Thread by @jsrailton

"...what I’m talking about is setting up a sleeper cell, just like our Founding Fathers did "

I found a website apparently by former CIA Officer Jason Hanson encouraging 'patriots' to create sleeper cells & promoting a "step-by-step blueprint" book.

Join me on a wild THREAD 1/

2/ I came across Jason Hanson while looking a right wing content @YouTube. He was promoting "Sleeper Cell Secrets By Spies And Our Founding Fathers." Ultimately, YouTube served me multiple advertisements. I found the title jarring, so I began digging...

3/ Turns out Jason has not avoided the limelight. He's been on popular shows like @ABCSharkTank. He's got plenty of books on @amazon...But "Sleeper Cell Secrets..." is notably not on there.

4/ ... Back to the book. Clicking through @YouTube advertisements sends you to a sales-lead style page where our author asserts you should be afraid that America will go socialist... and thus why you need to know how to set up a "sleeper cell" of "like-minded patriots"

5/...why sleeper cells are not sinful & how to "wake the sleeping giant"...but also: spotting infiltrators, using cutouts, setting up clandestine meetings, tamper detection, etc.

All in a mix of that-one-trick-doctors-hate advertising copy & spookspeak.

6/ It's yours 'free'..for a mere $9.95 Shipping and handling.

Testament to how normalized radical language is in America right now:

-Advertise a sleeper cell how-to on @YouTube
-Run click funnel / advertising leads generation for it.

7/ Does anyone take the book seriously? Is it being used? No idea...

But a little digging yielded a commentator recommending the book in the comments of "How to start a militia," a video hosted on an "uncensored" video site.

8/ Winding this up: "Sleeper Cell Secrets" order page shares

-email, phone #, privacy policy, TOC etc w/Jason Hanson's "Spy Briefing, LLC." website
-postal address w/his "Utah Spy Adventure"

9/ "Sleeper Cell Secrets" testimonials features quotes attributed to folks like @CIA vet Peter Earnest, Founding Exec. Director of the @IntlSpyMuseum. Other vets, too.

Given the content, I'd speculate that these folks might be very surprised to see their names used for this.