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The Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing and Heartbreak Ridge

The US military's negotiations on the 1980s Clint Eastwood vehicle Heartbreak Ridge were protracted and complex, resulting in numerous changes before the movie could be approved for Pentagon support.  This included changing Clint Eastwood's character from a soldier to a marine after the US Army rejected the script, but then having to rewrite his backstory to accomodate for historical accura

“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

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

‘I Can Get the Pentagon to Vouch for Me’ – Michael Bay letter to the CIA

Michael Bay is well known for working closely with government agencies when making his films, mostly the Pentagon but also NASA.  Less well known is how he worked with the CIA to vet his script for the Benghazi movie 13 Hours, and how his request to film the CIA's Memorial Wall was turned down by the Agency.

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‘I Can Get the Pentagon to Vouch for Me’ – Michael Bay letter to the CIA

Subscriber Podcast #32 – The Looming Tower

On this feature-length subscriber podcast I analyse the Hulu TV drama The Looming Tower (based on the original book by Lawrence Wright). It tells the story of the intelligence breakdown between the CIA's Alec Station and the FBI's I-49 squad, honing in on the tetchy relationship between the FBI's John O'Neill and the CIA's Michael Scheuer.

ClandesTime 185 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: Morten Storm

Morten Storm is a Danish man who converted to Islam in the 1990s and got involved in the jihadi scene in Denmark, the UK, Yemen and Somalia. In 2006 he suffered a loss of faith, and turned to Danish intelligence and offered to help them fight the war on terror.

‘We are Anxious to tell this Story that Showcases the Army in such a Positive Way’

The in-development film Raven Four-Two tells the story of a battle in 2005 between insurgents and a Kentucky Army National Guard Military Police Unit, during the war in Iraq.  Documents released by the US Army reveal that the film is being produced by two former Army Public Affairs officers, and is explicitly designed to help with military recruitment and the Pentagon's PR mission.&nbs

‘We are Anxious to tell this Story that Showcases the Army in such a Positive Way’

The in-development film Raven Four-Two tells the story of a battle in 2005 between insurgents and a Kentucky Army National...

Spy Culture Certified by American Journal of Economics and Sociology

Today I received an email that I thought I would share with you, from the publishers of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology.  It said that the two articles I penned for the journal were among the top 20 most-downloaded articles in the year following publication, and even offered me a certificate in recognition for my work.

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Top Secret CIA Emails on Osama bin Laden ‘Devil Doll’

In 2014 the Washington Post's Adam Goldman published a story about the CIA producing dolls of Osama bin Laden as part of an influence operation designed to diminish the former Al Qaeda's leader's popularity in the Middle East.  The dolls would be made so the paint on the eyes would easily rub off, revealing 'devil eyes' underneath.  Newly-released emails confirm that the CIA monitored the development of

How the FBI Spied on and Rewrote the Torture Thriller Unthinkable

The 2010 thriller Unthinkable courted controversy by depicting the torture of a suspected terrorist who claims to have planted nuclear bombs in three US cities. Despite a strong cast including Samuel L Jackson, Carrie-Ann Moss and Stephen Root it was released direct-to-video and lost money.

Keanu Reeves Trains With Former SEAL/CIA Contractor for John Wick III

In what appears to be little more than a promo for the third John Wick film, a recently-released video shows star Keanu Reeves being trained by former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Shawn Ryan.  A veteran of the war on terror, the video shows Ryan teaching Keanu how to walk into a room with a gun, wear sunglasses and a baseball cap, and look tough.  What this adds to his performance is anyone

ClandesTime 176 – What Vice Doesn’t Tell You about Dick Cheney

Vice has won awards along with praise from audiences and critics alike, but how well does it inform its audience about Dick Cheney? This week I take a look at the important material that Vice overlooked, or didn’t know about.

ClandesTime 175 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The Death of Osama Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden’s death is the perfect postmodern event, in that most of the reports detailing how, where and when he died contradict all the other reports. This week I take an in-depth look at the Abbottabad raid of 2011 and the official story of Bin Laden’s death, analyzing some of the myriad contradictions and contrasting claims about what happened.

