WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 This episode is supported by clear protein. And 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:05.580 I've got to say, this one really surprised me. 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.500 Most protein powders, thick, chalky, and you 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:10.300 have to choke them down with some milk. Clear 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:12.679 is totally different. It's a whey protein isolate 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:15.419 that mixes clear and water. More like a sports 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:17.760 drink than a heavy shake. You still get 20 grams 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.719 of protein per serving with zero sugar, zero 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.199 lactose, and none of that bloated feeling you 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:25.300 get from traditional shakes. The flavors are 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:27.579 actually good too. Strawberry watermelon and 00:00:27.579 --> 00:00:30.519 wild blue raspberry are my go -tos. It's been 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:33.119 perfect for after workouts or even just that 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.700 midday pick -me -up when you don't feel weighted 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:37.859 down by food. And because you're a listener, 00:00:38.060 --> 00:00:40.579 you get 20 % off your order, the best discount 00:00:40.579 --> 00:00:42.920 they offer anywhere. Just head over to Clear 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:45.520 Protein and use code ZERO SIGNAL at checkout. 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:49.020 That's clear with a K, clearprotein .com, code 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:54.119 ZERO SIGNAL. This is Zero Signal and we're changing 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:57.250 things up today. Instead of weekly news recaps, 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:00.590 these short episodes will now spotlight one story 00:01:00.590 --> 00:01:03.429 at a time. The kind that leaves scars in history 00:01:03.429 --> 00:01:06.430 and fuels decades of conspiracy talk. Each one 00:01:06.430 --> 00:01:09.090 runs under 10 minutes, but everyone drops you 00:01:09.090 --> 00:01:11.340 right into the heart. of the mystery. Tonight, 00:01:11.340 --> 00:01:14.239 we start with a program buried in the Cold War 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:17.939 shadows, MK Naomi. It was the CIA's secret project 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:20.840 to stockpile toxins and build covert weapons. 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:23.859 And in 1975, in front of the US Senate, the CIA 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.879 director revealed one of those devices, a dark 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.920 gun designed to deliver poison and mimic a fatal 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.099 heart attack. Stick around for this story. And 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:34.819 don't forget, if you want a deep dive, our full 00:01:34.819 --> 00:01:38.260 -length episodes drop every Tuesday at 6 a .m. 00:01:52.950 --> 00:01:57.010 Does this pistol fire the dart? Yes, it does, 00:01:57.010 --> 00:02:00.549 Mr. Chairman. The round thing at the top is obviously 00:02:00.549 --> 00:02:04.069 the sight. The rest of it is what is practically 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:08.370 a normal .45, although it's special. However, 00:02:08.729 --> 00:02:11.069 it works by electricity. There's a battery in 00:02:11.069 --> 00:02:14.009 the handle and it fires a small dart. So that 00:02:14.009 --> 00:02:17.030 when it fires silently? Almost silently, yes. 00:02:17.669 --> 00:02:24.310 Very little. What range does it have? 100 meters, 00:02:24.409 --> 00:02:27.030 I believe. About 100 yards, 100 meters. About 00:02:27.030 --> 00:02:29.770 100 meters, Ray. And the dart itself, when it 00:02:29.770 --> 00:02:34.629 strikes the target, does the target know that 00:02:34.629 --> 00:02:37.069 he's been hit and about to die? That depends, 00:02:37.189 --> 00:02:39.550 Mr. Chairman, on the particular dart used. There 00:02:39.550 --> 00:02:41.610 are different kinds of these flechettes that 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.629 were used in the various weapons system, and 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:47.870 a special one was developed which... potentially 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:50.909 would be able to enter the target without perception. 00:02:52.330 --> 00:02:55.449 Without perception, right. And did you find such 00:02:55.449 --> 00:02:59.250 darts in the laboratory? We did. What you just 00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:02.990 heard came from the 1975 Senate hearing, a part 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:05.569 of what became known as the Church Committee. 