Joe Rogan Experience #2560 - David Grusch · Aired Sep 30, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
The government sprayed the city of San Francisco with substances in 1976 to see how disease could spread.
The finding
What the evidence shows
Nobody in this exchange names the CIA. The real event, Operation Sea-Spray, was a US Navy test in September 1950 that released bacteria over the Bay Area to see how exposed a city would be to a germ attack. It became public in 1976 and 1977 through reporting and Senate hearings, so 1976 is when it came out, not when the spraying happened.
Read the supporting source · en.wikipedia.org ↗Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that the government sprayed the city of San Francisco with substances in 1976 to see how disease could spread?
Partly. The claim stretches what the evidence shows. Nobody in this exchange names the CIA. The real event, Operation Sea-Spray, was a US Navy test in September 1950 that released bacteria over the Bay Area to see how exposed a city would be to a germ attack. David Grusch said it (matched by voice) on Joe Rogan Experience #2560 - David Grusch, aired Sep 30, 2026, at 2:14:50. The supporting source is en.wikipedia.org, linked below.
The context belongs here.
No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.
- Attribution
- Not independently confirmed in this record
- Editorial context review
- Not recorded; generated finding
- Coverage
- One selected claim from the episode
Revisions to this check
No dated revision is recorded here. Older checks may predate this log.
Challenge this finding or add context →Keep the evidence coming.
Follow new checks in your RSS reader, or catch up with the weekly briefing on the site.
Email signup is currently unavailable.
Prefer to catch up here? Read the weekly briefing.