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Gentile says Operation Mockingbird-style media influence ‘is still going on’

Jack Neel · AJ Gentile: "They're Lying About Aliens!" No One Wants You to Look At The Ocean | Jack Neel Podcast · July 26, 2026
Gentile says Operation Mockingbird-style media influence ‘is still going on’
Jack Neel
Jack Neel
AJ Gentile: "They're Lying About Aliens!" No One Wants You to Look At The Ocean | Jack Neel Podcast
"I can think of five off the top of my head that for sure assets. I'm not going to name them because they'll find out. Uh they know who they are."
Asked about CIA influence over journalists, Gentile says he believes such relationships persist and claims he can identify “five” current media figures he considers intelligence “assets”, though he refuses to name them. He advises listeners to scrutinise biographies and sudden shifts in ideology as potential warning signs.

About this episode

Jack Neel interviews AJ Gentile, a YouTuber known for telling conspiracy narratives and then attempting to debunk them. Gentile focuses heavily on US intelligence history, arguing that MKUltra exemplifies a broader pattern of agencies operating outside the law, and he claims key records were destroyed by CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb. He also recounts alleged biowarfare testing such as Operation Sea-Spray and links the contested death of scientist Frank Olson to that era of secrecy, including a claimed 1977 payment tied to an NDA.

On UFOs, Gentile argues that disinformation is a recurring feature: he retells the Paul Bennewitz case, alleging an Air Force counterintelligence effort to feed false narratives, and he claims author Bill Moore publicly admitted being paid to spread lies in the UFO community. He discusses Brazil’s “Chupa Chupa”/Operation Prato reports as unusual because, he says, official documentation exists, while still stopping short of claiming proof of extraterrestrials.

The conversation moves to surveillance and media influence. Gentile cites Snowden-era reporting about the AT&T Long Lines building and alleges the NSA co-ordinates with mobile providers. He also claims Operation Mockingbird-style influence persists in modern media, saying he can identify specific “assets” but declining to name them. Gentile additionally describes platform constraints, saying YouTube has removed some of his videos and that he avoids topics likely to trigger demonetisation.

The episode ends with broader reflections on power, cynicism, belief, death, and Gentile’s personal story about starting a cannabis business that, he claims, supplied Joe Rogan.

Key takeaways

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