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:09.379 In this session, CIA Director William Kobe revealed 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:12.860 a strange, almost cinematic weapon, a pistol 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:16.000 designed to fire a frozen dart coated in shellfish 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.159 toxin. The dart would enter the body, melt away, 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:23.060 and leave little to no trace. To outside doctors, 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:25.360 the victim might look like they have suffered 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:28.879 a sudden natural heart attack. This wasn't science 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:31.560 fiction, though. This was an actual device engineered 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:34.580 in the shadows of the Cold War. And it was connected 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:38.060 not to the famous MKUltra program of mind control 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:41.020 and LSD experiments, but in the quieter sibling, 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:44.580 MK Naomi. MK Naomi was a joint effort between 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:47.639 the CIA and the US Army Special Operations Division 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:51.020 at Fort Detrick, Maryland. While MKUltra chased 00:03:51.020 --> 00:03:53.979 the ideal of psychological control, MK Naomi 00:03:53.979 --> 00:03:57.449 focused on the physical. toxins, pathogens, and 00:03:57.449 --> 00:04:00.469 covert delivery systems. Its purpose was to maintain 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:04.530 and stockpile of lethal and deadly agents to 00:04:04.530 --> 00:04:07.310 design ways of using them without leaving fingerprints. 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:10.349 Official documents describe it plainly. Keep 00:04:10.349 --> 00:04:13.490 exotic substances ready to go and develop special 00:04:13.490 --> 00:04:16.569 and unique items for clandestine missions. It 00:04:16.569 --> 00:04:18.810 was the CIA's Chemical and Biological Weapons 00:04:18.810 --> 00:04:21.639 Toolkit. tucked away behind layers of secrecy. 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.220 By the early 1970s, President Nixon signed international 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:27.699 agreements banning biological weapons, and MK 00:04:27.699 --> 00:04:31.300 Naomi was supposedly shut down. But that 1975 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:34.060 hearing revealed otherwise. Along with the weapon 00:04:34.060 --> 00:04:35.819 you just heard about, investigators discovered 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:39.519 vials of a poison called saxotoxin, which is 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:42.879 a deadly shellfish poison, still in CIA storage 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.959 years after the ban. The question wasn't just 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:48.420 whether these weapons existed, but whether the 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:51.480 agency had quietly kept them on standby long 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:54.170 after. They were ordered to destroy them. This 00:04:54.170 --> 00:04:56.329 is where the conspiracy deepens. Allegations 00:04:56.329 --> 00:04:59.470 surfaced that biological agents linked to CIA 00:04:59.470 --> 00:05:02.490 projects had been tested or even used in the 00:05:02.490 --> 00:05:05.250 field. One of the most controversial claims came 00:05:05.250 --> 00:05:09.290 from a 1977 Newsday report that tied the agency 00:05:09.290 --> 00:05:12.350 to a devastating outbreak of swine fever in Cuba, 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:14.709 an outbreak that forced the slaughter of half 00:05:14.709 --> 00:05:17.550 a million pigs. The CIA has denied the allegations, 00:05:17.649 --> 00:05:22.029 but the timing and the secrecy of MK Naomi me 00:05:22.029 --> 00:05:24.629 make the story impossible to dismiss outright. 00:05:25.009 --> 00:05:27.149 And that's the legacy of this program. Even when 00:05:27.149 --> 00:05:29.689 it was dragged into the daylight, the evidence 00:05:29.689 --> 00:05:32.170 that survived was only partial. Most records 00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:34.870 were destroyed. The rest heavily redacted. What 00:05:34.870 --> 00:05:38.110 we're left with are glimpses. A dark gun shown 00:05:38.110 --> 00:05:41.660 to senators. toxins found in storage and whispers 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:44.500 of operations we may never fully confirm. Now 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:46.540 here, listen to the rest of this Senate here. 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:50.500 My first question is, why did the agency prepare 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:53.680 a shellfish toxin for which there is no practical 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.860 antidote, which attacks the nervous system and 00:05:56.860 --> 00:06:00.040 brings on death very quickly? Why did the agency 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.800 prepare toxins of this character in quantities 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:06.480 sufficient to kill many thousands of people? 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:09.259 What was the need for that? in the first place, 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:12.040 long before the presidential order came down 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.819 to destroy them. I think the first part of the 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:16.920 answer to that question, Mr. Chairman, is the 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:20.100 fact that the L pill, which was developed during 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:23.220 World War II, does take some time to work and 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:25.480 is particularly agonizing to the subject who 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:29.040 uses it. Some of the people who would be natural 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:32.000 requesters of such a capability... for their 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.120 own protection and the protection of their fellow 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:36.480 agents, really would not want to face that kind 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:39.120 of a fate. But if they could be given an instantaneous 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:41.819 one, they would accept that. And that was the 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:44.439 thought process behind developing the capability. 