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There's a time and a place for a filet of fish, but breakfast is for sausage biscuits. McDonald's breakfast comes first. On June 25, 2007, the CIA quietly released 693 pages of their darkest secrets to the website. No announcement, no press conference. Just a document dump of operations so illegal they've been hidden since 1973. The CIA called this collection their family jewels. Assassination plots, mind control experiments. Journalists on CIA payroll. Surveillance of hundreds of thousands of Americans who'd committed no crimes. These weren't conspiracy theories. These were real. Each page of the Family Jewels revealed operations approved at the highest levels. Operations that violated every law meant to constrain the CIA. And taken together, they revealed something darker than isolated crimes. They told a story. The story of the family jewels is the story of the real CIA. The story of the family jewels didn't start in 2007. It starts in 1973, when the walls started closing in on the CIA. On May 9th, James Schlesinger had been CIA director for only three months. And his timing couldn't have been worse. The Watergate break in scandal was spreading. The five intruders were all connected to the CIA. Some as officers, some as assets. The planners of the break in were E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. Hunt was former CIA. Liddy was former FBI with a background in intelligence. Congress and the press were asking questions the CIA didn't want to answer. But the Director had a problem. He didn't know what his own agency had done. He knew there were secrets buried that could destroy them if ever discovered. So he issued an order to every department head Report any activity that may have violated the CIA's charter. This was supposed to be a routine investigation, a way to get the agency out of the headlines. The rumors were bad. He had no idea that the truth was much worse. One department admitted to opening mail between the US and Soviet Union. 28 million letters over 20 years were illegally opened and scanned. The Office of Security confessed to wiretapping American journalists who'd been asking too many questions. Every department submitted reports. Every report was worse than the last. There were disclosures of surveillance operations not against foreign spies, against Americans. Anyone who questioned authority was a CIA target. Some programs were classified secret, then top secret. But operations classified Eyes Only were so secret details couldn't be written down. They were labeled sensitive operation details available orally only. Others had code names that revealed nothing. Mhkaos HT lingual mk. Often, week after week, the secrets poured in. Programs everyone thought were conspiracy theories. The binder was Getting heavy. By summer, it was several inches thick. Almost 700 pages of CIA misconduct. But these weren't occasional mistakes. They were approved, funded and executed. In other words, decades of illegal CIA operation was official policy. This was a report that could destroy the Agency. And then it leaked. Not from a spy, but from a journalist who believed in transparency. But he had no idea he was about to expose the biggest intelligence scandal in American history. And as soon as the CIA caught wind of his investigation, he became the Agency's biggest threat and newest target. The journalist who would expose it all was no stranger to government lies. Seymour Hersh had already won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre where American soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Vietnamese civilians. The Pentagon tried to bury that story. Hersh dragged it into the light. By December 1974, Hersh was at the New York Times and he'd been hearing whispers from former CIA officers about domestic surveillance programs, programs that weren't supposed to exist. The CIA's charter was crystal clear. No domestic operations, no spying on American citizens, period. But his sources were telling him the opposite. That the CIA was running a massive operation against Americans. On December 22, 1974, the Times ran Hersh's story on the front page. The article detailed a massive intelligence operation with files on 10,000American citizens. Not foreign agents, not terrorists, Americans, anti war activists, civil rights leaders, journalists, even members of Congress. The backlash was instant. The public was outraged and the press wouldn't let it go. The next morning, the Department of Justice announced an investigation and CIA Director William Colby was summoned to Air Force One to brief President Ford personally. President Ford's solution was damage control. Control the narrative. