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The US Marine Corps and The Cat From Outer Space

There I was, innocently digging through some 1970s entertainment liaison office reports from the US Marine Corps when all of...

The post The US Marine Corps and The Cat From Outer Space first appeared on Spy Culture.

Theaters of War in Military Times – But is it Propaganda?

I know, you weren’t expecting this, but Military Times have reviewed our documentary Theaters of War.  Davis Winkie, who did...

The post Theaters of War in Military Times – But is it Propaganda? first appeared on Spy Culture.

Theaters of War on the Dangerous History Podcast

Matt and I were recently invited on the Dangerous History podcast to discuss our documentary Theaters of War. We talk...

The post Theaters of War on the Dangerous History Podcast first appeared on Spy Culture.

The National Security Act Turns 75 – and so do the US Military’s Entertainment Liaison Offices

Top Gun For Hire – Spy Culture (and Theaters of War) in the Guardian

I recently spoke with Steve Rose for his feature in the Guardian about Top Gun: Maverick, and the Pentagon’s entertainment...

The post Top Gun For Hire – Spy Culture (and Theaters of War) in the Guardian first appeared on Spy Culture.

ClandesTime 229 – Black Operations and the Entertainment Liaison Offices

Theaters of War Now Available On Demand

It has been a long time coming, but the documentary Theaters of War is now available via on demand streaming. ...

The post Theaters of War Now Available On Demand first appeared on Spy Culture.

What Connects the next Mission: Impossible to the First Movie to Shoot at CIA Headquarters?

Why The Pentagon Helped Make Coup Fetish Schlock The Suicide Squad

ClandesTime 215 – Greenland vs Operation Christmas Drop vs My Spy

This Film has Been Modified to Meet Imperial Demands – Tom on In the Context of Empire

Where Entertainment Lies (Preface to the French Edition of National Security Cinema)

By Matt Alford In 2017, we released National Security Cinema with no advertising, no publisher, no jacket designer, no distributor,...

ClandesTime 213 – Homeland Security in Hollywood (and the Boston Bombing)

The Future of Space in Superhero Movies – Spy Culture in The Journal of American Culture

Homeland Security in Hollywood: How the Dept Controls Its Image On Screen

In my latest article for Shadowproof I delve into the Department of Homeland Security’s Hollywood office, which works on everything...

The Hollywood Arms Race: Why Ted Cruz’s Anti Film Censorship Legislation Totally Misses the Point

The Hollywood Arms Race: Why Ted Cruz’s Anti Film Censorship Legislation Totally Misses the Point

ClandesTime 204 – Why the Entertainment Liaison Offices Matter

Over more than a century the US government’s entertainment liaison offices have supported over 1000 movies, along with thousands of...

ClandesTime 204 – Why the Entertainment Liaison Offices Matter

Over more than a century the US government’s entertainment liaison offices have supported over 1000 movies, along with thousands of...

The Pentagon Changed the Entire Premise of MegaForce to Shape Our View of the Future

The Pentagon Changed the Entire Premise of MegaForce to Shape Our View of the Future

The Pentagon Changed the Entire Premise of MegaForce to Shape Our View of the Future

Ex-CIA Rep. Elissa Slotkin Praises CIA’s Entertainment Liaison Office

It isn’t often that the CIA’s entertainment liaison office makes the news but former CIA officer turned Democrat Representative Elissa...

Ex-CIA Rep. Elissa Slotkin Praises CIA’s Entertainment Liaison Office

It isn’t often that the CIA’s entertainment liaison office makes the news but former CIA officer turned Democrat Representative Elissa...

Ex-CIA Rep. Elissa Slotkin Praises CIA’s Entertainment Liaison Office

It isn’t often that the CIA’s entertainment liaison office makes the news but former CIA officer turned Democrat Representative Elissa...

How Hollywood And The Pentagon Collude To Cover Up Military Sex Crimes

Sexual assault in the U.S. military is on the rise. Internal documents reveal the Pentagon’s entertainment liaison offices have spent...

How Hollywood And The Pentagon Collude To Cover Up Military Sex Crimes

Sexual assault in the U.S. military is on the rise. Internal documents reveal the Pentagon’s entertainment liaison offices have spent...

How Hollywood And The Pentagon Collude To Cover Up Military Sex Crimes

Sexual assault in the U.S. military is on the rise. Internal documents reveal the Pentagon’s entertainment liaison offices have spent...

Pentagon File on Under Siege (1992) Reveals How to Punk the Entertainment Liaison Offices

Pentagon File on Under Siege (1992) Reveals How to Punk the Entertainment Liaison Offices

Pentagon File on Under Siege (1992) Reveals How to Punk the Entertainment Liaison Offices

[Video] Jack Ryan, the CIA and Venezuela

A video essay presenting my breakdown of Amazon's Jack Ryan, including how the CIA, DOD and other US government agencies were involved in producing it.  I outline some of the history between the government and Tom Clancy productions before breaking down how seasons 1 and 2 are propaganda for US foreign policy.

