--- title: "Former Navy SEAL in Canada’s crosshairs after publishing video of world’s longest sniper shot" description: "Former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan is in the Canadian military's crosshairs after publishing video of the longest recorded sniper shot in history." date: "2023-02-17" modified: "2023-02-17" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/navy-seal-shawn-ryan-sniper-video-canadian-military/" categories: - "Culture" --- # Former Navy SEAL in Canada’s crosshairs after publishing video of world’s longest sniper shot ![navy seal shawn ryan]() *Left, former Canadian sniper Dallas Alexander; right, former U.S. Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan. (Task & Purpose photo illustration)* Shawn Ryan is a retired Navy SEAL, former CIA contractor, and podcaster. Now, he can count *thorn in the Canadian military’s side* among his many accolades after releasing footage of the longest-distance sniper shot in history. In a Feb. 6 episode of his eponymous podcast, Ryan interviewed Dallas Alexander, a former sniper with the elite Joint Task Force Two (JTF2) special operations unit who was in possession of footage showing an unnamed sniper taking out an Islamic State group member at 3,540 meters (2.2 miles) away with a McMillan Tac-50 anti-material rifle in 2017. The footage, which showed the .50 cal round traveling through the air for nearly 10 seconds before striking the ISIS terrorist as he exited a building to a car, was apparently not authorized for release and immediately captured the attention of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, which sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ryan demanding he take down the video. Ryan published the letter to Twitter on Tuesday after pulling Alexander’s episode, [stating]() that while he didn’t want to inadvertently publish classified material that would jeopardize the safety of allied troops in harm's way, he believed the cease-and-desist “is an attempt to silence Dallas from explaining that he left command for refusing the covid vaccine.” https://twitter.com/ShawnRyan762/status/1625634464134008859 Indeed, during the episode, Shawn had [pressed]() Alexander on why he left JTF2 after fourteen years with the unit, prompting the latter to sound off about “wokeness” and personal freedom with regard to the Canadian Armed Forces’ mandatory COVID-19 vaccine regimen. “It should be up to the individual to make that assessment — your own fucking health — especially fucking injecting something in your body,” Alexander [said](). “It’s like the ultimate overstep on someone’s freedom, like, ‘You must inject this.’” "I want to be perfectly clear, I am not an ANTI-VAX individual. I believe in freedom of choice and in freedom of speech,” Ryan [wrote]() on Twitter. “This is why I cut anything that could have possibly been considered "classified" from part 2 of the episode.” [**Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today**]()**. Get the latest military news, entertainment, and gear in your inbox daily.** There’s some ambiguity remaining over whether the CAF knew Alexander was going to release the footage. Alexander himself posted a video to Instagram on Monday [stating]() that he had “consulted with many people … to gather information on what I should say and what I shouldn’t say” with regards to the long-distance sniper kill on Ryan’s show. “I told them I would vet every single post, blur something, change the word,” Alexander [subsequently]() told CTV News on Friday. “I was told that a public affairs officer would reach out to me — but no one did.” It’s unclear what consequences will emerge for Ryan and Alexander, although the former, as a U.S. citizen, is likely not subject to Canadian laws regarding the dissemination of restricted information, [per]() CTV News. Still, Alexander told CTV News that the Canadian Armed Forces was likely using the video as a pretext to investigate him for his podcast comments regarding his departure from military service. “In all aspects of censorship, the common theme is ‘this is dangerous information to someone, therefore we need to censor it,’” Alexander [said]() in his Monday statement. “I’m assuming that will be the approach taken. We’ve seen a lot of that over the last few years. So that wouldn’t surprise me.” ## The latest on Task & Purpose - **Here’s why the Marine Corps** [**strapped a rare electronic warfare LAV**]() **to the deck of a warship** - [**Shot fired**]() **after intruder breaks onto Andrews Air Force base** - **That time a US Navy submarine got a** [**confirmed kill on a train**]() **during WWII** - **Coast Guardsman saves man** [**hours before graduating**]() **from rescue swimmer school** - **JTAC vs TACP: A user’s guide to the troops who call in** [**close air support**]() **Want to write for Task & Purpose?**[ **Click here**]()**.** ## Author Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]()