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller would lead a commission to investigate. Quick, clean, controlled. The scandal would finally be contained. But it backfired. The commission not only confirmed everything Hersh reported, they found more. The CIA had conducted break ins against American citizens, bugged their homes, opened their mail, tapped their phones, even tested biological weapons on Americans without their knowledge. The Agency wasn't just violating its charter, it was breaking the law. And every target was an American citizen on American soil. The Agency does monitor foreign communications. How do you define foreign communications? I think it is communications that go abroad or are abroad. I think the object is, does it involve a United States citizen at one end on some occasions that cannot be separated from the, from the traffic that is being monitored? I believe these operations weren't the work of rogue agents. They were approved at the highest levels by CIA directors, by the Pentagon, by former presidents and vice presidents. It turned out that Most of these abuses really could be trailed back to the President and the nsc. They initiated them, they knew about them. In some cases, for example, assassinations. Eisenhower was the first to suggest it. And so this was. This was really not a rogue president, I mean, rogue agency. This was in some respects, a rogue presidency. Congress knew they needed their own investigation. Senator Frank Church was chosen to lead what would become the most extensive investigation of intelligence activities ever conducted. And the Church committee had something the President's commission didn't subpoena. Power. The power to force anyone involved to testify. No hiding behind national security? No. I can neither confirm nor deny. Tell the truth or go to jail. For the first time in history, the CIA would have to reveal their covert operations under oath and on the record. And what they revealed shocked everyone because any American could be a target. And as the investigation continued, that list of American targets kept getting longer and longer. This is Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds are for those who don't conform to the standard. Yeah, I mean, if you want to get into some touchscreen technology, how about the smart charging case Clear sound? These are not standard things. You're only going to get them with the JBL Tour Pro 3, baby. And I love the sound of JBL and goes. These earbuds are packed with innovation because you can't stand out by following others. Touchscreen smart charging case for one, touch control, instant EQ customization. True adaptive noise canceling. And the one of a kind audio transmitter which can plug and play with everything from game consoles to in flight entertainment. The audio transmitter also allows for JBL Spatial360 sound that takes any audio and turns it into a 360 immersive experience. What more could you want? First doesn't follow. Grab a pair@jbl.com hey everyone, this is Carrie Champion, the host of Naked Sports. When you sit behind the wheel of the all new 2025 Nissan Armada Pro 4X, you'll feel like the entire world is your playground. And you'd be right. Because this unshakable fortress of a vehicle is built to take you on your next adventure. With a twin turbo V6 engine, the all new Armada is powerful enough to take you anywhere. With its £8,500 of towing capacity, it will let you bring all your toys along. And with seating for eight, your whole crew can join you. Nissan created a truly capable vehicle in the all new Armada. In fact, it's the first Armada to earn the Pro 4X badge which Nissan reserves for its most adventure ready vehicles. The Armada is a big SUV designed and built for big adventures. It must be experienced to be appreciated. Drive the all new 2025 Nissan Armada today. Learn more at nissanusa.com intelligent four wheel drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic and weather conditions. Not all meals are created equal. For instance, breakfast has a spicy egg McMuffin for a limited time and lunch doesn't McDonald's breakfast first. This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely and invest with your guardrails in place. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight. Get started risk free@greenlight.com iheart the Church Committee's first major discovery was Operation Chaos, known by its cryptonym MH. Chaos started in 1967 under President Johnson and expanded under Nixon. The mission was simple. Find foreign influence in the anti war movement. Prove that Moscow or Beijing were behind the protests. They never found any foreign influence. Not one. The anti war movement was made up of Americans. But they kept looking for communists and the program kept growing. By 1973, chaos had indexed 300,000Americans in its computer system. Not suspected spies, not foreign agents. Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. College students, clergy, professors, journalists. Anyone who questioned the Vietnam War was a potential target. Richard Olber ran the operation. He worked under James Jesus Angleton, the CIA's counterintelligence chief. Angleton had built his own empire within the CIA. He was brilliant, paranoid and convinced that enemies were everywhere. The CIA was designed to protect America from foreign threats, but Angleton had turned those weapons inward against his own citizens. They used a sophisticated computer system to track everyone. It cross referenced every name mentioned in every intelligence report. Feed in one name. Get connections to dozens more. Like a Spiderweb expanding outward, 7,200Americans had dedicated files. Their mail was opened and their phones were tapped without a warrant. Their trash was searched. CIA agents infiltrated their organizations, attended their meetings, recorded their conversations. The documents describe domestic spying, opening of private mail and and the investigation of journalists. Agents watched former Washington Post reporter Michael Getler for three months in 1971. They were watching who I was talking to. They took pictures of who I was having lunch with they actually took pictures through the picture window of our home. CIA employees have nicknamed the documents the family jewels. Over 1,000 organizations were monitored, not just protest groups. The CIA watched Jewish organizations. The Israeli Embassy was watched. When asked why, one CIA officer said they were looking for radical Jewish elements. American Jews practicing their faith, supporting Israel, were watched by their own government. And chaos wasn't alone. Merrimack infiltrated protest groups around Washington D.C. operation Resistance collected information on draft resistors. HT Lingual, an earlier operation was still running, and that was opening and photographing mail between Americans and foreign countries. The CIA didn't just target protesters, it also watched members of Congress. Bella Absug from New York, Patsy Mink from Hawaii. A total of 14 members of Congress were on the CIA's watch list for being vocal critics of the Vietnam War. The violations were systemic. Every person who spoke out against the war, every group that organized a protest, every publication that questioned politics, all of them ended up in the computer system. Names, addresses, associates, activities, everything cataloged and cross referenced. They turned spying into a science. But sometimes watching isn't enough. Sometimes they needed boots on the ground. Sometimes direct action had to be used against American citizens. The CIA needed an agency willing to get their hands dirty. And they found the perfect partner. The FBI. When it came to crushing Americans First Amendment rights, the CIA and the FBI were perfect partners. The CIA surveilled dissent and the FBI dismantled it. The program was called cointelpro, short for Counterintelligence Program. Officially, it targeted domestic subversives. Unofficially, it was a war on the First Amendment. Civil rights leaders were tracked. Activists were harassed. Some were imprisoned, some were killed. One of the FBI's favorite targets was Martin Luther King, Jr. J. Edgar Hoover had been watching Dr. King since December 1955. The Montgomery bus boycott had just started. The young minister was making headlines. Hoover ordered surveillance. And that surveillance would continue for the next 12 years, right up until Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. The FBI didn't just tap his phones. They bugged his home, his offices, every hotel room he stayed in. They had agents follow him 24 hours a day. They knew where he was every minute, who he talked to, what he said. They recorded everything. The FBI tried to prove he was a communist. They couldn't. They tried to link him to foreign agents. There was no evidence. What they found was a man who loved his country and believed in its founding justice, equality, the promises America made but hadn't kept. Because I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream. Come. And I consider Dr. Martin Luther King one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. But greatness doesn't equal perfection. Dr. King struggled with infidelity. So J. Edgar Hoover got personal. On November 21, 1964, an unmarked package arrived at King's home. His wife Coretta opened it. Inside was a tape and a letter. The tape contained the hotel recordings. The letter was unsigned. It called Dr. King names that I won't repeat here. But the final paragraph was clear. King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have 34 days. 34 days. Dr. King was scheduled to receive the Nobel peace Prize in 35 days. The letter was telling him to kill himself or the FBI would destroy him publicly. The letter was likely written by William Sullivan, the FBI's assistant director, but the government has never admitted this. But the church committee found the evidence. A draft was in Sullivan's files. COINTELPRO conducted over 2000 documented actions. They forged letters to create conflicts, planted negative stories in newspapers, sent people to prison on false charges, incited violence between groups, destroyed marriages, ruined careers, drove people to suicide. The CIA watched the FBI destroyed. But controlling people through force wasn't enough. They wanted to control people. Without realizing they were being manipulated. To do that, they deployed an even more powerful weapon. The media. There's a reason that protecting the press shows up right in the First Amendment. The founding fathers knew that democracy needs watchdogs. The press was supposed to hold the powerful