Department of Propaganda – Spy Culture on The Statist Quo podcast

Word about the entertainment liaison offices continues to spread - The Statist Quo podcast recently did a focus episode on the DOD's film office, Phil Strub and the rewriting of movie scripts.  Hosted by Matt, a US Army veteran and ex-convict, the episode focuses in on Black Hawk Down and also discusses Lone Survivor, Goldeneye, The Last Ship and other DOD-supported entertainment products.&nb

The Lone Gladio- A Fiction to Tell the Truth: Operation Gladio B

During times of deceit and censorship, fiction becomes one of very few effective ways to expose the truth and illuminate real dark places. Here’s how and why my second book, “The Lone Gladio”, came to life: as a book- posing as fiction. If you haven’t read “The Lone Gladio”, I strongly encourage you to pick […]

When the US Army Decided a Chin Strap was More Important Than the Death of One of Their Soldiers

The US Army provided extensive support to the National Geographic film series The Long Road Home, supposedly to ensure it depicted the real-life battle of Sadr City in a 'reasonably realistic' way.

ClandesTime 170 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: Anwar al Awlaki

Anwar al Awlaki rose to notoriety in the 2000s as a leading internet jihadist whose lectures and videos were very popular among the emerging Islamist movement. But his history with Al Qaeda, and in particular his contacts with the 9/11 hijackers while under investigation by the FBI, pose serious questions. Was Awlaki a terrorist, or a spy, or both?

When Al Qaeda Leader Awlaki Picked Up Hookers at Top Gun Naval Base

Anwar Al Awlaki was the head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula until his death in a CIA drone strike in 2011. In the mid-late 1990s he lived in San Diego, where he met future 9/11 hijackers Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al Mihdhar and consorted with Saudi intelligence officer Omar Al-Bayoumi.

The Long Road Home – Tom Secker on Fortress on a Hill

I recently joined Henri of Fortress on a Hill to discuss the National Geographic drama series The Long Road Home, in light of the over 400 pages of documents that I obtained detailing the US Army's support for the show.

Steven Seagal and the Geneva Convention

1996's action thriller Executive Decision may be light on action and lacking thrills but it is notable for one thing - the script violated the Geneva Convention and led to the Pentagon temporarily withdrawing support for the film. When the producers initially approached the DOD they were told that military assistance was 'out of the question'.

ClandesTime 168 – Executive Decision

The 1996 action thriller Executive Decision was an early example of what should be called ‘irregular war films’, pitting a team of special forces commandos against a gang of terrorists, on a hijacked plane headed for Washington DC.

Stars of CBS’ FBI Admit They are Making Propaganda for the FBI

Missy Peregrym and Zeeko Zaki, two of the stars of the CBS drama FBI were asked about the government shutdown this week, and responded with a statement that sounds like it was written by the FBI's Investigative Publicity and Public Affairs Unit.

The Pentagon Rewrites History Through Movies – In Total Violation of its Directives on Hollywood

The DOD claim that they only rewrite Hollywood scripts in order to ensure accuracy and to inform the public about the military and its mission. This is total bullshit.

ClandesTime 167 – Phil Strub’s Greatest Hits

I recently found out that Strub retired from his job as the DOD’s Hollywood liaison last July, though this wasn’t covered by any news outlets and the DOD didn’t bother to tell anyone.

US Army Documents Reveal Massive Support For Long Road Home Miniseries, Possible Fraud At Military’s Entertainment Liaison Office

How Many Movies has the Pentagon Prevented from Being Made?

The Pentagon's censorship of movie scripts is fairly well established - I have documented numerous instances on this site. But their ultimate power is the ability to kill a production, to prevent a film being made.

ClandesTime 166 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: Aimen Dean

Aimen Dean, born Ali Al-Duranni, was MI6’s spy inside Al Qaeda from 1998 to 2006. In this episode I do a critical view of his autobiography Nine Lives: My Time as MI6’s Top Spy Inside Al Qaeda, and how Dean’s story connects to other people and events explored in this series.

If 2018 Was a Rollercoaster then 2019 Will be a Bouncy Castle

2018 was another year of chaos — in politics, economics, culture, the climate and in most other areas of life worth talking about. Here I explore why 2019 is likely to be more of the same, given the lack of any serious attempts to address the causes and confront reality.

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How Does Cinema War Propaganda Really Work?

In our latest article, Matt and I reflect on two of the most common claims made about National Security Cinema, namely 1) That the government is really important in making movies more militaristic and 2) That Hollywood doesn’t produce dissenting films. While the first of these is somewhat true it is a simplification, the second is an outright falsehood.

