WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.600 This episode is brought to you by Prep Start 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:05.599 Now, because life doesn't come with a warning. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.220 When an emergency strikes, whether it's a power 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:11.140 outage, natural disaster, or even a medical scare, 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:13.480 the last thing you want is panic. Prep Start 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:16.179 Now empowers families to be ready with the right 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:19.059 tools, knowledge, and confidence. They're about 00:00:19.059 --> 00:00:21.679 smart planning so you can focus on protecting 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.300 your family instead of scrambling for solutions. 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:27.120 Their shop has everything from first aid kits 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:30.469 and water filtration to backup power and essential 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:33.590 gear. Plus, their Prep Academy makes it easy 00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:36.090 to learn emergency skills with simple guides 00:00:36.090 --> 00:00:38.770 and quick tips anyone can follow. I've arranged 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:41.289 an exclusive 15 % discount for my listeners. 00:00:41.570 --> 00:00:44.929 Just go to prepstartsnow .com and use promo code 00:00:44.929 --> 00:00:47.649 zero signal at checkout or click the link in 00:00:47.649 --> 00:00:50.390 my show notes where the discount is applied automatically. 00:00:51.009 --> 00:00:54.109 Don't wait for the next crisis. Take action today. 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:59.899 That's prepstartsnow .com. What if the same company 00:00:59.899 --> 00:01:02.759 that fills your breakfast bowls once helped design 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:04.980 the tools of biological warfare? That's what 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:07.599 I'm telling you folks. Behind the smiling mascots, 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.540 the bright boxes, and the jingles that define 00:01:10.540 --> 00:01:13.439 childhood mornings lies a story the public was 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:15.659 never meant to taste. Declassified government 00:01:15.659 --> 00:01:19.099 files suggest that General Mills, yes, the serial 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:22.640 giant, was once connected to a secret Cold War 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.760 research involving aerosols, powdered stimulants, 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:28.569 and high -altitude balloon test. The same engineers 00:01:28.569 --> 00:01:31.349 who perfected puff grains may have been perfecting 00:01:31.349 --> 00:01:33.650 something far more dangerous. In this episode 00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:36.030 of Zero Signal Shorts, we dig into the irony 00:01:36.030 --> 00:01:38.909 of a company built on comfort food that once 00:01:38.909 --> 00:01:41.250 flirted with military science. This is not about 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:43.730 an accusation. It's about exploring how the same 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:45.890 knowledge used to make breakfast better could 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:48.790 also make warfare invisible. Remember to tune 00:01:48.790 --> 00:01:51.609 in every Tuesday at 6 a .m. Eastern for our full 00:01:51.609 --> 00:01:54.829 -length deep dives. This is Zero Signal Shorts. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:12.300 Now the freshness and fluffiness of spring buds 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:15.319 comes to instant mashed potatoes. Introducing 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:19.199 mashed potato buds. Mew from Betty Crocker. Unlike 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.120 any other instance, potato buds begin with tiny 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.620 bits of Idaho potatoes. And potato buds blossom 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:28.580 into mashed potatoes that are light, fluffy, 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:32.580 and better tasting than any others, even homemade. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.080 Try mashed potato buds. Mew from Betty Crocker. 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:39.240 Before we go any further, let's step back and 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.939 remember who we're talking about. Today, General 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:44.379 Mills isn't a defense contractor. It's breakfast. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:47.240 It's bright colored boxes, cartoon mascots, and 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:49.560 the sound of cereal hitting the bowl. Their products 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:52.139 dominate grocery aisles, Cheerios, Wheaties, 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:55.379 Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, and many, many 00:02:55.379 --> 00:02:58.099 more. They own baking staples under the Betty 00:02:58.099 --> 00:03:00.639 Crocker name. Gold metal flour, refrigerated 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:03.599 doughs, snack bars like Nature Valley, organic 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:07.110 lines like Cascade farms, even pet foods like 00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:09.849 Blue Buffalo. They've grown into a multinational 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:12.409 empire, feeding millions every morning, yet many 00:03:12.409 --> 00:03:15.569 of their