In honor of our favorite CIA television show, Homeland, Tom Secker and I have decided to cover every single episode with a separate podcast. We’ll be switching off hosting duties every other week.
In this inaugural episode, we take a brief look back to where all of our favorite characters left off at the end of season 4. Jumping ahead two and a half years, we see that Carrie has left the CIA, Saul has been promoted, and Quinn seems as crazy as ever. Tom and I discuss the new setting of this season, Berlin, and the implications of locating it in Western Europe. We also get into some of the major plot themes being laid out including: Edward Snowden, mass surveillance, ISIS and the threat of Islamic sleeper cells all over Europe. We break down how this season seems geared towards more of a niche audience immersed in the intelligence world, and round out this episode with our predictions for the rest of the season.
Launching in April of this year The CIA and Hollywood is a new series by Pearse Redmond and Tom Secker. The first season will have seven episodes where we will mostly focus on modern films, with guest appearances on five of the shows.
The full list:
Episode 1: The CIA and George Orwell
Pearse and I introduce the series and look at how George Orwell’s two major works – 1984 and Animal Farm – were both adapted into 1950s films by the CIA for propaganda purposes. Using files from MI5, the CIA and the FBI we outline in detail the people involved in the productions and how they fit into a wider picture of what was going on in Hollywood at the time.
In the first guest episode we welcome Guillermo to talk about Robert De Niro’s lengthy connections to the CIA. From Wag the Dog, where he plays a character based on CIA Entertainment Liaison Chase Brandon to the Meet the Parents film franchise which was assisted by Brandon, to his epic rewriting of CIA history in The Good Shepherd, De Niro has for nearly 20 years had some kind of relationship with the Agency.
Episode 3: The CIA and The Recruit – Guest: Aaron Franz
From one screen legend to another, Aaron joins us to discuss The Recruit starring Al Pacino. This film was co-written by Chase Brandon and the character Pacino plays is clearly based on Chase Brandon. This tale of a young man inducted into the secret world of the CIA is a perfect set up for inducting the audience into that same world, though what we find there is simply more layers of manipulation and doublethink.
The film that predicted the entire Edward Snowden story is next on the list, when Adam joins in the discussion. The Gene Hackman character, based on a role he played in the 1970s thriller The Conversation, foreshadows everything about Snowden, including his name and where he grew up, and the film’s depiction of mass surveillance has much the same effect on audiences as Snowden’s ‘revelations’ some 15 years later.
Episode 5: The CIA and The Social Network – Guest: Thomas Sheridan
The only film featured in this series that was not explicitly sponsored by the CIA, but which bears all the hallmarks of CIA involvement. Thomas Sheridan joins us to examine this fictionalised account of the founding of facebook, possibly the world’s greatest ever surveillance tool. We examine Aaron Sorkin’s career and the key information he left out of his screenplay about the early investors in facebook.
Episode 6: The CIA and Charlie Wilson’s War– Guest: Sibel Edmonds
One of Chase Brandon’s final films mythologised one of the most important events in understanding modern history – the Soviet-Afghan War and the CIA’s support of the Mujahideen. Sibel lends us her expert knowledge as we dismantle this piece of CIA unhistory – which is also scripted by Sorkin – and construct a true version in its place.
Episode 7: The CIA and Argo
To round of this season Pearse and I take a look at the Oscar-winning Argo, produced by the unholy trio of Clooney, Heslov and Affleck, all of whom have long-standing ties to the CIA. We examine the film not only as a deliberate mis-telling of real historical events but also as a celebration of the CIA’s very useful relationship with the Hollywood dream factory. We reflect back on what we have learned through doing this first season, and briefly explain what to expect from season two.
“Once more my good friend Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Radio joined me to discuss the latest series of Homeland, the CIA’s pet TV project. We looked at how the show has been rebooted in this season, with a much more aggressive and ambitious purpose both in mythologizing past events and predicting future ones. From 9/11 to the ISIS beheadings to drone strikes to The Lone Gladio, this is typically wide ranging conversation on one of the most important shows currently on TV.”
I joined our good friend Tom Secker once again on ClandesTime for a very entertaining and in-depth conversation on the documentary Reel Bad Arabs and the Hollywood blockbuster True Lies.
Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Radio joined us again to talk about the the portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood. We talk about the documentary Reel Bad Arabs, which details much of the stereotyping of Arabs in popular movies, and also the film True Lies as an example of these trends. We look at some of the limits in the analysis offered by Reel Bad Arabs, the military involvement in making True Lies, and the careers of the actors who played the two main Arab characters in the film – Art Malik, who seems to specialise in playing terrorists, and Grant Heslov who won an Oscar for producing Argo.
We are finally back! On today’s episode we take a look at the recent release of American POW Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for 5 Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Instead of focusing on the various theories as to why he left, and what he was actually doing, we dive into the psy-op that has been carefully constructed for us. We discuss the predictive programing elements, how the alt media has been fooled yet again, as well as what this means in terms of the evolving war on our reality. The Bowe Bergdahl saga represents a new stage of the blurring of reality and fiction and therefore deserves our attention.
This episode was a little rough to record due to the long gap in the podcasting schedule so my apologies if it seems a bit all over the place. Rest assured we will be returning to a normal schedule and much tighter episodes in the near future.
Aaron Franz and I joined Tom Secker for a roundtable discussion on the film Wrong is Right; a 1982 political conspiracy thriller/black comedy. This is without a doubt one of the most bizarre movies I have ever watched. We discuss the obvious intelligence/military connections, as well as the prophetic memes and terrifyingly accurate predictive programing. We also break down the meaning and message behind the film. This was an extremely fun conversation but I would suggest that you watch Wrong is Right first.
On today’s show we spoke with our friend Tom Secker all about his new book Secrets, Spies, and 7/7. In part one of your conversation we discussed the case of 7/7 itself, and all of the inaccuracies and lies put forth by the Home Office. Topics included the so called intelligence failures, CCTV footage on 7/7, the physical characteristics of the bombings and a whole lot more.
In part two me and Tom go into the vast amounts of predictive programing that went on in the years prior to 7/7. We touch on shows like Spooks which accurately predicted both the official and some of the alternative conspiracy theories surrounding the events of 7/7. Me and Tom dissect many of the drills and exercise’s that were being run in the years prior to 7/7, and how they helped to condition those in places of power. The truth movement as a whole is also discussed as well as a lot more.
Porkins Policy Review 