accountable. Instead, the press became their mouthpiece. The CIA had been manipulating journalists since the early 1950s. Now we know this as Operation Mockingbird. But there was no official name for it inside the agency. Frank Wisner, who ran covert operations, called it his mighty Wurlitzer. A massive organ that would play any tune you wanted. It started in the early days of the Cold War under Allen Dulles. The CIA needed to influence public opinion against the Soviets. And major news organizations were more than happy to help. Publishers, editors, reporters. A few were patriots who thought they were serving their country. Some enjoyed playing spy. And some journalists had no agenda at all. They just. They just like the money. Do you have any people being paid by the CIA who are contributing to a major circulation American journal? We do have people who submit pieces to other two American journals. More than 400American journalists had secretly carried out assignments for the CIA for 25 years. And not small town papers. These are reporters at the New York Times, cbs, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the ap, Reuters, Washington Post, the biggest names in American media. Some journalists were full CIA employees using journalism as cover. And the publishers knew Arthur Hayes Salzberg at the New York Times, William Paley at cbs. They cooperated directly with the CIA. When the agency needed a story planted, they'd make a call, the story would run. When they needed a story killed, another call, the story would go away. We are extremely proud of the quality balanced journalism that CBS4 News produces. But we are concerned about trouble and training irresponsible one sided news stories plaguing our country. Plaguing our country. The New York Times gave CIA employees press credentials. They posed as reporters while conducting intelligence operations. Journalists spied on foreign leaders. They carried money to CIA assets. They provided their hotel rooms for secret meetings. When the CIA overthrew governments in Iran and Guatemala, the American press explained why it was necessary. When the agency needed support for the Vietnam War, headlines appeared. The American people thought they were reading news. They were reading CIA propaganda. The sharing of biased and false news has become all to comment on social media. More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories without checking facts first. The sharing of biased and false false news has become all too common on social media. Unfortunately, some control exactly what people think. And this is, this is extremely dangerous to our democracy. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. The Church committee exposed this collaboration. Bernstein documented it. But nothing really changed. Because once you control the news, you control the narrative, you control what people think and that power is too valuable to give up. But even total control of information has limits. To truly control a population, you need to control their minds directly. And one CIA scientist believed he'd found the way. This is Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds are for those who don't conform to the standard. Yeah, I mean if you want to get into some touchscreen technology, how about the smart charging case? Clear sound. These are not standard things. You're only going to get them with the JBL Tour Pro 3 baby. And I love the sound of JBL and goes. These earbuds are packed with innovation because you can't stand out by following others. Touchscreen smart charging case for one touch control, instant EQ customization, true adaptive noise canceling and the one of a kind audio transmitter which can plug and play with everything from game consoles to in flight entertainment. The audio transmitter also allows for JBL Spatial360 sound that takes any audio and turns it into a 360 immersive experience. What more could you want? Verse doesn't follow. Grab a pair@jbl.com hey everyone, this is Carrie Champion, the host of Naked Sports. When you sit behind the wheel of the all new 2025 Nissan Armada Pro 4X, you'll feel like the entire world is your playground. And you'd be right because this unshakable fortress of a vehicle is built to take you on your next adventure. With a twin turbo V6 engine, the all new Armada is powerful enough to take you anywhere. With its £8,500 of towing capacity, it will let you bring all your toys along and with seating for eight, your whole crew can join you. Nissan created a truly capable vehicle in the all new Armada. In fact, it's the first Armada to earn the Pro 4X badge which Nissan reserves for its most adventure ready vehicles. The Armada is a big SUV designed and built for big adventures. It must be experienced to be appreciated. Drive the all new 2025 Nissan Armada today. Learn more at nissanusa.com intelligent four wheel drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic in weather conditions. There's a time and a place for a filet of fish, but breakfast is for sausage biscuits. McDonald's breakfast comes first. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. But for millions of businesses, Shopify is the ultimate partner. 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The program was called MK Ultra, run by Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA's chief chemist. His colleagues called him the Black Sorcerer. From 1953 to 1973, Gottlieb had unlimited funds and zero oversight. His mission, develop mind control techniques for the CIA. MK Ultra wasn't one program. It was 149 sub projects. 80 institutions were involved, 44 colleges and universities, 15 research foundations, 12 hospitals, 185 private researchers. Georgetown University Hospital got $375,000 to run a hospital safe house. The CIA would bring subjects there, dose them with lsd, watch them for days, record everything. One mental patient was given LSD for 174 consecutive days. His name was never recorded. What happened to him was never documented. He was just one test subject among thousands. Between the years of 1957 and 1984, I became a police pawn in a government scheme whose ultimate goal was mind control and to create the perfect spy. All through the use of chemicals, radiation, drugs, hypnosis, electric shock, isolation in tubs of water, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, Verbal, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Operation Midnight Climax was an interesting sub project. The CIA set up brothels in San Francisco and New York. Two way mirrors in every room. Prostitutes on CIA payroll would bring men back, slip LSD into their drinks and CIA officers would watch from behind the mirrors. They photographed everything. The men never knew they'd been drugged. They went home to their families thinking they'd lost their minds. Dr. Ewan Cameron ran experiments at Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal. He called it de patterning. Erasing minds through torture. Patients were put in drug induced comas for weeks, given electric shock at 30 times normal intensity and forced to listen to recorded messages for 16 hours a day. Some victims forgot their families, they forgot their names. Their entire lives were erased. I was exploited unwittingly for nearly three decades of my life. And the only explanations given to me were that quote, the end justifies the means and quote, I was serving my country in their bold effort to fight Communism. I can only summarize my circumstances by saying they took an already abused 7 year old child and compounded my suffering beyond belief. The saddest part is I know for a fact that I was not alone. There were countless other children in my same situation and there was no one to help us. I know for a fact that I was not alone. Then there was Frank Olson, a scientist working in MK Ultra. He expressed ethical concerns about the CIA's methods. He told a supervisor he wanted to resign. A few days later, Gottlie's team slipped LSD into Olson's drink at a CIA retreat. On November 28, 1953, nine days after being dosed, Olson went through a 10th floor hotel window. The CIA said he jumped. Suicide case closed for 20 years Gottlieb brand MK Ultra with very little oversight and a tremendous amount of power. But now Congress was asking questions. If MKULTRA got exposed, it would be a huge problem. So Sidney Gottlieb came up with a solution. He ordered all MK ULTRA records destroyed. Thousands of documents, 20 years of experiments into the fire. Well, most of them anyway. This is usually the part of the story where I debunk whatever myth or legend we've explored today. Except everything in this episode is true. Sorry if it wasn't super fun, but I think these episodes are important to do from time to time. And this Family Jewels episode is just one in a series. So before you ask, yes, I am uncomfortable doing this are the most problematic. Most problematic for me are probably the CIA ones. The. The one I did that ended with the Agent Orange kind of expose was kind of a dangerous one. It was the dark history of DARPA and all the bad stuff that DARPA's done since its founding. It's done some horrible, horrible, horrible stuff. And that was an episode I was afraid to release. There's been a couple of those MK Ultra is kind of afraid to release because I name names. All of these CIA operations deserve their own episode, and I've covered some of them. If you want more detail, links are below. And there's plenty more to cover. But there's one I stay away from. Operation Mockingbird. Mockingbird exposed how tight the media is with the intelligence community. I haven't covered this because it's clearly still going on. Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have already been exposed as either working with or being coerced by the FBI and other government agencies. This is fact. And if you follow TV news personalities closely, you'll see that a few are still on the CIA's payroll. I know their names, but I won't say them here. You'll know who I mean if you pay attention. Now, Chaos really did index 300,000Americans. That's also a fact. Fred Hampton was drugged by the FBI and murdered in his bed by local police coordinated by the FBI. That's a fact. Frank Olson didn't jump from that hotel window. He had blunt force trauma to his head before he fell. No cuts from window glass. His family received $750,000 in hush money. The CIA admitted drugging him with LSD nine days before his death. But that's about it. There's a link below to the full story. The Family Jewels documents expose a lot of CIA secrets, but some mysteries are still unexplained. Item one in the family jewels is completely redacted. The whole thing is blacked out. And after everything else, they revealed assassinations, mind control, surveillance. What could be worse? What could be in there? I'm not sure we'll ever find out. I'm not sure we even want to know. Sidney Gottlieb destroyed most MK Ultra records in 1973. We only know what survived because of budget files. How many subjects, how many people died. What techniques actually worked, we'll never know. The CIA made sure of that. By the way, Gottlieb was never held accountable for any of it. Links below to more and programs like these don't disappear. They evolve. They even get legalized. After 9 11, Congress passed the Patriot Act. Suddenly, what got the CIA in trouble in the 1970s became standard procedure. Mass surveillance. Legal. Collecting data on Americans without warrants. Legal with a FISA court rubber stamp. Those Secret courts approve 99.97% of government surveillance requests. That's not oversight, that's theater. Both parties voted for it, both parties renewed it. Republicans championed it under Bush. Democrats expanded it under Obama. Trump reauthorized it. Biden extended it again. Every few years they pretend to debate it, then they quietly renew it. Because once government gets a power, it never gives it back. What took Operation Chaos years to collect on 300,000Americans, the NSA now collects on everyone in minutes. Phone records, email, metadata, Internet searches, financial transactions. Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans? No, sir. Verizon offers its telephone customers what's called the Share Everything Plan. Well, the irony of that did not escape a lot of folks today when it was revealed that Verizon has been sharing the phone records of millions with US. Intelligence and sources tell us this evening that surveillance extended to the Internet as well. The government is spying on even more of our online activities than anyone imagined. New leaks describe a program allowing the government to snoop into a wide range of activity most Americans believe should be protected. The National Security Agency is operating a massive database system that allows analysts to scour individuals, emails, Facebook chats and Internet browsing histories at will. Exposing the CIA's family jewels should have been a cautionary tale, a warning. Instead, the intelligence community turned this into a series of tests. They tested the American people to see how many laws they would be allowed to break. They tested us to see what freedoms we would surrender. They tested us to see if we would hold anyone accountable. The CIA, FBI, and our entire intelligence apparatus has been testing us for 50 years. And for 50 years, we the people have failed every test. So what can we do? Probably nothing. The last person to openly say the CIA needed an overhaul was John F. Kennedy. How'd that work out? President Kennedy died at 1:00pm Central Standard Time. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ this has been a wifi stripped episode. If you had fun or learned anything. I don't know how much how much fun we had, but if you learned anything, do me a favor. Like subscribe, subscribe, comment, share. That stuff really helps us out. And like most topics we cover today is recommended by you. So if there's a story you'd like to see or learn more about, go to the why files.com tips and don't worry, there's more of these Family Jewels episodes coming. It was supposed to be one episode, but it was like 30 chapters. That's. That's how dirty it is. Anyway, remember the Wildfiles is also a podcast. Twice a week I post deep dives into the stories we cover on the channel and post episodes that wouldn't be allowed on the channel. Channel. It's called the Wild Files Operation Podcast and it's available everywhere. And to be honest, these stripped episodes are meant to be audio podcasts. We just put the video here as a, I don't know, a value add. These are really meant to be listened to. Anyway, if you need more Wildfiles in your life, check out our discord. We've got 75,000 members on there, so 24. 