products are criticized as ultra -processed, 00:03:15.689 --> 00:03:17.990 high in sugar, low in nutrition, and designed 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:20.530 for shelf life over sustenance. It's a familiar 00:03:20.530 --> 00:03:23.349 story, a company that profits by feeding us what 00:03:23.349 --> 00:03:26.110 nutritionists call very bad food. And that's 00:03:26.110 --> 00:03:28.909 where the irony begins, because decades earlier, 00:03:29.330 --> 00:03:31.930 this same company was quietly working with the 00:03:31.930 --> 00:03:34.370 government on technologies designed to control 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:37.069 something else entirely, not flavor, but particles 00:03:37.069 --> 00:03:39.729 in the air. Chemical weapons can be both powerful 00:03:39.729 --> 00:03:43.310 and terrifying, toxic substances that attack 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:47.550 the skin, blood, nerves, or respiratory system, 00:03:48.729 --> 00:03:51.469 causing painful injury and maybe even death. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.699 The terrors of chemical -soaked battlefields 00:03:54.699 --> 00:03:57.800 in World War I led to regulations banning the 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:01.139 use in warfare. But today, chemical weapon use 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:06.259 persists in battle and beyond. Various chemicals 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:09.020 have been used in both war and personal attacks 00:04:09.020 --> 00:04:12.120 for centuries. But industrial production of chemicals 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:16.019 in the late 1800s made them more widespread and 00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:18.199 ultimately led to the use of chemical weapons 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.689 in World War I. It's estimated that during World 00:04:21.689 --> 00:04:25.310 War I, chemicals like mustard gas injured 1 million 00:04:25.310 --> 00:04:29.610 soldiers and killed 100 ,000, often in horrible, 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:32.829 painful ways. The terrible tales from war led 00:04:32.829 --> 00:04:36.009 to the creation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol, 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:39.230 which aimed to ban chemical weapons, though Japan 00:04:39.230 --> 00:04:42.509 and the U .S. didn't sign for decades. Still, 00:04:42.829 --> 00:04:45.110 Geneva helped in that it curtailed use of chemicals 00:04:45.110 --> 00:04:48.120 during World War II. However, countries were 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:50.680 still making the weapons, setting the stage for 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:53.680 incidents like the US's use of Agent Orange in 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:57.060 Vietnam in the 60s, and Iraq's chemical warfare 00:04:57.060 --> 00:05:00.839 in the Iran -Iraq War in the 80s. Those images 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.620 thrust chemical weapons back into the public 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:06.819 eye, helping advance negotiations for the Chemical 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:09.420 Weapons Convention, banning their production 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:13.819 and use in war. In 1993, several countries signed 00:05:14.060 --> 00:05:16.420 But since then, there have been many incidents 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:18.720 of chemical weapons use. During the Cold War, 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:21.120 industrial expertise was as valuable as military 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.620 hardware. General Mills, with his mastery of 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:25.779 milling and particle control, was reportedly 00:05:25.779 --> 00:05:28.500 tapped to assist in aerosol research experiments, 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.060 studying how to grind materials into powders 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:33.860 fine enough to stay suspended in the air. Engineers 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:36.220 learned how to create micron -sized particles 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:38.360 and prevent them from clumping together. They 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.740 built nozzles, ran wind tunnel tests, and launched 00:05:41.740 --> 00:05:44.430 high -altitude balloons under the cover of weather 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:47.790 research. Reports carried the title of dissemination 00:05:47.790 --> 00:05:50.689 of solid and liquid agents. Some used harmless 00:05:50.689 --> 00:05:53.430 stimulus to model the spread of potential airborne 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:55.750 materials, tracing how powders might travel, 00:05:56.050 --> 00:05:58.810 survive, and disperse. The skill set was chilling. 00:05:58.949 --> 00:06:01.490 What helps flour flow smoothly through a silo 00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:04.149 could, in theory, help fine particles adrift 00:06:04.149 --> 00:06:06.730 invisibly through the atmosphere. Imagine a cereal 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:09.410 plant filled with mixers, hoppers, and grinders. 00:06:09.449 --> 00:06:12.310 Now imagine that same setup, not for oats, but 00:06:12.310 --> 00:06:15.100 for spo - the same engineering that perfected 00:06:15.100 --> 00:06:17.959 pancake mix could not perfect powdered bacteria. 00:06:18.300 --> 00:06:20.439 In daylight, the company sold food to families. 00:06:20.699 --> 00:06:23.199 In secrecy, its scientists studied dispersion 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:25.959 clouds. The boundary between breakfast and battlefield 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:28.300 was thinner. that anyone could have guessed. 