an issue with Ratcliffe or Gabbard.”
She added, “For people to act like the CIA doesn’t have a history of destroying documents is BIZARO-WORLD. Watch the clip for yourself. I am talking about what the whistleblower is saying under oath.”
Luna, who chairs the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, has announced plans to hold a hearing on MK-ULTRA records later this month.
The CIA program MK-ULTRA, launched in 1953, focused on behavioral modification research and has long been associated with controversy and conspiracy theories. According to University of Louisville archival records, the program has remained a recurring subject in public debate over intelligence agency transparency.
