Shawn Ryan

Shawn Ryan joined the U.S. Navy at 18 after graduating from high school in 2001, with the goal of becoming a Navy SEAL. After completing Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S), he served with SEAL Teams 2 and 8, deploying on combat operations in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom); he was sent to Haiti in 2004 and also guarded Iraqi politicians in Baghdad. He left the Navy in 2006, later saying he had been “really dissatisfied.”⁠[1][2][2][1][1][1]

After leaving the Navy, Ryan says, he first joined the private security contractor Blackwater and then moved to the CIA’s Global Response Staff, which provides security for agency personnel abroad, working as a contractor in clandestine operations. His SEAL and CIA contractor service totaled 14 years, during which he completed more than 20 deployments to combat zones in 14 different areas of operations, mainly against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State.⁠[1][1][2][3][2]

In December 2015, Ryan founded the training company Vigilance Elite to train civilians and law enforcement, serving as its founder and CEO. He recalled that the idea came about six months after he finished his contracting work: watching phone footage of shootings and terror attacks on the news, he realized many members of the public did not know how to respond, and the terror attack on the Brussels airport in particular prompted him to start teaching people how to think and act; he began by teaching home defense and mindset and later concentrated on firearms fundamentals. He also created a YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel to promote the company.⁠[2][2][2][2][2][2][2][2][2][1]

In April 2019, Vigilance Elite posted videos on YouTube of Ryan giving tactical training to actor Keanu Reeves for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, covering room entry, weapon handling, and foot placement; Vigilance Elite was then based in Florida.⁠[4][4]

The Shawn Ryan Show debuted on Christmas Eve 2019. Produced by Vigilance Elite, the show became known for special forces veterans recounting their war experiences and psychological trauma, with the stated aim of preserving history through the unfiltered stories of those who lived it. Ryan later expanded the show’s mission to coaching veterans on applying their skills to civilian entrepreneurship and supporting related causes through crowdfunding.⁠[1][5][3][3]

In an episode aired on February 6, 2023, Ryan interviewed Dallas Alexander, a former sniper with the Canadian special operations unit JTF2, who had footage showing an unnamed sniper killing an Islamic State member from 3,540 meters away in 2017; Ryan released the footage. Canadian Special Operations Forces Command then sent Ryan a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the video be taken down; Ryan pulled the episode and published the letter on Twitter (now X), saying he did not want to release classified material that could endanger allied forces but believed the move was meant to stop Alexander from talking about leaving the command after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6]

Ryan appeared on Tennessee Talks, the podcast of Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett, discussing his time as a SEAL, helping veterans transition back into civilian life, and his involvement in mental health research. Burchett said Ryan was now a resident of Tennessee and noted that Ryan supported psychedelic research for treating veterans’ mental health problems and traumatic brain injury (TBI), and also helped veterans navigate difficulties with the Department of Veterans Affairs.⁠[7][7][7]

On March 7, 2024, Burchett announced that Ryan would be his guest for President Biden’s State of the Union address.⁠[8]

Before the 2024 U.S. election, JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and others appeared on the show, and Donald Trump himself was also interviewed by Ryan. In October 2024, The Shawn Ryan Show reached first place on the Spotify podcast chart; in Spotify’s 2024 year-end U.S. podcast ranking, released in December of that year, the show placed in the top ten.⁠[1][1][9][9]

In January 2025, at Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense, Senator Jeanne Shaheen questioned him by citing remarks he had made on The Shawn Ryan Show that women should not serve in combat roles; Hegseth replied that he had been talking about standards.⁠[1][1][1]

The guest on episode 171 of The Shawn Ryan Show was Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and Anduril IndustriesAnduril IndustriesAnduril Industries is a defense technology company headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, United States, co-founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey and several former Palantir and Oculus employees. It develops autonomous drones, unmanned undersea vehicles, border surveillance towers, counter-drone systems, and the Lattice command-and-control software, and builds its own large-scale weapons manufacturing facilities. As of May 2026, the company was valued at $61 billion.Open the full entry. The episode was published on the show’s website on February 14, 2025, under the title “Superhuman Soldiers, AI Missiles and Exoskeletons in Warzones”; as of October 2026, the episode’s YouTube video was titled “EagleEye: Inside the Military’s AI Powered Superhuman Helmet.”⁠[10][10][11]

As of July 2025, Ryan’s YouTube channel had more than 4 million subscribers, with its viewership nearly doubling in 2024 alone. The show’s guests expanded from military figures and politicians to UFO enthusiasts and others; when California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared on the show, Ryan told him that he had been painted as a MAGA supporter because he had interviewed Trump and others, and that while he leaned conservative, “I am not that far right.”⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

Shawn Ryan Show (Vigilance Elite): Official website: https://shawnryanshow.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

X: Public account: https://x.com/ShawnRyanShow (opens in a new window)⁠[5]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ShawnRyanShow (opens in a new window)⁠[11]