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:30.300 Then there's another twist. During the same period, 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:32.600 General Mills was involved in high -altitude 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.339 balloon programs, officially for meteorology 00:06:35.339 --> 00:06:38.160 and recon, but those balloons were also capable 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.939 of testing how aerosols spread in the upper atmosphere. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.819 Some researchers later described a growing unease, 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.819 a sense that their work might not be purely scientific. 00:06:46.819 --> 00:06:49.160 As the Cold War deepened, moral lines blurred. 00:06:49.259 --> 00:06:51.220 When the projects ended, General Mills quietly 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.959 sold off its defense operations and returned 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:57.000 back to food. The surviving documents are fragments. 00:06:57.180 --> 00:06:59.699 Many redacted, and none confirmed whether live 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:01.959 biological agents were ever used. Still, they 00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:05.160 reveal the ambition to make aerosols stable in 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:08.019 the atmosphere, reliable and invisible. That 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:11.079 knowledge didn't vanish. It resurfaced in later 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:14.360 defense and biodefense projects, long after the 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.360 cereal boxes were back on store shelves. Now, 00:07:17.420 --> 00:07:19.759 fast forward to present day. The same company 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:22.680 that once helped perfect aerosol systems sells 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.540 billions in packaged foods each year. It's fa 00:07:25.540 --> 00:07:27.310 - Factories use the same precision, particle 00:07:27.310 --> 00:07:30.449 size, texture control, thermal stability, preservation, 00:07:30.810 --> 00:07:32.769 the engineering of appetite replaced with the 00:07:32.769 --> 00:07:34.689 engineering of aerosols. When critics call these 00:07:34.689 --> 00:07:37.170 foods addictive or unhealthy, engineer for profit 00:07:37.170 --> 00:07:39.490 more than nourishment, it feels poetic. A company 00:07:39.490 --> 00:07:42.589 once tied to biological research now sells edible 00:07:42.589 --> 00:07:45.129 chemistry that changes the body more slowly, 00:07:45.410 --> 00:07:47.949 more subtly. Maybe the weapons just evolved from 00:07:47.949 --> 00:07:51.509 those that harm instantly to those that profit 00:07:51.509 --> 00:07:54.540 gradually. Food science and weapon science share 00:07:54.540 --> 00:07:57.579 a vocabulary. Stability, dispersion, delivery, 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.139 control. The only difference is intent. When 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:03.579 the same corporate DNA can feed nations and fuel 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:06.399 militaries, what does that say about the line 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.420 between nourishment and manipulation? We may 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:10.420 never hear the original recordings from the Cold 00:08:10.420 --> 00:08:12.980 War labs. There were machines or the hiss of 00:08:12.980 --> 00:08:15.180 compressed air, the arguments about ethics, but 00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:17.519 the echo remains. Care quietly through every 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:20.060 serial aisle. that this food is horrible for 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:22.600 you. Perhaps it's time General Mills didn't abandon 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:25.100 the science of biological influence. Perhaps 00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:27.740 they just changed its purpose. Maybe they shifted 00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:30.120 from creating weapons that targeted the body 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.860 to crafting products that targeted the appetite. 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:36.039 The biological harm became slower, safer, and 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:38.139 far more profitable. A steady drip of sugar, 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:41.100 of salt, of synthetic flavor that keeps us coming 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:46.809 back for more and more, like in this video. Is 00:08:46.809 --> 00:08:50.409 it canoeing? With your pets? You will it? Uh 00:08:50.409 --> 00:08:53.970 -uh. It's eatin' banana wackies! Banana wackies! 00:08:54.669 --> 00:09:01.330 Wow! A whack, whack wacky is cereal! Ooh! From 00:09:01.330 --> 00:09:04.370 General Mills. They promote them banana -flavored 00:09:04.370 --> 00:09:08.029 bits. In the whack, whack wackiest shape. Banana 00:09:08.029 --> 00:09:11.730 bingles! Banana jangles! Oakloops! Oakclots! 00:09:12.210 --> 00:09:20.250 And lots more wacky shapes! Wacky! Wacky! Yeah, 00:09:20.649 --> 00:09:24.129 yeah, yeah! A new Big G General Mail cereal! 00:09:24.289 --> 00:09:28.659 It's a Wack Wack Wacky! Banana wackiest, huh? 