CIA Inspector General Report on MKULTRA (1963) — Incomplete Ten Years Before Any Destruction
nodeIntelligence & Surveillance
The CIA's own auditor said the files were a mess ten years before anyone burned them.
Who they are
The CIA Inspector General's 1963 report on MKULTRA, quoted to the Senate in 1977.
What they do
It found the files 'notably incomplete, poorly organized, and lacking in evaluative statements'.
How it works
Its key line: 'A substantial portion of the MKULTRA record appears to rest in the memories of the principal officers and is therefore almost certain to be lost with their departures.' The hearing summarised it as: 'Even prior to the destruction of documents, the MKULTRA records were far from complete.'
Why it matters
Part of the record was never written down at all. That part was not destroyed in 1973 — it never existed on paper to destroy.
The engine's record — word for word
[Report #191] The agency's own auditor, a decade before the files were burned. IG Report on MKULTRA, p. 23, quoted verbatim in the 1977 Joint Hearing: 'Files are notably incomplete, poorly organized, and lacking in evaluative statements that might give perspective to management policies over time. A substantial portion of the MKULTRA record appears to rest in the memories of the principal officers and is therefore almost certain to be lost with their departures.' The hearing's own summary line: 'Even prior to the destruction of documents, the MKULTRA records were far from complete.' A portion of the record was therefore never written down, and was not destroyed because it never existed on paper.
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