Jack Ryan, the CIA and Venezuela

Jack Ryan, the CIA and Venezuela

US Coast Guard’s Hollywood Office Takes 3 YEARS to Release 20 Pages of Documents

In March 2016 I put in a FOIA request with the US Coast Guard.  Several appeals, a lot of ignored emails and well over three years later they finally released just 20 pages of documents on the activities of their entertainment liaison office.  I thought the CIA's FOIA office was bad, but this is perhaps the worst FOIA experience I've ever had with the US govern

ClandesTime 196 – The Final Countdown

The Final Countdown is a classic of good bad cinema, featuring an aircraft carrier that goes through a wormhole and goes back in time to the day before Pearl Harbor was attacked. In this episode I review and analyse the film, which benefited from full DOD support.

Napalm, Ambushes and Russian Roulette: Why the Pentagon Rejected The Deer Hunter

The epic war drama The Deer Hunter won five Oscars, despite the central conceit and metaphor of the film being inaccurate.  This conceit - that the Viet Cong forced American prisoners of war to play Russian Roulette - is the main reason the film was rejected for DOD support, along with scenes that made the US Army look incompetent or needlessly cruel. 

Napalm, Ambushes and Russian Roulette: Why the Pentagon Rejected The Deer Hunter

Napalm, Ambushes and Russian Roulette: Why the Pentagon Rejected The Deer Hunter

ROI: Does the Pentagon Fund Movies?

One of the most common conspiracy theories you hear in this line of research is that the Pentagon and CIA fund Hollywood movies.  This isn't entirely untrue - the CIA covertly funded productions of Animal Farm and 1984 in the early Cold War period - but on the whole, it is untrue.  In all the many thousands of documents I have about the government involvement in the entertainment industry, there are very few indications

Revolving Doors: Technical Advisors and The Entertainment-Propaganda Complex

The role of the technical advisor is crucial to understanding the military-Hollywood relationship, but very few people know who these people are or what they do.  Even less well known is that a significant number of private industry technical advisors used to work for the Pentagon's entertainment liaison offices, and are effectively continuing that work even after leaving th

Revolving Doors: Technical Advisors and The Entertainment-Propaganda Complex

The role of the technical advisor is crucial to understanding the military-Hollywood relationship, but very few people know who these...

Revolving Doors: Technical Advisors and The Entertainment-Propaganda Complex

The role of the technical advisor is crucial to understanding the military-Hollywood relationship, but very few people know who these...

From Premises to Character Arcs – How Deeply the Military Rewrites Film & TV

Sometimes the US military's rewriting of scripts is very specific - take out this joke about the US losing in Vietnam, swap this bottle of beer for an energy drink, remove this scene where soldiers set fire to a village and rape all the women. At other times their requested changes are very broad in scope, affecting the overalls arcs and even the premises of films and TV shows.

From Premises to Character Arcs – How Deeply the Military Rewrites Film & TV

Why Amazon’s The Boys is the Most Subversive TV Show of the Year

Amazon Prime's The Boys is not only the most enjoyable TV show I've seen all year, it's also the most subversive.  While it will appeal to audiences suffering from superhero fatigue after more than a decade of relentless Marvel and DC products, it is so much more than that.  It subverts both superhero pop culture and the role that culture plays in promoting the military-industrial complex.&

Why Amazon’s The Boys is the Most Subversive TV Show of the Year

‘In The Navy’ Songwriter Dead at 82

Co-founder of the Village People and co-writer of 'YMCA', 'Macho Man' and 'In the Navy' Henri Belolo died last saturday at the age of 82.  Born in Casablanca, Belolo was a key member of perhaps the first openly gay disco outfit.  He also participated in one of the funniest co-sponsorship deals the US Navy has ever seen.

(Read more...

ClandesTime 187 – When Entertainment Liaison Offices Go Bad

The relationship between government liaison offices and the entertainment industry usually works well, resulting in added production value for the industry’s products and the furtherance of the government’s agendas. But sometimes things go wrong.

ClandesTime 187 – When Entertainment Liaison Offices Go Bad

The relationship between government liaison offices and the entertainment industry usually works well, resulting in added production value for the...

“Shame on them, they know better” – When the Pentagon Fell Out with NCIS

For over a decade the CBS action drama NCIS has enjoyed a very close working relationship with the US military, which allows the entertainment liaison offices to review every script, even for episodes where they provide no support.  This unusual situation nearly fell apart in early 2014 when the producers refused to rewrite an episode the DOD didn't like, and then produced a pilot
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