In this special episode of Target Intelligence: PSYOP, we are joined by psychological operations insider, human behavior expert, and NCI University founder Chase Hughes.
Chase’s insights are featured through the 8-episode narrative series, and in the final two episodes of the season, Chase explains how PSYOPs work — and how we can avoid being manipulated by them.
More from Chase: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUBj_5pwQZaoXfBrEQQbADw
NCI University: https://chasehughes.com/
About Target Intelligence: PSYOP with Shawn Ryan, an IRONCLAD Original:
Chapters:
(01:17) - What Is a PSYOP?
(04:45) - The Legacy of Edward Bernays
(08:01) - The Smoke-Filled Room and Other Experiments
(23:15) - How PSYOPs can cause destabilization
(32:56) - How Our Brains Get Hacked
(42:50) - The Cult-like Tactics That Isolate People
Sponsors:
SBIR Advisors:
If you’re serious about selling to the military, visit https://www.sbiradvisors.com Mention PSYOP and get your first month free.
GHOSTBED
Take an extra 15% off sitewide with code PSYOP and that’s on top of their already amazing prices. Visit https://www.ghostbed.com/PSYOP and use code PSYOP at checkout for this exclusive offer. Terms and conditions may apply, see site for details.
MAREK HEALTH:
Take control of your health today! Head to http://marekhealth.com and use code PSYOP for 10% off at checkout.
SPARTAN FORGE:
Go to http://spartanforge.ai/PSYOP and use code “PSYOP” to save 40% on an annual subscription
(Discount automatically applied at checkout.)
Episode 8: Gray Matters: PSYOPs that Could End the World
2026-03-24 | 51 mins.
In the narrative episode finale, Shawn Ryan looks at the future of psychological operations and cognitive warfare: direct energy weapons, brain-to–weapon interfaces, the Havana Syndrome attacks, “biological dominance”, and strategies that target your brain.
We're is this all headed?
Chapters:
(00:47) What is “biological dominance”
(04:25) The Havana Syndrome Attacks
(09:15) How exotic new direct energy weapons
(13:50) The Chinese end game with new technologies
(22:53) The build up of military forces in adversarial countries
(24:42) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
(30:13) Agroterrorism attacks
(35:44) Nanoweapons and beyond
(39:46) Brain to weapon interfaces
(45:15) Defending from PSYOPs
Sponsors:
SBIR Advisors:
If you’re serious about selling to the military, visit https://www.sbiradvisors.com Mention PSYOP and get your first month free.
GHOSTBED
Take an extra 15% off sitewide with code PSYOP and that’s on top of their already amazing prices. Visit https://www.ghostbed.com/PSYOP and use code PSYOP at checkout for this exclusive offer. Terms and conditions may apply, see site for details.
MAREK HEALTH:
Take control of your health today! Head to http://marekhealth.com and use code PSYOP for 10% off at checkout.
SPARTAN FORGE:
Go to http://spartanforge.ai/PSYOP and use code “PSYOP” to save 40% on an annual subscription
(Discount automatically applied at checkout.)
Chapter 7: The Uncanny Valley: PSYOPs That Blur Reality Itself
2026-03-17 | 54 mins.
What happens when you can no longer distinguish between what is real and what is artificial intelligence? In this chapter, we uncover the technological breakthroughs that are reshaping PSYOPs, and find out why facial recognition advancements, big tech influences, and deepfake abilities have insiders very concerned.
Chapters:
(00:53) A Deepfake targeting Marco Rubio
(04:27) Detecting Deepfakes
(07:11) The Concept of the Uncanny Valley
(13:36) Deepfake Political PSYOPs
(20:41) Cognitive Warfare Evolution
(27:18) Mass Surveillance Efforts in China and Facial Recognition Technologies
If you’re serious about selling to the military, visit https://www.sbiradvisors.com Mention PSYOP and get your first month free.
GHOSTBED
Take an extra 15% off sitewide with code PSYOP and that’s on top of their already amazing prices. Visit https://www.ghostbed.com/PSYOP and use code PSYOP at checkout for this exclusive offer. Terms and conditions may apply, see site for details.
MAREK HEALTH:
Take control of your health today! Head to http://marekhealth.com and use code PSYOP for 10% off at checkout.
SPARTAN FORGE:
Go to http://spartanforge.ai/PSYOP and use code “PSYOP” to save 40% on an annual subscription
(Discount automatically applied at checkout.)
Chapter 6: The Master Plan - Secret PSYOPs That Run the World
2026-03-10 | 1h 2 mins.