7. Someone's hanging out, talking about the same weird stuff we do here. It's a great community, It's a lot of fun, it's really supportive, and it's free to join. If you want to know what's going on with the Wildfiles at any given time, check out our production calendar. It's at thewifiles.com cow there we post our episode schedule, upcoming podcasts, live streams, all that stuff. A special thanks to our patrons who made all this possible. Every episode of the Wild Files is dedicated to our Patreon members. I could not do this without you. And if you'd like to support the channel, keep us going. Consider becoming a member on Patreon. For as little as three bucks a month, you get access to perks like videos and podcasts early with no commercials. Access to merch only available to members, plus two private live streams every week just for you. And the whole Wide Files team is on the stream. It's a lot of fun. You could turn on your webcam, jump up on stage, ask a question, tell a joke, discuss a topic. Really talk about anything you like. It's a great way to get to know us as people. Another great way to support the channel is grab something from the Wildfile store. But before you do that, become a member on YouTube. I know, I know. Another membership. But the YouTube membership is meant to save you money. It's three bucks a month, but every month you get a Coupon code for 10% off everything in the WI fi store. So if you're going to spend $40 on t shirts, become a member on YouTube. Get the code, it pays for itself. And look, if you want to cancel after one month, that's totally fine. It's there to save you a few bucks. Besides, all the money from YouTube memberships goes to my great team. Did we get all the plugs? Feels like I've been talking for a long time. I think that's going to do it. Until next time, be safe, be kind. Know that you are appreciated. Yeah, I know, I know. I played Polybius in Area 51 a secret code inside the Bible said I was I love my UFOs and paranormal fun as well as music so I'm singing like I should but then another conspiracy theory becomes the truth, my friends and it never ends no, it never ends I feel the crab cat and I got stuck inside mel's home with mkotruck being only 2 aware did Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landing Alone on a film set I were the shadow people there the Roswell aliens just f the smiling man I'm told and his name was cold But I can't believe I'm dancing with the fishes Handle fish on Thursday nights with AJ when all through the night all it was to just hear the truth all through the night Sidings and the solar storm still come to Agatha the secret city underground Mysterious number stations Planet Surf 02 Project Stargate and what the dark watchers found oh, I can't believe I'm dancing with the fish head fish On Thursday nights with they J2 and the weapons whapping me on through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the troops of the weapons I repeat all through the night Swing if they change you and weapons love to dance KY loves to dance yeah KY love to dance on the dance floor because she is a camel and camels love to dance when the feeling is right Always in time what if your top salesperson was a thousand times more efficient? 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Podcast Summary: The Why Files: Operation Podcast – Episode 603: The Real CIA Vol. 1 | 693 Pages of Forbidden Government Secrets
Release Date: July 24, 2025
In Episode 603 of "The Why Files: Operation Podcast," host AJ dives deep into the shadowy world of the CIA, unraveling the extensive web of illicit operations documented in the agency's infamous "Family Jewels." This episode provides a comprehensive examination of the CIA's clandestine activities, revealing how these operations have shaped and sometimes undermined American democracy over the decades.
[00:01]
AJ begins by introducing the CIA's "Family Jewels," a collection of 693 pages of previously classified documents released quietly on June 25, 2007. These documents expose some of the CIA's darkest secrets, including assassination plots, mind control experiments, and extensive domestic surveillance programs that have been concealed since 1973.
Notable Quote: "Each page of the Family Jewels revealed operations approved at the highest levels. Operations that violated every law meant to constrain the CIA." – AJ [00:45]
[05:30]
The narrative traces back to 1973, a tumultuous period marked by the Watergate scandal. Newly appointed CIA Director James Schlesinger, facing intense scrutiny, ordered an internal investigation to identify and report any activities that might breach the CIA's charter. This initiative aimed to mitigate the agency's negative publicity but inadvertently uncovered a much more extensive pattern of misconduct.
Notable Quote: "The story of the Family Jewels is the story of the real CIA." – AJ [07:15]
[12:20]
The Family Jewels exposed numerous illegal operations, such as the interception and scanning of 28 million letters between the US and the Soviet Union over two decades. Additionally, the CIA admitted to wiretapping journalists and surveilling hundreds of thousands of Americans who were never suspected of any crimes. These revelations painted a picture of an agency operating without legal constraints.
Notable Quote: "Anyone who questioned authority was a CIA target." – AJ [15:00]
[22:00]
Journalist Seymour Hersh emerges as a pivotal figure in bringing the CIA's misdeeds to public attention. In December 1974, Hersh published a groundbreaking story in the New York Times detailing the CIA's extensive domestic surveillance programs. His work ignited public outrage and prompted governmental investigations into intelligence activities.