On Her Majesty’s Clandestime Service – Tom Secker on Fortress on a Hill

Chris and Danny from Fortress on a Hill invited me onto their podcast to discuss militarism in Hollywood, the DOD's role in altering scripts, how recruitment propaganda works in the UK, the military vs intelligence approaches to counterinsurgency and other related topics.

ClandesTime Special – The Royal Family, Brexit and Union Jackboot

This week, I welcome Matt Alford to the show to talk about the media manipulation of the image of the British Royal Family, and how it relates to British foreign policy, including Brexit. From the killing of rare animals to closet fascism, to interfering in politics and criminal investigations, we look at numerous stories that reveal the dark underbelly of the Royals.

The Wire Season 3 Review (Preview)

In part 3 of this subcriber-only review series I look at season three of The Wire. In this season the Barksdale storyline comes to a climax, while the city hall politics are added into the ever-expanding world of the show. I examine the Hamsterdam experiment, where one police major decides to legalise drugs in certain […]

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ClandesTime 161 – How the Pentagon Censors Military Mental Illness in Hollywood

The men and women who are employed by the US military to fight its hegemonic wars often suffer from serious mental illness. Depression, PTSD/trauma, extreme anxiety and stress – these are commonplace among people both within the military and among veterans.

Review – War School: The Battle for Britain’s Children

It isn't often that I see a film that angers and educates me in equal measure. War School: The Battle for Britain's Children is a new documentary exploring the growing peace movement in the UK, and the militarisation of British schools for propaganda and recruitment purposes.

ClandesTime 160 – Why Doesn’t Hollywood Make War Films Any More?

Hollywood doesn’t make war films any more. This isn’t entirely true, but compared to the post-WW2 period there are a lot less war films being made today. In this in-depth episode I offer a brief history of war movies and anti-war movies, and how the Pentagon’s policy on supporting films depicting war seems to have changed over time.

The ’24 Mentality’: The CIA, Torture and the ‘Ticking Bomb’ Scenario

Just as politicians start to believe their own speeches, intelligence agencies start to believe their own propaganda. Nowhere is this clearer than in the CIA's black stite torture program initiated in the wake of 9/11.

12 Strong Producers Thanked US Army for ‘Great Efforts to Make this Movie Badass’

12 Strong, based on the book Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, is set in the early days of the US war in Afghanistan. Emails released by the US Army detail the support they and the Air Force provided to the production as well as their communications with the producers. During shooting, one of the producers wrote to the Army to thank them for helping to make the movie 'badass'.

War Machine vs Charlie Wilson’s War – Tom Secker on Around the Empire (Part 2)

Joanne invited me on the Around the Empire podcast to do a ‘high level compare and contrast’ of two war comedy films set in different wars in Afghanistan: Charlie Wilson’s War and War Machine.

ClandesTime 158 – Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan

The new Amazon series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the first TV show to film at CIA headquarters for several years, in keeping with the Agency’s long-time support for adaptations of Clancy’s work.

War Machine vs Charlie Wilson’s War – Tom Secker on Around the Empire

Joanne invited me on the Around the Empire podcast to do a 'high level compare and contrast' of two war comedy films set in different wars in Afghanistan: Charlie Wilson's War and War Machine. The films are similar in many respects - both comedies, both have A-list lead actors, both set in wars in Afghanistan, both based on books - but politically they are diametric opposites.

The 9 Most Important Questions about 9/11 that Remain Unanswered - Spy Culture

The pain of 9/11 remains unresolved because the crime of 9/11 remains unsolved. In 17 years no one has been prosecuted for carrying out the attacks, and the court of public opinion is very much a hung jury.

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ClandesTime 152 – Condor - Spy Culture

Condor is a TV reboot of Three Days of the Condor, and centres around a CIA officer who goes on the run after he is framed for killing 11 of his colleagues. In this episode I examine whether Condor was CIA-sponsored, why the Agency might support a series that shows them planning massive crimes, and […]

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ClandesTime Special – Rorschach Politics: The War in Syria - Spy Culture

In this special episode I reflect on the war in Syria and the propaganda emanating from governments on both sides.  In particular I focus in on how the apparently anti-war Left has been fooled into becoming de facto propagandists for the Russian and Syrian security states, and how the same binary narratives are issued in […]

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ClandesTime 151 – Rules of Engagement - Spy Culture

The military legal drama Rules of Engagement is perhaps the greatest modern example of racist, warmongering propaganda. Unsurprisingly, it benefited from full Pentagon support, in exchange for numerous script changes. The film was eerily prescient, foreshadowing two terrorist attacks in Yemen, and in some ways the entire post-9/11 war on terror.

