MKUltra: A top-secret CIA program born in the Cold War, built around terrifying questions: can you control a human being? Can you delete and insert memories, break a mind, or make a person bend to your will?

In this episode of The Truth of the Matter, Natasha Zouves sits down with Michael Evans of the National Security Archive — a man so committed to transparency he has spent his career hunting down, declassifying, and analyzing thousands of government records to reconstruct what the public was never meant to see.

We dig into what MKUltra was designed to do, and what it became: experiments with drugs like LSD, psychological manipulation, and an especially chilling tactic the agency saw as useful: “discrediting” — making someone appear unstable, unreliable, even “insane.” The rabbit hole goes all the way to covert plots targeting world leaders like Fidel Castro, including ideas that sound like Hollywood until you see them in black and white.

Listen to the full conversation and decide for yourself: where does national security end, and abuse of power begin?

The Truth of the Matter with Natasha Zouves isn’t just another podcast — it’s a fight to uncover what powerful institutions want hidden. From secret human experiments the government carried out on unsuspecting citizens to toxic cover-ups poisoning communities, Emmy and Murrow Award-winning journalist Natasha Zouves brings you the stories people in power don’t want told.

We expose evidence buried in archives, amplify the voices of those who’ve been silenced, and hold the powerful accountable. From radioactive “oatmeal experiments” on children, to cancer causing chemicals destroying farms, to veterans erased from history — these are the stories that matter.

This is journalism that refuses to look away. The Truth of the Matter is about transparency, and justice for the people left behind.

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthofthematterpod/

Connect with host Natasha Zouves:

https://www.instagram.com/natashazouves/

https://www.tiktok.com/@natashazouves

https://www.facebook.com/natashanzouves/

They served in silence at one of the most secretive military ranges in America. Now they say they’re dying in the shadows — because the government still won’t acknowledge they were there.

An update now on the Area 51 Veterans: Congress quietly killed the one fix that could have helped them prove where they served and get the care they say they’ve earned.

These men and women served on the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), home to the site known globally as Area 51. Now many are battling rare cancers. But because their service is still classified and “data-masked,” they say the VA can’t verify an service connect their illnesses — and their claims stall.

After our reporting, Section 1066 was added to the Senate’s defense bill as their clearest path forward. Then, behind closed doors, it vanished from the final NDAA.

Dave Crete says the message from House leadership was simple: “You’re not that important.” He believes the government is trying to wait them out — as the memorial list grows from 446 names to 527.

Now they’re turning directly to President Trump, asking for an executive order. “This problem could be fixed with one beautiful signature,” Crete says. “Mr. President, we need your help.”

In this new conversation with Air Force veteran Dave Crete, he breaks down what happened, what Congress removed, what language made it into the final bill, and why the veterans say they don’t have time to wait until 2027.

The Truth of the Matter with Natasha Zouves isn’t just another podcast — it’s a fight to uncover what powerful institutions want hidden. From secret human experiments the government carried out on unsuspecting citizens to toxic cover-ups poisoning communities, Emmy and Murrow Award-winning journalist Natasha Zouves brings you the stories people in power don’t want told.

We expose evidence buried in archives, amplify the voices of those who’ve been silenced, and hold the powerful accountable. From radioactive “oatmeal experiments” on children, to cancer causing chemicals destroying farms, to veterans erased from history — these are the stories that matter.

This is journalism that refuses to look away. The Truth of the Matter is about transparency, and justice for the people left behind.

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthofthematterpod/

Connect with host Natasha Zouves:

https://www.instagram.com/natashazouves/

https://www.tiktok.com/@natashazouves

https://www.facebook.com/natashanzouves/

WATCH the original NewsNation Area 51 Investigation

READ the full Area 51 Investigation

WATCH our original podcast episode with Dave Crete, where he describes the secret missions on the range

What if the U.S. government secretly experimented on unsuspecting Americans – pregnant women, children, and hospital patients – using radioactive materials?

