No, former FBI agent Ted Gunderson was not assassinated for exposing chemtrails

Context

In a video circulating on Facebook and TikTok, former FBI agent Ted Gunderson claims that chemtrails, or “death dumps,” are being sprayed in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, and other countries. Gunderson claims that these chemtrails are sprayed by the United Nations and are part of a genocidal, poisonous, and murderous plot. He asserts chemtrails are a “crime against humanity.” 

The caption on the video reads, “The video that got former FBI director Ted Gunderson killed,” implying Gunderson was assassinated for exposing chemtrails.

In fact

There is no evidence that Ted Gunderson was assassinated, and the chemtrail conspiracy has been substantially debunked.

Gunderson spent 27 years in the FBI, running FBI offices in Memphis, Dallas, and Los Angeles. While Gunderson did spend time in the FBI, he was not the director of the FBI as the caption claims.

Gunderson was also known for spreading conspiracy theories. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, he became a leading “conspiracy-monger” and claimed that the Illuminati planned to run the world. This is a common conspiracy theory that has frequently been debunked. He also made claims about chemtrails.

After retiring from the FBI, Gunderson started an investigation firm and was an investigator on the McMartin PreSchool case, becoming fixated on the idea that children are frequent victims of Satanic ritual abuse. However, the case was widely denounced and produced no convictions after seven years of trials. The case highlights that while he was a long-serving FBI agent, this does not mean that Gunderson is always correct or credible with regard to the claims he has made.

Greg Gunderson, Ted Gunderson’s son, confirmed to the Associated Press in 2011 that his father died of cancer at the age of 82 on July 31 that same year. The claim that he was assassinated is unsubstantiated.

The BBC states that the chemtrail conspiracy theory believes that the plumes of white clouds and trails that form behind aircraft are chemicals governments use to control the weather, poison the population, or make people easier to control. However, these claims are baseless, and the “chemtrails” are actually condensation trails of water vapor that are released from aircraft engines. If the atmospheric conditions are right, this vapor condenses and forms ice crystals.

A wide body of academic evidence also refutes the idea of chemtrails. The University of California, Irvine, and the Carnegie Institute of Science found that well-understood physical and chemical processes explain contrails through a survey of the world’s leading atmospheric scientists, specializing in condensation trails and atmospheric deposition of dust and pollution. 76 of the 77 scientists stated they had not encountered evidence of a secret atmospheric spraying program. Contrails, to use the correct term, are a normal result of airplanes flying in certain atmospheric conditions. Logically Facts has previously found other chemtrail claims false.

The verdict

Ted Gunderson died of cancer and was not assassinated for talking about chemtrails. Condensation trails, also known as contrails, in the sky are a normal phenomenon and not chemtrails. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.