site

The long-running ABC show The F.B.I. was perhaps the greatest success of the FBI's entertainment liaison office during Hoover's time as head of the Bureau. The deal struck between the FBI and the producers granted Hoover approval and veto power over scripts, casting and even sponsors. In return Hoover allowed unprecedented access to case files, personnel and FBI properties and even appeared in the show on occasion himself.

(Read more...)

In last weekend's ClandesTime I discussed how the CIA no longer allow film-makers to shoot footage of the CIA headquarters, leading the producers of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation to re-use old footage of Langley, but it appears they may have relaxed this rule and are now allowing filming, or at least providing newer footage to entertainment producers.

(Read more...)

Like most major 20th century writers the FBI has a brief file on Aldous Huxley - the 'author and social critic' behind Brave New World, Island and The Doors of Perception. Huxley was never the subject of a Bureau investigation but they kept tabs on some of his public appearances and statements.

Following their on-screen debut in the James Bond movies, and their quiet support for Thunderball, the CIA under Richards Helms adopted a more pro-active approach to Hollywood. They began spying on movie scripts depicting the CIA and considering requests from film-makers for official support.

Aaron and Uncle invited both Pearse and myself onto Uncle the Podcast for this one-of-a-kind review of Top Gun, possibly the best piece of military propaganda ever made.

Pearse hosted this podcast for his subscribers but I am also making it available for those of you who support me on Patreon as well. In the first of three episodes, Pearse and I examine season 1 of the original (and superior) House of Cards, which follows Francis Urquhart's rise from Chief Whip to Prime Minister.

The 2011 pandemic thriller Contagion was a massive PR boost for the CDC. In this month's subscriber-only podcast I examine the film and nearly 1000 pages of documents from the CDC about their involvement in helping to make the film, what they thought of it, and the promotional events they created around the movie's release.

John Harrison of Sputnik radio's Level Talk invited Matt and I on to talk about National Security Cinema and the relationship between Hollywood and Washington.

While the 2011 plague thriller Contagion did benefit from military support it is perhaps more important for the big screen debut of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This lesser-known government agency recently released nearly 1000 pages of internal documents on their role in supporting the movie, as well as their PR efforts exploiting its release.

This week I am joined by Robbie Martin and Pearse Redmond to review and analyse the low budget conspiracy thriller Operation Terror. We analyse the plot – where a member of the Council on Foreign Relations recruits a CIA officer to prepare and carry out the 9/11 attacks – and why this is unrealistic.

The new Tom Cruise film American Made bears all the hallmarks of being CIA-Hollywood propaganda. This short video explores Cruise and director Doug Liman's connections with the CIA and how the marketing for the film suggests it'll be nothing more than a remake of Blow, but with Barry Seal's name in it.

(Read more...)

I recently obtained a copy of the notorious 2004 CIA recruitment video featuring Alias star Jennifer Garner. This is not available anywhere else online, and the CIA did not release it in response to my FOIA request (they claimed to be unable to find a copy). Basically, after a lot of screwing around I managed to download a version from an archive of the page on the CIA's web site.

The 1996 action thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight was only a modest commercial and critical success, but is a cult classic in the 9/11 ‘truth movement’ because it appears to predict the attacks. This week we analyse the film, its apparent predictive qualities, its commentary on the 1993 WTC bombing and its similarity to several CIA-assisted productions.

In our latest film review Aaron, Uncle and I dissect the blockbuster Kong: Skull Island (in typically anarchic fashion). We talk about different kinds of monster movies, the film's anti-war message and what to expect from the MonsterVerse going forward. We also touch on the Vietnamese government support for Kong, and wonder whether this had much influence on the content of the film.

After numerous requests I have uploaded (most of) the documents we used to write National Security Cinema in one handy zip file so that people don't have to search around all over this site to find them.

Kevin Gosztola interviewed me for Unauthorized Disclosure about National Security Cinema.

Chris Cook had me as a guest on Gorilla Radio recently to talk about National Security Cinema, how modern military propaganda is different to that of the WW2 era, how widespread militarise

Good friend Aaron invited Matt and I on his show to discuss our new book National Security Cinema.

Robbie Martin invited Matt and I onto Media Roots to talk about our new book National Security Cinema.

(

Doug McKenty of The Shift invited me on his show to talk about my new book National Security Cinema.

The latest reports from the US Army's entertainment liaison office brings us almost up to date on their activities, which includes support to everything from the film Jackie to History Channel documentaries and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. One continued theme is the military support not just for cookery programmes but also for their corollary - competitive weight loss reality TV game shows.