00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:48.620 Now, I cannot explain why that quantity was developed, 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:51.220 except that this was a collaboration that we 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.220 were engaged in with the United States Army. 00:06:53.220 --> 00:06:56.560 And we did develop this particular weapon, you 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.509 might say, as a possible, for possible use. When 00:07:00.509 --> 00:07:04.230 CIA retained the amount that it did, it obviously 00:07:04.230 --> 00:07:07.610 did it improperly. This quantity and the various 00:07:07.610 --> 00:07:10.370 device administering the toxin that were found 00:07:10.370 --> 00:07:13.689 in the laboratory certainly make it clear that 00:07:13.689 --> 00:07:17.860 purely defensive uses were not... what the agency 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:20.660 was limited to. In any way, there were definite 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:23.060 offensive uses. In fact, there were dart guns. 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:25.339 You mentioned suicide. I don't think that the 00:07:25.339 --> 00:07:27.199 suicide is usually accomplished with a dart, 00:07:27.459 --> 00:07:29.860 particularly a gun that can place the dart in 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:32.100 a human target in such a way that he doesn't 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:34.459 even know that he's been hit. No question about 00:07:34.459 --> 00:07:37.379 it. It was also for offensive reasons. No question. 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:39.839 While the better -known cousin, MK Ultra, focused 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:43.399 on drugs and mind control, MK Naomi was the darker 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:45.810 side of the coin. Its mission was to stockpile 00:07:45.810 --> 00:07:48.490 toxins, pathogens, and tailor -made delivery 00:07:48.490 --> 00:07:51.569 devices, the kind of tools that could kill silently, 00:07:51.949 --> 00:07:54.350 incapacitate a target without a trace, or even 00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:57.269 sabotage an enemy's food supply. Declassified 00:07:57.269 --> 00:08:00.189 summaries describe the program bluntly, maintaining 00:08:00.189 --> 00:08:02.930 operational readiness, special and unique items 00:08:02.930 --> 00:08:05.269 for dissemination of biological and chemical 00:08:05.269 --> 00:08:07.910 materials, that melt vials of lethal poisons 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:10.910 hidden in sprayers, powders, and weapons like 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:13.250 the one shown in the hearing. Officially, the 00:08:13.250 --> 00:08:15.449 program was wound down in the early 70s after 00:08:15.449 --> 00:08:18.189 President Nixon signed treaties banning biological 00:08:18.189 --> 00:08:21.110 warfare. But at that time, senators were asking 00:08:21.110 --> 00:08:23.509 these questions. Investigators somehow found 00:08:23.509 --> 00:08:26.569 the vials of this toxin, one of the deadliest 00:08:26.569 --> 00:08:29.629 natural poisons known. We're still setting on 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:32.549 CIA storage years later after the program was 00:08:32.549 --> 00:08:36.629 already done. I think what made MK Naomi so chilling 00:08:36.629 --> 00:08:39.049 wasn't just the gadgets like the dark gun. It 00:08:39.049 --> 00:08:42.330 was the toxins himself, the most Infamous was 00:08:42.330 --> 00:08:45.389 the saxotoxin, a poison derived from shellfish 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:48.330 that can paralyze the nervous system. and kill 00:08:48.330 --> 00:08:51.889 in microscopic doses. In 1975, hearing senators 00:08:51.889 --> 00:08:54.490 revealed the vials of the toxins were still sitting 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:57.370 in CIA storage, years after President Nixon had 00:08:57.370 --> 00:09:00.450 signed treaties banning biological weapons. Officially, 00:09:00.629 --> 00:09:02.690 MK Nomi was supposed to have been shut down, 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:05.549 but those vials proved that the agency had not 00:09:05.549 --> 00:09:08.269 completely dismantled its stockpiles. Declassified 00:09:08.269 --> 00:09:10.730 summaries describe the program's purpose bluntly, 00:09:10.769 --> 00:09:13.330 to stockpile severely in gas updating and lethal 00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:15.710 materials, and to keep special and unique items 00:09:15.710 --> 00:09:18.659 in operational readiness. That meant lethal poisons, 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:21.480 incasubating agents, and biological organisms 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:24.480 that could be used to sabotage food, animals, 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.820 or even whole populations. William Kobe, then 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:30.620 director of CIA, explained it matter -factly 00:09:30.620 --> 00:09:33.059 to Congress, as if keeping a poison designed 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:36.259 to mimic a heart attack was just routine. That 00:09:36.259 --> 00:09:39.500 calm testimony, set against the reality of what 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:41.899 was being described, is part of why the heart 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:45.299 attack gun and the toxins behind it remind some. 