In this episode of The Truth of the Matter, Natasha Zouves continues her conversation with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eileen Welsome, author of The Plutonium Files. Her groundbreaking reporting helped crack open a series of Cold War–era human radiation experiments—including:

• Pregnant women given radioactive “cocktails”
• Orphan boys at a Massachusetts school fed radioactive oatmeal
• Cincinnati cancer patients subjected to whole-body radiation, many dying within weeks

Welsome explains how these experiments came to light following her investigation into the 18 Americans injected with plutonium, what the tests reveal about government secrecy, and why this history remains a cautionary tale for us all.

The Truth of the Matter with Natasha Zouves isn’t just another podcast — it’s a fight to uncover what powerful institutions want hidden. From secret human experiments the government carried out on unsuspecting citizens to toxic cover-ups poisoning communities, Emmy and Murrow Award-winning journalist Natasha Zouves brings you the stories people in power don’t want told.

Each week, we expose evidence buried in archives, amplify the voices of those who’ve been silenced, and hold the powerful accountable. From radioactive “oatmeal experiments” on children, to cancer causing chemicals destroying farms, to veterans erased from history — these are the stories that matter.

This is journalism that refuses to look away. The Truth of the Matter is about transparency, and justice for the people left behind.

Connect with host Natasha Zouves

WATCH the St. Louis investigation part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_-G_q3wEc&t=1s

WATCH the St. Louis investigation part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upYvUe6hWEk&t=817s

READ the full St. Louis investigation: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/military/did-government-poison-st-louis/

You can find “The Truth of the Matter” wherever you listen to your podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-truth-of-the-matter-with-natasha-zouves/id1804707066

https://open.spotify.com/show/2iQ85VHlMmBfLBaTtSp8tF

This podcast is put together by:

Ryan Kerr

Mia Balbin-Cuesta

Allie Purser

Natasha Zouves

Connect with host Natasha Zouves

From radioactive oatmeal fed to children, to pregnant women given a radioactive cocktail, to chemical spraying over St. Louis, Dr. Martino-Taylor connects the dots and reveals how she believes these were not isolated incidents, but part of a program spun out of the Manhattan Project — marked by secrecy, deception, and the targeting of the most vulnerable.

Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, sociologist, researcher and author of Behind the Fog, joins Natasha Zouves, host of “The Truth of the Matter,” for a groundbreaking conversation about one of the darkest, least-known chapters in American history: secret human experiments carried out by the U.S. government.

Why St. Louis? What did researchers hope to achieve? And what does this history tell us about government transparency, ethics, and the human cost of secrecy?

The Truth of the Matter with Natasha Zouves isn’t just another podcast — it’s a fight to uncover what powerful institutions want hidden. From secret human experiments the government carried out on unsuspecting citizens to toxic cover-ups poisoning communities, Emmy and Murrow Award-winning journalist Natasha Zouves brings you the stories people in power don’t want told.

Each week, we expose evidence buried in archives, amplify the voices of those who’ve been silenced, and hold the powerful accountable. From radioactive “oatmeal experiments” on children, to cancer causing chemicals destroying farms, to veterans erased from history — these are the stories that matter.

This is journalism that refuses to look away. The Truth of the Matter is about transparency, and justice for the people left behind.

Connect with host Natasha Zouves

WATCH the St. Louis investigation part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_-G_q3wEc&t=1s

WATCH the St. Louis investigation part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upYvUe6hWEk&t=817s

READ the full St. Louis investigation: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/military/did-government-poison-st-louis/

You can find “The Truth of the Matter” wherever you listen to your podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-truth-of-the-matter-with-natasha-zouves/id1804707066

https://open.spotify.com/show/2iQ85VHlMmBfLBaTtSp8tF

This podcast is put together by:

Ryan Kerr

Mia Balbin-Cuesta

Allie Purser

Natasha Zouves