Make no mistake: The Pentagon's got plenty of secrets you probably don't even want to know about. But there are at least a handful they likely wish had stayed a bit more covert.

Some of 'em have been talked about for years -- and new intel is still creeping out. Old documents from the CIA's MK-ULTRA program, which plied unwitting participants with mind-altering drugs, have been released as recently as last year. And the Pentagon Papers, officially declassified just this past summer, reveal disturbing details about U.S. activities during in the Vietnam War.

Try as they might, it seems top brass...