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The CIA and Hollywood episode 14 Zero Dark Thirty

July 24, 2016 – 2:08 pm

Robbie Martin is our final guest for this season as we dissect the 2012 docudrama Zero Dark Thirty. We discussed the difficulty in defining what kind of film this is – somewhere between a spy thriller, a documentary and a dry European art house movie. We get into the well-documented CIA support for the film and ask why this is the only major movie about the Abbottabad raid to get ‘Bin Laden’ and why it wasn’t particularly successful. Was the film meant to serve as a substitute for any real evidence of what happened in Abbottabad in 2011? Did the filmmakers even care whether what they were portraying was true or were they blinded by the excitement of the special access they were granted?

After summarizing the role of senior CIA and DOD intelligence officer Michael Vickers (who is portrayed in Charlie Wilson’s War) we discuss why so many CIA agents are portrayed in movies and TV. The conversation then zeroes in on ‘Maya’ – based on the real life CIA officer Alfreda Frances Bikowsky, who was critically involved in the 9/11 intelligence breakdown and the post-9/11 torture program. Getting back to the film we talk about the raid sequence itself which is very dry and realistic but we never actually see Bin Laden. We conclude that Zero Dark Thirty is like a rorschach test where you can bring your own expectations and prejudices to your experience of watching the movie. We round off talking about the portrayal of torture in the film and ask whether the controversies around the film were created as a smokescreen to avoid people asking the question: was it really Bin Laden?

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Show Notes:

Zero Dark Thirty

CIA Memo on Rewriting Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty the CIA and DOD files

The ‘Dynamite’ Pentagon Interview Behind ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

Bin Laden Burial took place on Top Gun ship

CIA Inspector General’s Report on Engagement with the Entertainment Industry

Who is Richard Blee (podcast)

Alfreda Frances Bikowsky

Alec Station

CIA’s Queen of Torture Married to Former CIA Official Who Urges War Between Sunnis and Shiites

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio, The CIA and Hollywood | Also tagged 9/11, abbottabad, alfreda frances bikowsky, bin laden raid, CIA, DOD, false memories, Kathryn Bigelow, Leon Panetta, mark boal, Maya, Michael scheuer, Michael Vickers, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, queen of torture, richard blee, Robbie Martin, The CIA and Hollywood, torture, zero dark thirty | Comments (0)

Porkins Policy Radio episode 52 Tom Secker – Chase Brandon, State entertainment, Turkey Coup,

July 20, 2016 – 10:26 am

For this inaugural episode I am joined by my good friend and frequent collaborator Tom Secker. We begin by discussing the bizarre life and career of the CIA Hollywood liaison Chase Brandon. We then move onto the relationship between entertainment and the security services. We explore the notion that this going beyond mere propaganda, and instead represents a significant distortion of our culture and perception of reality and world events. Tom and I finish off by discussing the recent coup attempt in Turkey and some of our problems with the way the alt-media has covered this event.

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Show Notes:

Biggest ever FOIA release from Pentagon Entertainment Liaison Offices

CIA Inspector Generals Report on Engagement with the Entertainment Industry

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged AFR, alt-media, american freedom radio, Chase brandon, CIA, Entertainment Liaison office, fethullah gulen, gulen, Hollywood, Homeland, NATO, Pentagon, predictive programming, propaganda, Russia, russian plane crash, The CIA and Hollywood, Turkey, Turkey coup, war of terror, zero dark thirty | Comments (2)

Our Interesting Times: Pearse Redmond on CIA, Hollywood, and OJ Simpson

July 15, 2016 – 12:31 pm

From Our Interesting Times:

Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Review joins the show. We discuss his monthly series Porkins Great Game and the series he does with the UK’s Tom Secker CIA and Hollywood. We talk about the CIA’s involvement in the entertainment industry and deleterious effects it has had on society. Later we talk about Pearse’s research into the OJ Simpson murder trial and the several interviews he conducted with journalist Stephen Singular who wrote the book Legacy of Deception: An Investigation of Mark Fuhrman and Racism in the L.A.P.D.