(

National Security Cinema is a new book that uses over 4,000 pages of documents to reveal government censorship and propaganda in Hollywood. From the Pentagon's rewriting of James Bond to the CIA's manipulation of Meet the Parents this is the biggest and best book ever written about military-intelligence propaganda in the entertainment industry.

Good friend Pearse Redmond invited Matt and I on his radio show to talk about our new book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Go

(Read more...)

In this month's subscriber-only podcast I review the TV series Braindead, which is about an invading army of extraterrestrial bugs who burrow into people's heads and eat their brains.

The James Bond films, like the books on which they are based, have always pushed the boundaries of acceptable portraits of sex and violence. Documents from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) show how for Thunderball they reviewed the script, recommending many changes if the film was to achieve the 'A' certificate that the producers wanted.

(

Code names, vehicle searches, non-disclosure agreements, escorts for foreign nationals - when the producers of Star Trek: Into Darkness wanted to film at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, they probably weren't expecting this. Newly-released Dept.

Arnon Milchan is the Hollywood mogul behind films as diverse as JFK, Pretty Woman, Brazil, Fight Club, LA Confidential and Alvin and the Chipmunks. He was also an Israeli spy involved in smuggling equipment for the development of nuclear weapons.

I joined Pearse and Chuck Ochelli to talk about the upsurge of violent protests, fisticuffs and other quasi-revolutionary activity that has dominated headlines recently.

In this month's subscriber-only podcast I look at the notion that Hollywood is a liberal propaganda machine supported by the government. Looking through the reports of the Pentagon's Entertainment Liaison Offices I find examples where a socially and politically conservative agenda, not a liberal agenda, is encouraged, enhanced and promoted by the DOD.

A new report by Facebook's Threat Intelligence team says that the site is rife with fake accounts spreading fake news stories for political, social, cultural and economic reasons. Viewers of the recent season of Homeland will be thinking 'no shit'. Then they'll be thinking 'wait, Facebook produces intelligence assessments just like the CIA?'

2002's The Sum of All Fears was the fourth major film adaptation of Tom Clancy's spy novels and perhaps the most visually spectacular. The part where terrorists nuke the Super Bowl, destroying Baltimore in the process, is one of the best nuking-a-city scenes ever committed to film.

In early 2009 independent film makers Jon Stevens and Frank Jones approached the US Marine Corps entertainment liaison office with a request to review their comedy script Beverly Hills Marine, set during Operation Desert Storm.

Or How I learned to stop worrying because The Avengers accidentally created a conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theorists gone done it again.

Uncle and Aaron invited me back to drink Hoegaarden and discuss the movie Air Force One. This typically chaotic discussion focused on how the Air Force rewrote parts of the film in exchange for their support, why Hoegaarden reminds me of happy times, and how terrorists open locked doors on planes (hint: it involves plastic explosive).

Executive Action is perhaps the most famous conspiracy thriller about the John Kennedy assassination, with the exception of Oliver Stone's JFK. Recently released CIA records in the CREST database show that they were keeping an eye the production and how it was being received. The articles even detail how the CIA may have threatened or tried to stop the production of the film.

The 1973 ITV documentary The Red Under the Bed helped convict the Shrewsbury 24 by accusing them of being communists for their role in leading the 1972 Building Workers Strike. A file from the office of then-Prime Minister Ted Heath confirms that the documentary was not just encouraged by the government, but supported by the Foreign Office anti-communist intelligence unit the IRD.

Goldeneye is possibly the best of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films, but like two others in the Brosnan period it relied on US military support. This entailed the Pentagon reviewing the script and demanding two changes - one political, one promotional - in exchange for helping to shoot one brief scene with uniformed soldiers and military vehicles.

In this month's subscriber-only podcast Pearse and I discuss the 1986 TV movie Under Siege. Co-written by former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward on the surface this is a liberal take on the Reagan White House, but underneath is a profoundly neoconservative film.

(Read more...)

Richard Whiteley is best known for presenting the popular afternoon quiz show Countdown, and Ricky Tomlinson is best known for starring in the popular sitcom The Royle Family. Back in the 1970s things were very different.

It is with some pride that I can announce that the American Journal of Economics and Sociology has today published an edition featuring not just one, not just one and a half but two articles that I wrote.

(Read more...)

While I have written about 1973 thriller Scorpio before, documents made available on the CIA CREST database shed new light on this, the first movie to film at Langley. The CIA were not just spying on media coverage of the film as it developed but also had assets within the MPAA keeping an eye on things.