The CIA has been accused of secretly accessing the databases of commercial DNA testing companies to search for individuals carrying extraterrestrial genetic markers — claims that have been amplified by a philosophy author, a self-described former psychic spy and, remarkably, sitting members of the United States Congress.
Jason Reza Jorjani, a philosophy PhD and science fiction writer, made the allegations on the American Alchemy podcast, claiming that a retired US Army sergeant with knowledge of a covert government programme had told him the CIA possessed a backdoor into the systems of genetic testing companies including 23andMe and Ancestry.com. According to Jorjani, the purpose of this alleged access was to identify individuals carrying DNA linked to an alien species known as the Nordics — described as extraordinarily tall beings resembling Scandinavian humans, with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin — who are said to have interbred with humans over generations and now live quietly in small towns in the Colorado Rockies.
Jorjani attributed his information to Lyn Buchanan, an Army veteran who has publicly claimed he was trained as a remote viewer — part of the CIA’s declassified programme that attempted to use individuals with alleged psychic abilities to gather intelligence on distant targets. Buchanan reportedly told Jorjani that he had been approached in a diner by three Nordics who were aware of the CIA’s efforts to track their hybrid descendants. According to the account, the aliens explained they had fled their own world’s tyrannical government, intermarried with humans and simply wished to live peacefully in America. “The CIA wants to hunt them down,” Jorjani claimed they said.
The alleged CIA programme is said to involve screening DNA databases for a specific genetic variance from the standard human population — what Buchanan has described as the “other” or “unknown unidentifiable” wedge of ancestry results that falls outside recognised ethnic categories. In a 2023 interview on the Through A Glass Darkly podcast, Buchanan appeared to lend partial credibility to the claims, stating he would never submit to a commercial DNA test because of what he knew. “There are government people who are looking into that wedge,” he said.
The name cited in connection with the alleged CIA database access is Christopher “Kit” Green, a CIA scientist for two decades who publicly acknowledged his involvement in the remote viewing programme before leaving the agency in 1985 — a detail that sits awkwardly with the claims, given that both 23andMe and Ancestry.com were founded well after his reported departure from the intelligence community. Jorjani did not address the discrepancy.
Ancestry.com claims to hold the world’s largest consumer DNA network, with more than 30 million people in its database. 23andMe, which has more than 15 million users, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March last year following financial difficulties and a major data breach in 2023, and was subsequently acquired by TTAM Research Institute. Neither company has commented on the allegations.
What gives the story an unusual dimension is the degree to which elements of it have been echoed in mainstream American political circles. Missouri congressman Eric Burlison has publicly stated that President Trump was briefed on the alleged existence of at least four alien species, and that retired US Air Force Major David Grusch — a prominent UFO whistleblower — informed the president about alien-human hybrids. Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz has gone further still, claiming the United States has covertly operated forced breeding programmes involving six to twelve secret facilities. The Pentagon has maintained throughout that there is no verified evidence of extraterrestrial life, a position it has not altered despite the Trump administration releasing multiple batches of previously classified UFO-related documents.