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By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged AC cowlings, Animal farm, Black Lives Matter, Brentwood, CIA, cocaine, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, donald trump, EDTA, George orwell, Hillary Clinton, jeffrey epstein, joey ippolito, Legacy of Deception, Mark Fuhrman, neo-nazi, nicole brown simpson, oj simpson, OKC bombing, our interesting times, pedophilia, Pentagon, racism, Ronald goldman, Stephen Singular, The CIA and Hollywood, The order, tim kelly | Comments (1)

The CIA and Hollywood episode 13 Race to Witch Mountain

July 15, 2016 – 11:38 am

James Evan Pilato is our latest guest as we dissect the 2009 Disney UFO adventure Race to Witch Mountain. We start off looking at Disney as a corporation – its long standing interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials, the connections to government agencies and their recent takeover of the fantasy genre. We then get into Race to Witch Mountain itself – a strange blend of a kids’ movie, a love letter to the UFO culture and an homage to spy thrillers especially Enemy of the State. Next, we examine the deliberately hyperreal nature of the film and dwell on the effects of a fantasy movie set in the real world with real people. A children’s movie about ‘illegal aliens’ being pursued under the Patriot Act is not Hollywood’s typical output.

Then the conversation moves on to the mysterious CIA involvement in Race to Witch Mountain, which the CIA themselves deny but the director Andy Fickman insists took place. After discussing the CIA Inspector General’s Report on their Engagement with the Entertainment Industry we move on to the question of infiltration of the UFO culture, and the use of UFOlogy to infiltrate alternative cultures more broadly. We round off looking at the effect of films like this on people’s perceptions and expectations of government secrecy, and we each try to answer the question ‘are you a believer?’.

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Show Notes:

Race to Witch Mountain

Silver Screen Saucers (book by Robbie Graham)

Which Mountain? (making of)

ClandesTime 076 – Walt Disney and the FBI

A Look Back … Robert Carey Broughton: From Walt Disney to War Movies

CIA’s Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-1990

A History of Government Management of UFO Perceptions through Film and Television

“Alien language” presented by CIA & Disney

UFOs and Disney: Behind the Magic Kingdom

Robbie Graham’s blog

Robbie Graham – UFOs, Hyperreality, and the Disclosure Myth – Copenhagen 2014

Mirage Men

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio, The CIA and Hollywood | Also tagged aerospace corporation, Airforce, aliens, Andy Fickman, CIA, Disney, hyperreality, illegal aliens, james evan pilato, media monarchy, NORAD, Patriot Act, paul helliwell, project bluebook, race to witch mountain, robbie graham, silver screen saucers, The CIA and Hollywood, The Rock, truther movement, UFO, UFOlogy, ward kiball | Comments (0)

The CIA and Hollywood episode 12 American Ultra

July 3, 2016 – 2:09 pm

Adam from Themes and Memes is our guest to talk about the 2015 action comedy American Ultra. We start by trying to define this film, which is an intense mixture of cartoonish ultra violence, CIA covert operations, romance, comedy and horror, looking at the dissociating nature of this blend. The intentions of screenwriter Max Landis and the director Nima Nourizadeh are discussed and we ask whether they were reaching out to the CIA or trying to flatter them by making MKULTRA seem cool to stoners and young people. We go on to look at the prominence of female and often maternal characters in modern spy fiction, particular in CIA-assisted productions and ask what difference this makes to how these films and TV shows portray the CIA as a whole, not just MKULTRA and similar experiments.

We also examined a bizarre weed-based marketing campaign for the film at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con and ask whether like the Pentagon and NASA, the CIA now sees Comic-Con as a key networking and recruitment opportunity. The conversation rounds of discussing the director Nima Nourizadeh’s father Ali Reza, who bears all the hallmarks of being a CIA asset (complete with mysterious name changes and working for Voice of America). The presence of footage of Langley and the prominent use of the CIA logo suggests that at the least the CIA were aware of American Ultra and approved use of these for the film, so we ask whether they were involved in the making of the film and if so, why.