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:47.419 of the most disturbing artifacts of the Cold 00:09:47.419 --> 00:09:51.299 War hidden arsenal. So what else was MK Naomi 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:53.539 doing besides stockpiling toxins and building 00:09:53.539 --> 00:09:56.600 exotic weapons? Declassified records and testimony 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:59.899 gives us glimpses of what they were doing. Alongside 00:09:59.899 --> 00:10:03.480 this shellfish toxin, the CIA and the Army Special 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:06.539 Operations Division as Fort Detrick were experimenting 00:10:06.539 --> 00:10:09.460 with ways to contaminate food supplies, destroy 00:10:09.460 --> 00:10:12.799 crops, and spread disease among animals. Documents 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:16.059 described incapacitating agents meant to temporarily 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:18.960 disable people, evidence that could disorient 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.799 or confuse, and specialized delivery system, 00:10:22.019 --> 00:10:24.710 things like disguise sprayers. powders hidden 00:10:24.710 --> 00:10:27.710 in everyday objects and covert darts. The program's 00:10:27.710 --> 00:10:29.710 mission wasn't just to have poison in a vault. 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:33.110 It was to design practical tools for sabotage 00:10:33.110 --> 00:10:35.629 and assassination that could be used in the field 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:37.710 without leaving a trace. The stockpiles were 00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:39.570 supposed to be destroyed and oversight committees 00:10:39.570 --> 00:10:41.929 were told the program was no longer active. But 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:45.710 history teaches us that Terminated doesn't always 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:48.929 mean gone. In fact, the 1975 revelation that 00:10:48.929 --> 00:10:51.330 vowels of that toxin were still setting in CIA 00:10:51.330 --> 00:10:54.330 phrasers years after the shutdown. How can you 00:10:54.330 --> 00:10:56.289 be in compliance if it's setting in a freezer? 00:10:56.450 --> 00:10:59.350 I'll never know. They say it was too expensive 00:10:59.350 --> 00:11:01.830 and too much money and we can never replicate 00:11:01.830 --> 00:11:04.070 it. We couldn't simply get rid of it. I think 00:11:04.070 --> 00:11:06.169 that's a lie and that's a lie that they're feeding 00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:08.809 us. But it also makes us ask a better question. 00:11:09.149 --> 00:11:11.830 Are programs like this still running today? The 00:11:11.830 --> 00:11:14.000 official answer is no. International treaties 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.779 like the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 00:11:16.779 --> 00:11:19.080 banned the development of bioweapons, and the 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:21.419 U .S. has repeatedly reaffirmed its compliance. 00:11:21.620 --> 00:11:23.980 The CIA no longer admits to anything resembling 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:27.240 MK Naomi, but the secrecy surrounding intelligence 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:30.639 operations leaves much room for suspicion. Modern 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.740 labs still research toxins and pathogens, but 00:11:33.740 --> 00:11:36.279 they do so under the banner of defense, creating 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:38.899 countermeasures, vaccines, and detection systems. 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:41.139 Whether that line has ever been crossed back 00:11:41.139 --> 00:11:44.049 into the offensive, Is it question hidden behind 00:11:44.049 --> 00:11:46.830 classified stamps and that uncertainty is what 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:49.049 fuels the conspiracy theories? If the government 00:11:49.049 --> 00:11:51.830 was willing to keep a dark gun designed to fake 00:11:51.830 --> 00:11:54.649 a heart attack in the 1970s, what tools might 00:11:54.649 --> 00:11:57.590 exist today that we simply haven't been shown? 00:11:57.909 --> 00:12:01.210 That's where we'll leave MK Naomi, a Cold War 00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:04.450 program that officially ended 50 years ago, but 00:12:04.450 --> 00:12:06.639 still haunts the records. A dark gun. Hidden 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:09.659 Toxins and a paper trail full of gaps reminds 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:12.120 us that when governments build weapons designed 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:14.419 to leave no trace, the truth is easier to bury. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.360 Thanks for listening to this short episode of 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:18.720 Signal Zero. For the full deep dives, our long 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:21.480 -form episodes drop every Tuesday at 6 a .m. 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:24.139 Make sure you're subscribed. Listen. Follow. 00:12:24.500 --> 00:12:27.340 Until next time, question everything. Have discernment. 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:28.179 Believe in Christ.