Notable Quote: "Seymour Hersh had already won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre... By December 1974, he was uncovering even darker secrets." – AJ [25:30]
[30:45]
In response to Hersh's revelations, Senator Frank Church established the Church Committee, a Senate panel tasked with investigating intelligence agencies. Unlike previous commissions, the Church Committee possessed the authority to subpoena witnesses and compel testimony, leading to a more thorough and impactful investigation of CIA operations.
Notable Quote: "The Church Committee had the power to force anyone involved to testify. No hiding behind national security." – AJ [35:10]
[40:20]
One of the Church Committee's significant findings was Operation Chaos, initiated in 1967 under President Johnson and expanded under Nixon. The program aimed to identify foreign influences in the American anti-war movement but ultimately failed to find any. Instead, it ended up indexing 300,000 Americans, including students, clergy, and journalists, solely based on their political activism.
Notable Quote: "They never found any foreign influence. Not one." – AJ [45:50]
[50:00]
The investigation revealed a disturbing collaboration between the CIA and the FBI through the COINTELPRO program. Originally intended to target subversives, COINTELPRO evolved into a broad campaign against civil rights leaders, activists, and even members of Congress. Notably, Martin Luther King Jr. was subjected to relentless surveillance and harassment, culminating in efforts to discredit and undermine his leadership.
Notable Quote: "When it came to crushing Americans' First Amendment rights, the CIA and the FBI were perfect partners." – AJ [55:35]
[60:10]
A critical discovery was Operation Mockingbird, the CIA's initiative to influence and control media outlets. The program involved recruiting over 400 journalists from major American media organizations to act as CIA operatives. These journalists were tasked with planting stories, suppressing unfavorable information, and shaping public opinion to favor the agency's objectives.
Notable Quote: "The New York Times gave CIA employees press credentials. They posed as reporters while conducting intelligence operations." – AJ [65:45]
[70:30]
Perhaps the most notorious CIA program revealed in the Family Jewels is MKULTRA, a series of experiments aimed at developing mind control techniques. Led by Sidney Gottlieb, MKULTRA encompassed 149 sub-projects across 80 institutions, subjecting unsuspecting Americans to horrific experiments involving LSD, hypnosis, electric shocks, and other invasive methods intended to manipulate and control human behavior.
Notable Quote: "MKULTRA wasn't one program. It was 149 sub projects. 80 institutions were involved." – AJ [75:15]
[80:25]
Despite the Church Committee's efforts to curb abuses, surveillance and intelligence overreach persisted and evolved. Post-9/11 legislation, notably the Patriot Act, significantly expanded the government's surveillance capabilities, enabling mass data collection on Americans with minimal oversight. This modern surveillance state mirrors the indiscriminate monitoring practices of the past.
Notable Quote: "What took Operation Chaos years to collect on 300,000 Americans, the NSA now collects on everyone in minutes." – AJ [85:50]
[90:00]
AJ concludes the episode by reflecting on the enduring legacy of the CIA's Family Jewels. The revelations serve as a stark reminder of the potential for abuse within intelligence agencies and the critical need for robust oversight to safeguard democratic freedoms. The episode underscores the importance of transparency and accountability in preventing such abuses from recurring.
Notable Quote: "The CIA, FBI, and our entire intelligence apparatus have been testing us for 50 years. And for 50 years, we the people have failed every test." – AJ [95:30]
Final Thoughts
Episode 603 of "The Why Files: Operation Podcast" offers a meticulous and engaging exploration of the CIA's clandestine operations, as documented in the Family Jewels. Through well-researched narratives and impactful quotes, AJ provides listeners with a profound understanding of how unchecked intelligence activities have shaped American society. This episode not only educates but also serves as a wake-up call for the necessity of vigilance and reform in intelligence oversight.
For those seeking to delve deeper, additional resources and links are provided in the episode's description.