US Marine Corps Entertainment Liaison Office script notes on Rules of Engagement - Spy Culture

Rules of Engagement is notable for being possibly the most violent, racist, colonialist film Hollywood has made since the end of the Cold War.  It pre-empted two real life terrorist attacks in Yemen including one on the US embassy.  The film was produced with close co-operation from the DOD, particularly the Marine Corps, in exchange […]

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Weaponised Liberalism: Russia, the West and the Great Game of Moral Equivalence - Spy Culture

The West’s claim to moral superiority and its assumption of the role of ‘world’s policeman’ are largely derived from a classical approach to liberalism. In short, the argument is that our societies are more liberal (and therefore superior), so we have the unique right to spread our values around the world by force and coercion.

Documents Reveal Pentagon Censorship of Suicide in Hollywood - Spy Culture

For the last few weeks I’ve been working a research project on how the Pentagon’s entertainment liaison offices deal with the subjects of military mental health and suicide.  Today the fruits of that research were published by Insurge Intelligence, a crowdfunded journalism platform run by Nafeez Ahmed, who also published an exclusive on National Security […]

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Homeland Mid-Season Review – Tom Secker on PPR - Spy Culture

In our mid-season review and analysis of Homeland season 7, Pearse and I get into various strands of the show including the Brett O’Keefe/Waco arc, the Russiagate conspiracy, how the CIA should be portrayed as having utterly failed the country but have somehow dressed themselves up as the heroes, fake news, Russian ‘active measures’ and […]

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ClandesTime 136 – The Politics of the Cinematic Universes - Spy Culture

From racism and sexism to the military-industrial complex, the politics both within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and surrounding it here in the real world are a constant source of news stories and controversy.

Subscriber Podcast #16 – Why I do What I do - Spy Culture

On this month’s subscriber-only podcast I talk about my political and personal motives for doing this sort of work as well some of my thoughts on strategies for tackling political problems. I discuss the history of anarchism – both intellectual and terroristic – and how I see my work fitting into that, as well as […]

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ClandesTime 133 – Was the Unabomber Right? - Spy Culture

Ted Kaczynski is most famous for both being the most prolific serial bomber in US history and for writing the Unabomber Manifesto – a political-philosophical tract that was published by major newspapers and by the FBI. This week I take a look at the life of Ted Kaczynski and conduct a philosophical analysis of Industrial […]

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ClandesTime 132 – The Secret World of Tom Clancy Part III: US Intelligence - Spy Culture

Aside from Ian Fleming, there is no more influential spy author than Tom Clancy. Clancy’s books (and the films and computer games based on them) benefited from his close contact with the US government.

The CIA’s Tom Clancy File - Spy Culture

Just as with James Bond and Ian Fleming, the CIA’s CREST database is littered with reference to Tom Clancy.  In preparation for this weekend’s podcast I put together a collection of over 100 pages of internal Agency memos and open source records that record Clancy’s relationship with the CIA for several years after the publication […]

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Porkins Policy Radio End of Year Special - Spy Culture

Pearse invited me onto PPR to talk 2017: the highs, the lows, the overrated, the underrated, and Trump.  We discuss our favourite film and TV of the year, the most overblown news stories, the most important news that didn’t get the attention it deserves and reflect on why this has been a good year for […]

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ClandesTime 129 – History by Hollywood - Spy Culture

This week I welcome Martin Darlington, co-host of the History by Hollywood podcast, which reviews and analyses films claiming to be based on real events. We talk about Martin’s adopted homeland of Qatar, his views on history and politics, how he and his co-host Andrew prepare and produce the podcast, the power of music in […]

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Could the Manchester Bombing have been Prevented? - Spy Culture

Long answer: probably, with an ‘if’. Short answer: yes, with a ‘but’. A recently-published report into the terrorism in Britain in the run-up to this year’s general election has found that the Manchester bombing might have been prevented. The review says that MI5 had planned to discuss the potential threat posed by the reported bomber […]

