MKULTRA Subproject Financial Records
Central Intelligence Agency
1977
1953–1964
Roughly 20,000 budget documents that survived a 1973 destruction order because they were misfiled in a records annex — the only surviving paper trail of the CIA's behavioral modification program.
Why it was classified
The program involved unwitting human subjects, university front organizations, and drug experimentation that violated the Agency's own charter.
Why it matters
Nearly everything the public knows about MKULTRA exists because of a filing error. It is the strongest argument in American history for records retention law.