Military
President Reagan Told Elite Operator: I Didn't Know We Had People That Did This
Jocko Podcast
SOGCast 051: RT Idaho's John Trantanella on 2nd SOG Combat HALO Jump Into Laos.
What was said
"I had to brief the chief of staff of the army and the navy and President Reagan. They had the mission things from the Korean government with all the stuff that how far we jumped and all that. Reagan came, shook my hand and said I just didn't know we had people that did this stuff. I said I know. Because we were told if something happens, you know, it's plausible deniability. The only proof that I have it was on my OER and EER."
During a 1985 Hawaii briefing on his classified Korean CIA training mission, Trantanella personally briefed President Reagan, who expressed surprise at the existence of such covert capabilities. The operations were conducted under strict plausible deniability protocols, with the only official record appearing in his military evaluation reports. This moment revealed the compartmentalization between even presidential knowledge and deep special operations activities.
Verification status
Attributed speaker claim
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
Source and context
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
- Programme
- Jocko Podcast
- Episode
- SOGCast 051: RT Idaho's John Trantanella on 2nd SOG Combat HALO Jump Into Laos.
- Clip time
- 1:00:32
- Original source
- Watch the source segment →
From this episode
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