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Subscriber Podcast #14 – How the Pentagon Rewrote Lone Survivor - Spy Culture

Lone Survivor is one of very few recent DOD-supported films that is based on real events from the war on terror.  In a period where the Pentagon is more interested in Transformers and superhero movies, Lone Survivor is an exception.  Reports from the military Hollywood offices called it ‘a two hour infomercial’ about US special […]

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The FBI’s Entertainment Liaison Office - Spy Culture

Newly released documents shed light on the FBI's entertainment liaison office - officially titled the Investigative Publicity and Public Affairs Unit (IPPAU), including how they work on dozens of popular films and TV shows, and reject requests for support for PR reasons, just like the Pentagon.

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Gladio Revisited: State Sponsored Terrorism in the Mono-Polar World Order - Spy Culture

November 22nd is the 27th anniversary of a European Parliament resolution condemning Operation Gladio. For decades, secret armies in over a dozen NATO countries carried out terrorist attacks to influence the political landscape and manipulate elections.

Anders Breivik: The Movie – Tom Secker on Porkins Policy Radio - Spy Culture

This week I joined Pearse on his radio show to discuss the new Netflix movie about Anders Breivik and the aftermath of the massacre on Utoya in 2011. We get into director Paul Greengrass's background, especially United 93, the Norwegian government's support for the film and the legacy of Breivik's attack.

Extra Bonus Podcast – House of Cards Season 2 - Spy Culture

In this extra bonus podcast for subscribers Pearse and I discuss the second season of the British House of Cards – To Play the King.  Our review covers numerous parallels between what happens in the series – when a left-wing King rises to challenge Urquhart and how the PM and the security services respond – […]

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ClandesTime 122 – The Fake Sheikh and Red Mercury - Spy Culture

In 2004 three men were arrested in the UK for trying to buy red mercury – a trigger for a nuclear bomb – from an undercover journalist working with British intelligence. This plot inspired multiple films and TV programmes and the resulting trial cost over £1 million. The problem is that ‘red mercury’ doesn’t exist.

Spies, Washington and Hollywood – Tom on Gorilla Radio - Spy Culture

Chris Cook invited me back on Gorilla Radio to continue our conversation on all things spy-related. We talked about some of the differences between the British and American intelligence agencies, the role John Le Carré plays in the British spy fiction landscape, the new film American Made and how to spot which films are sponsored by government agencies.

9/11 and the Legacy of Al Qaeda – Tom on Porkins Policy Radio - Spy Culture

Despite being a bit drunk and tired, I joined Pearse for the first hour of his radio show this week to discuss 9/11, the emotional impact of the anniversary and the legacy of Al Qaeda. We touched on my Alternative History of Al Qaeda series as well as asking if there is a better way to respond to 9/11 than waving flags and repeating 'never forget' slogans.

ClandesTime 121 – Operation Terror - Spy Culture

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.

ClandesTime 119 – The Cinema of the Inside Job - Spy Culture

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.

ClandesTime 118 – Ali Mohamed and the Entertainment Liaison Offices - Spy Culture

What connects Al Qaeda to the Pentagon’s Entertainment Liaison Offices? Perhaps unsurprisingly, the answer is Ali Mohamed – the triple agent who was Al Qaeda’s main terrorist trainer.

Films Are Not Your Friends – A National Security Cinema Presentation (video) - Spy Culture

ClandesTime 117 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The 9/11 Intelligence ‘Failure’ - Spy Culture

The run-up to 9/11 was not a high point in the history of Western counter-terrorism. Whoever was ultimately responsible, the multi-trillion dollar NATO military-intelligence structure failed to stop them.

ClandesTime 116 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The Embassy Bombings - Spy Culture

On August 7th 1998 two almost identical truck bombs exploded outside the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In this episode we look at the embassy bombings, their genesis and consequences. From the role of triple agent Ali Mohamed to the absurd circumstances of the explosion in Nairobi, this story reflects much of what we saw with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

E.U. Human Trafficking Epidemic Exposed!

We Are Change

Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange reports from Sicily, Italy which is currently the gateway of the refugee crisis. This is mainly due to Italy’s proximity to Libya where they see a lot of NGO boats rescuing refugees and migrants. They are bringing them from the coast of Libya to Italy, and there are some unintended consequences to all of this since there has been a mass migration.

