Military career
Ryan enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 18 and graduated from BUD/S training, achieving the designation of a Navy SEAL, serving with SEAL Teams 2 and 8. [1] Ryan was deployed to Haiti and Baghdad, the latter where he guarded Iraqi politicians. [4] In 2006, he left the Navy, dissatisfied, making a stint into real estate. [4] Ryan became a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and served with the Global Response Staff of the Counterterrorism Mission Center. [1] He served a total of 14 years, from 2001 until 2015, across Naval Special Warfare and the CIA.
Post-military career
Vigilance Elite
In December 2015, six months after completing his service as a contractor, Ryan founded Vigilance Elite. The company trains law enforcement and civilians in weapons handling and tactical skills, and is based in Florida. Ryan was inspired to found the company after watching videos of terror attacks and shooting incidents in which bystanders did not know how to react, which motivated him to begin training people for those situations. [1] [5]
To prepare for filming John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum , actor Keanu Reeves trained with Ryan. [6] [7] Some of the topics taught to Reeves included close-quarters combat, specifically clearing rooms. [8] Videos of Reeves and Ryan training together went viral ahead of the film's release. [9]
The Shawn Ryan Show
Ryan hosts The Shawn Ryan Show, a podcast produced by Vigilance Elite. The podcast features interviews with military personnel and veterans, with a focus on their experiences of war and life after serving in the military. [10] [11] Guests include journalists, celebrities, politicians and business leaders, [12] [13] including US president Donald Trump, [14] NRF leader Ahmad Massoud, [15] US senator Tim Sheehy, [16] Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and Taiwanese vice president Hsiao Bi-khim. [17] The show was one of the top 10 most listened to podcasts on Spotify in 2024. [18]
In February 2023, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command sent Ryan a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he remove an episode featuring Dallas Alexander, a Canadian former sniper with Joint Task Force 2. CANSOFCOM claimed this was because the episode contained classified footage of a record breaking shot in which a sniper killed an ISIS fighter from a 2.2 mile distance. [19] However, Ryan and Alexander stated their belief that the episode was censored because it contained Dallas' criticism of the Canadian armed forces' mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy. [20] Ryan re-edited the episodes to ensure they had no potentially classified information and re-uploaded them. [21]
Other work
Ryan has also appeared on other series, including The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show [22] and Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett's Tennessee Talks. [23] He has been featured in publications like CNBC, [24] and Sofrep.com. [25] Ryan was a guest at President Joe Biden's State of the Union address in 2024. [26]
Ryan was also the first guest on The Brett Cooper Show, an independent podcast produced and hosted by former Daily Wire commentator Brett Cooper. His episode was posted to YouTube on February 17, 2025. On the show, Ryan talked about his military career, challenges faced by American men, his experience developing his own podcast, and the importance of traditional masculinity. Ryan was also featured on The Joe Rogan Experience in September 2024 episode #2207. [27]
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United States Navy 
Central Intelligence Agency