PSYOPs are now a critical part of the U.S. military’s defense strategy. But, how did psychological operations evolve – and what happens when they go too far? In this chapter, we look at the origins of American military PSYOPs and examine how cultural figures – ranging from public relations pioneer Edward Bernays to the filmmakers behind the Kony 2012 viral video – have used media to shape geopolitics.
Chapters
(01:07) - The Story of the ‘Invisible Children’ Project and The Lord’s Resistance Army
(09:40) - ‘Kony 2012’ Goes Viral
(12:26) - A PSYOP to Take Down Joseph Kony
(14:48) - The PSYOPs of WWI & WWII
21:37) - The Ghost Army
(26:05) - ‘Propaganda’ The Rise of Edward Bernays
(29:25) - White, Gray, and Black Propaganda
(33:04) - Operation Wandering Soul
(39:44) - The Cold War’s PSYOP ‘Master Plan’
(43:10) - Operation Mockingbird
(46:46) - The CIA and The National Endowment for Democracy
(56:06) - Edward Bernays and a Coup in Guatemala
Sponsors:
SBIR Advisors:
If you’re serious about selling to the military, visit https://www.sbiradvisors.com Mention PSYOP and get your first month free.
GHOSTBED
Take an extra 15% off sitewide with code PSYOP and that’s on top of their already amazing prices. Visit https://www.ghostbed.com/PSYOP and use code PSYOP at checkout for this exclusive offer. Terms and conditions may apply, see site for details.
MAREK HEALTH:
Take control of your health today! Head to http://marekhealth.com and use code PSYOP for 10% off at checkout.
SPARTAN FORGE:
Go to http://spartanforge.ai/PSYOP and use code “PSYOP” to save 40% on an annual subscription
(Discount automatically applied at checkout.)
Chapter 5: Are UFOs Government PSYOPs?
2026-03-03 | 49 mins.
In the summer of 1952, strange objects began appearing in the skies over the White House and major military installations. More than 70 years later, “drones” and odd lights were seen hovering over sensitive sights in New Jersey and across the east coast. What were they? Clues might be found in an elaborate PSYOP conducted on an unsuspecting veteran who had been working with intelligence agencies to prevent what he believed was a coming alien invasion.
Target Intelligence: PSYOP with Shawn Ryan is an IRONCLAD Original
Chapters:
(01:26) Similarities Between Encounters in 1952 and 2024
(06:57) UFOs Over the White House in 1952
(09:15) The Formation of the Robertson Panel
(11:50) The Kenneth Arnold Sightings and Real Life ‘Men in Black’
(18:34) The Story of Paul Bennewitz’s UFO Encounters at Kirtland Airfare Base
(30:00) The PSYOP Claims of Leon Davidson
(36:46) The New Jersey Drone Incident: A PSYOP
(45:39) Chase Hughes Explains How to Tell if You Are in a PSYOP
Sponsors:
SBIR Advisors:
If you’re serious about selling to the military, visit https://www.sbiradvisors.com Mention PSYOP and get your first month free.
GHOSTBED
Take an extra 15% off sitewide with code PSYOP and that’s on top of their already amazing prices. Visit https://www.ghostbed.com/PSYOP and use code PSYOP at checkout for this exclusive offer. Terms and conditions may apply, see site for details.
MAREK HEALTH:
Take control of your health today! Head to http://marekhealth.com and use code PSYOP for 10% off at checkout.
SPARTAN FORGE:
Go to http://spartanforge.ai/PSYOP and use code “PSYOP” to save 40% on an annual subscription
Explore the dark world of real psychological operations
In this 10-episode docuseries, former Navy SEAL, CIA contractor, and host of The Shawn Ryan Show, Shawn Ryan, takes listeners inside the real PSYOPs being conducted across the world.
Discover how secret PSYOPs have shaped nations, manipulated minds, and continue to wage silent wars on the unsuspecting public.
From paramilitary Russian troll farms and the Chinese Communist Party's cognitive warfare operations to intelligence agency infiltrations of Hollywood, social media influence campaigns, and even futuristic direct energy weapons, the series explores how sophisticated psychological operations have become.
Featuring insights from whistleblowers, insiders, military officials, tech innovators, and intelligence experts, each episode takes us deeper into the rabbit hole to discover where these operations are headed—and how we can stop them.
Who’s really pulling the strings?
NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY
Target Intelligence: PSYOP with Shawn Ryan is an IRONCLAD Original
Sponsor:
SBIR Advisors:
If you’re serious about selling to the military, visit https://www.sbiradvisors.com Mention PSYOP and get your first month free.
Listen to Target Intelligence: PSYOP with Shawn Ryan, Off Duty | The Guardian Investigates and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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