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Show Notes:

American Ultra

Activating American Ultra (making of)

American Ultra offering free pot at Comic-Con

Spooky London: how Britain’s spy agencies are using new and unexpected methods to recruit the next generation

Centre for Iranian and Arab Studies – Companies House

Wikileaks cables – IRAN WATCHER CONTACT TARGETED BY IRANIAN REGIME

Iranians unite in grief at service for Shah’s son

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio, The CIA and Hollywood | Also tagged Adam, Ali Reza Nourizadeh, Amercian ultra, Centre for Iranian and Arab Studies, CIA, hyperreality, Jesse Eisenberg, marijuana, Max Landis, MK Ultra, Nima Nourizadeh, stoners, The CIA and Hollywood, Themes and Memes, ultra violence, Voice of America, weed culture | Comments (0)

The CIA and Hollywood episode 11 The Men Who Stare at Goats

June 26, 2016 – 4:30 pm

Jay Dyer joins us for this episode where we analyse the 2009 comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats, loosely based on Jon Ronson’s book of the same name. It tells the story of a journalist who is inducted into the world of psychic soldiers during the Iraq war. The movie goes on to explain some of the history behind the First Earth Battalion, an experimental Pentagon unit devoted to developing a new generation of super soldier informed by the hippy and New Age movements. We examine what the film leaves out, especially in the form of MKULTRA and similar CIA projects and experiments with similar aims, and ask whether the purpose was not to ask ‘How could love and peace help win wars?’ but to weaponise New Age philosophy and the New Age movement.

The Men Who Stare at Goats is the final movie in the George Clooney/Grant Heslov series before they took the full plunge and made Argo with the help of the CIA. We look at whether Goats – Heslov’s directorial debut – was the final step in their long-term overture to the CIA. The fact that Goats reduces the CIA’s involvement in such projects to a single scene, and was distributed by none other than Overture Films are strong hints towards this. We also map out the evidence and implications of state sponsorship of the entire Goats project, from Ronson’s original book and documentary series through to the Hollywood version. The use of technical advisors who were part of these Pentagon units back in the 70s/80s and who were ‘reactivated’ to help fight the War on Terror implies that at least the DOD, if not the CIA, were in favour of this film. We round off by pondering the plausibility of the remote viewing phenomenon.

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Show Notes:

The Men Who Stare at Goats (book)

Crazy Rulers of the World (documentary series)

The Men Who Stare at Goats (film)

First Earth Battalion Field Manual

Jim Channon’s website (archived)

Goats Declassified: The real men of the First Earth Battalion

Project Hollywood

Pearse Redmond Patreon

Tom Secker Patreon

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio, The CIA and Hollywood | Also tagged albert stubblebine, CIA, counter cultrue, DOD, ed dames, first earth battalion, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Ingo swann, jay dyer, jays analysis, jim channon, jon ronson, LSD, MK Ultra, new age, Pentagon, psychic soldiers, SRI, The CIA and Hollywood, the men who stare at goats, war on terror | Comments (2)

The Opperman Report – The Writer With No Hands: Pearse Redmond & Tom Secker

June 26, 2016 – 4:19 pm

Tom Secker and I recently sat down to talk with Ed Opperman all about Matt Alford’s new book The Writer With No Hands. The book deals with the bizarre “death” of Hollywood screenwriter Gary Devore and his mysterious links to the CIA. We also talk about the second season of The CIA and Hollywood, and some recent Jeffrey Epstein developments.