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:31.120 What they're showing us is a cartoon gorilla 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:34.240 and boy eating a cereal filled with marshmallows 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.039 and sugar, what later turned into an addiction 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.039 and a generation of obese Americans. What I tell 00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:42.179 everybody is be careful what you're feeding your 00:09:42.179 --> 00:09:43.960 children because companies out there, they don't 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:45.980 care about their health and nutrition. They care 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:48.419 about their bottom line. But you know, this episode 00:09:48.419 --> 00:09:51.179 isn't about vilifying a certain company. It's 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:54.519 about patterns, how commerce, science, and defense 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.559 intertwine and how public trust is often traded 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:00.039 for innovation. General Mills didn't invent the 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:02.200 marriage between industry and the military. It 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:04.639 simply illustrates it perfectly. The same brand 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.340 that sells breakfast of champions once contributed 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:09.899 to the science of covert control. And perhaps 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:12.840 it still does today. What we do know is that 00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:15.440 the defense contract records don't vanish. They 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.159 just go quiet. From the early 2000 through the 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:21.080 mid -2010s, General Mills maintained a steady 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.159 relationship with the Department of Defense, 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.879 supplying rations, baking mixes, and cooking 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:28.840 oils through the Defense Logistics Agency and 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:31.639 the Defense Commissary Agency. Government procurement 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:34.820 databases list nearly $2 billion worth of awarded 00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:37.279 contracts during that period, not for research 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:40.379 or weapons, but for sustenance, cereals, grains, 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:43.110 and shelf -stable goods. that keep bases stocked 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:44.889 and soldiers fed. At least that is what they 00:10:44.889 --> 00:10:47.730 tell us. Then somewhere around 2014, the public 00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:50.490 paper trail fades away. The annual totals drop 00:10:50.490 --> 00:10:52.929 to zero and the records stop listing General 00:10:52.929 --> 00:10:55.350 Mills by the name. Maybe the contracts ended 00:10:55.350 --> 00:10:58.990 as military supply food chains consolidated under 00:10:58.990 --> 00:11:01.929 larger distributors like Cisco and Tyson. Or 00:11:01.929 --> 00:11:05.049 maybe the work simply shifted, buried under subcontractors, 00:11:05.309 --> 00:11:07.889 private label logistics, or subsidiaries that 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:10.649 never needed to carry the General Mills brand. 00:11:10.889 --> 00:11:13.250 Because in modern defense procurement, disappearance 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:15.549 doesn't always mean departure. Sometimes it just 00:11:15.549 --> 00:11:18.389 means the logo was removed, the contract re -bundled, 00:11:18.710 --> 00:11:21.129 and the supply line made invisible. Who knows 00:11:21.129 --> 00:11:23.610 what they are doing behind government closed 00:11:23.610 --> 00:11:25.970 doors. So tomorrow morning, when you pour your 00:11:25.970 --> 00:11:28.559 cereal... and see that smiling G on the box? 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:30.840 Take another look. That logo isn't just about 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.539 marketing. It's a monument to the merger of optimism 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:36.000 and industry. The food that built families was 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:38.360 engineered by minds that once studied dispersion 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.759 clouds. Different ingredients, same exact process. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:43.960 And maybe that's the real conspiracy. Not secret 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:46.679 meetings or hidden labs, but normalization. A 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:49.620 world where making food and making weapons become 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:52.059 two sides of the same machine. But for me and 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:55.039 my family, I'm opting out, steering clear of 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.259 anything. that might trace his origins to a sanitized 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.419 bioweapon philosophy dressed up as progress and 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:04.139 slip quietly onto our plates. You've been listening 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:07.200 to Zero Signal. Stay tuned for more forgotten 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.259 intersections of science, secrecy, and society. 00:12:10.379 --> 00:12:12.259 Next time, we'll explore another story where 00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:15.279 innovation and manipulation share the exact same 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:18.139 recipe. Until then, eat carefully, question everything, 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.700 and remember, sometimes the biggest conspiracies 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:22.940 are hidden in plain sight, printed right on the 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:27.399 back of cereal boxes. you