4 chapters across the catalog
A throwback to "Operation Infection" details how the KGB planted stories in the 1980s claiming the U.S. government created HIV at Fort Detrick as a biological weapon. The disinformation campaign used a small Indian newspaper to launch a global narrative that eventually reached mainstream U.S. media outlets like CBS News. The hosts use this historical example to analyze how modern health crises are messaged to specific demographic groups.
Adam Curry and Mo Facts open episode 69 from Texas and Northern Virginia. They discuss a dog named Rocco and his popularity as a "people magnet." The hosts introduce the main theme of the episode, titled Operation Infection, which focuses on historical medical skepticism.
The New York Times series "Operation Infection" is discussed, detailing a KGB campaign to spread the story that the U.S. created AIDS at Fort Detrick. The disinformation began in 1983 in an Indian newspaper called The Patriot and was eventually reported by Dan Rather on CBS Evening News.
Operation Secondary Infection, Pfizer Discrediting and Truth Squads
A 2021 report titled "Operation Secondary Infection" is introduced, which examines campaigns aimed at discrediting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The hosts link this to the original KGB "Operation Infection" and the "Active Measures Working Group" (Truth Squads), which they describe as the genesis of modern fact-checkers.
