The Department of Energy is conducting human experiments, according to the Free Beacon, citing "partial information about these continuing experiments," obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

At least 12 programs run by the Department of Energy are using human beings as part of the experiments, which operate under unusual names such as "Moose Drool," "Little Workers," and "Hidden Valley," among others. -Free Beacon

The experiments, obtained by the Federation of American Scientists, lists several programs with various code-names, including; Moose Drool, Idaho Bailiff, Helios, Tristan and Hidden Valley. Each experiment had between 4 and 44 human subjects, for a cumulative total of around 300 participants.

FAS made the FOIA request after discovering around a dozen classified programs involving human subjects, however the details of each project are still unknown.

Human subjects research erupted into national controversy 25 years ago with reporting by Eileen Welsome of the Albuquerque Tribune on human radiation experiments that had been conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission, many of which were performed without the consent of the subjects. A presidential advisory committee was convened to document the record and to recommend appropriate policy responses. In 2016, the Department of Energy issued updated guidelines on human subjects research, which included a requirement to produce a listing of all classified projects involving human subjects. It is that listing that has now been released. -FAS.org

“Research using human subjects provides important medical and scientific benefits to individuals and to society. The need for this research does not, however, outweigh the need to protect individual rights and interests,” according to the 2016 DOE guidance on protection of human subjects in classified research.

And why the Department of Energy? Stranger things have happened we suppose.