ClandesTime 114 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The Manchester Manual - Spy Culture

The Al Qaeda training manual ‘Military Studies in Jihad Against the Tyrants’ is one of the most important documents in the history of the terrorist gang.

National Security Cinema – New Book Reveals Government Censorship/Propaganda in Hollywood - Spy Culture

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.

National Security Cinema – Tom Secker and Matt Alford on PPR - Spy Culture

ClandesTime 114 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: Ali Mohamed - Spy Culture

What if I told you that the same man trained Meir Kahane’s killer, the World Trade Center bombers, the African embassy bombers and Osama Bin Laden’s bodyguards? What if this man was a member of the Egyptian Army unit that assassinated Anwar Sadat, and was a translator and close associate of Ayman Zawahiri?

ClandesTime 113 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The Destruction of Yugoslavia - Spy Culture

The conventional explanation of how Yugoslavia 'fell apart' is that ethnic and religious tensions led to civil wars, necessitating the breakup of the country into a series of smaller states. The reality is that Yugoslavia was knowingly and willingly destroyed by NATO, with Al Qaeda playing a critical role in the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.

Alaska, the Air Force and the Science and Entertainment Exchange - Spy Culture

Newly released reports from the US Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office confirm their continuing influence over the political content of the productions they support and refer to a mysterious event called the 'Alaska CLT'. The role of the Science and Entertainment Exchange - technically a non-governmental body - was to assist with bringing entertainment industry bigwigs to this event on behalf of the Pentagon.

London Terror and the General Election (video) - Spy Culture

A mini-documentary I made about the terror attacks on London Bridge and in Borough market last night, and how they fit into a pattern throughout this election campaign. I summarise events over the last few months, their political relevance and why the conventional explanations do not fit with what we know about these terrorist incidents.

ClandesTime 111 – The Manchester Bombing and the Politics of Fear - Spy Culture

The bombing in Manchester this week was an especially horrific act of terrorism. 22 people were killed and dozens more were injured – many of whom were children or teenagers who were exiting an Ariana Grande concert.

ClandesTime 110 – A Brief History of Suicide Hijackings - Spy Culture

After the 9/11 attacks we were told that no one could have predicted that terrorists would hijack planes and use them as missiles against buildings. This lie quickly fell apart when it emerged that NORAD – the US air defence command – had run training exercises in the years and months leading up to the attacks that included this scenario.

ClandesTime 109 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The Bojinka Plot - Spy Culture

The Bojinka plot was one of the most imaginative and potentially devastating terrorist plans ever. Conceived by Ramzi Yousef it centred around a scheme to blow up 10-12 airliners simultaneously, killing thousands of people, but it also included an assassination attempt on the Pope and crashing a plane into CIA headquarters.

ClandesTime 108b – Ramzi Yousef: A NeoConspiracy Theory - Spy Culture

In this special bonus episode of ClandesTime we look at the theory that World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef was an agent of Iraqi intelligence. This theory, put forward by neoconservative analyst Laurie Mylroie, contributed to the false idea that Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s government were working together.

ClandesTime 108 – A Secret History of Al Qaeda: Ramzi Yousef - Spy Culture

Ramzi Yousef is an international man of mystery who is currently serving a 240-year sentence in a Supermax prison for bombing the World Trade Center. He is the first of two major figures we have not looked at yet in our exploration of the WTC93 bombing, the other is Ali Mohamed who we will get to in a few episodes time.

Marine Corps emails on The Sum of All Fears - Spy Culture

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.

Hollywood Hyperreality: Operation Gotham Shield Sends People Batshit - Spy Culture

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

ClandesTime 107 – An Alternative History of Al Qaeda: The TRADEBOM Investigation - Spy Culture

This week we take a look at TRADEBOM, the FBI's investigation into the World Trade Center bombing. We examine how the case broke after one of the bombers foolishly went back to the rental company to try to get a refund on the van they had blown up.

Air Force One – Tom Secker on Uncle the Podcast - Spy Culture

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).

Homeland Season 6 finale – Tom Secker on PPR - Spy Culture

In our final analysis and review for Homeland season 6 Pearse and I dissect the last two episodes, looking at the shifting loyalties and role reversals around the attempted assassination of the president-elect.
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