Show Notes:

The Writer With No Hands

Spy Culture book review

Traxx (film)

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in jeffrey epstein, Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged Chase brandon, CIA, cocaine, don crutchfield, donald trump, ed opperman, Gary Devore, Hollywood, jeffrey epstein, Matt Alford, michael sands, noriega, opperman report, panama, The CIA and Hollywood, the writer with no hands, tommy lee jones, trump, wendy devore | Comments (1)

The CIA and Hollywood episode 10 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

June 19, 2016 – 3:03 pm

Aaron Franz joins us to discuss the 2002 biopic Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which tells the story of game show producer and host Chuck Barris. Barris claims that while becoming a TV star he was recruited by and worked for the CIA as an assassin, killing a total of 33 people. In this episode we analyse this claim, which has been dismissed by the Agency as a ludicrous fantasy. We examine Barris’ true life history, focusing in on his marriage to Lyn Levy – the daughter of one of the founders of CBS – and his incredibly selfish relationship with their daughter Della. None of this appears in the film so taking this into account we consider whether Barris was a CIA assassin, a psychopathic fabricator or an emotionally warped narcissist (or all of these things rolled into one). If Barris truly was a CIA agent then what was his job? Was he an assassin, or did they employ him to ‘slay the audience’ by developing the prototypes for reality TV?

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is also notable for being George Clooney’s directorial debut, and a production that languished in development hell for years before he became involved and began pulling strings to ensure the film got made. We consider whether the movie was one of Clooney’s attempts to gain the attention and approval of the CIA, and whether he too thought that Barris’ TV career was the real mission for the Agency. We examine Clooney’s self-appointed role as Chuck’s ‘defence lawyer’, his obsession with goats and why he employed theatrical visual tricks throughout the production. We round off comparing Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to The Recruit, as both films show The Farm (the CIA’s semi-secret agent training facility) and portray the protagonist being inducted and initiated into that covert world.

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Show Notes:

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (film)

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (book)

The Real Chuck Barris

Chuck Barris: Is is True?

Broadcast Pioneers: Leon Levy

William Paley Obituary

Della Barris

Lynne Levy Equestrians

Chuck Barris ‘My Life on the Edge’

The Drexel Interview: Chuck Barris

Support us on Patreon

Pearse Redmond Patreon

Tom Secker Patreon

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio, The CIA and Hollywood | Also tagged aaron franz, assassin, CBS, chuck barris, CIA, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, dating game, della barris, George Clooney, leon Levy, lyn levy, magic, magic ritual, reality tv, the age of transitions, The CIA and Hollywood, the gong show, world stage | Comments (0)

The Ochelli Effect: Epstein, Orlando, and much more

June 17, 2016 – 4:55 pm

I had the great pleasure of once again joining the one and only Chuck Ochelli on his fine radio program The Ochelli Effect. This time around we discussed the recent mass shooting in Orlando and each of us offered up our thoughts and analysis on the massacre. Chuck and I also went into great detail about the ever bizarre (and underreported) Jeffrey Epstein case. I tell Chuck about some new research that has come my way relating to the case, as well as those moving in Epstein’s circles, and some of the “expose” books that are due out soon. We inevitably do some good old fashioned Trump bashing. Chuck and I ask the question: Why the hell is no one reporting on Trump’s close personal connection to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein? We also briefly talk about the new season of The CIA and Hollywood.

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By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in jeffrey epstein, Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged chuck ochelli, conchita sarnoff, donald trump, fear porn, gay community, gun control, homosexuality, jeffrey epstein, John connolly, Maer Roshan, mass shooting, Orlando, OSA, pedophile rings, ponzi scheme, radar, scientology, Steve Hoffenberg, The CIA and Hollywood, the ochelli effect, towers investors, vanity fair, Virgina Roberts | Comments (0)

The CIA and Hollywood episode 9 Good Night and Good Luck

June 12, 2016 – 12:53 pm

We welcome Ed Opperman to the series and discuss the 2005 docudrama Good Night, and Good Luck which retells the story of the 1954 confrontation between senator Joe McCarthy and television journalist Ed Murrow of CBS. McCarthy was pursuing Communists within the State Department and other government agencies and innocent people were getting caught in the crossfire, creating a climate of suspicion, mistrust and hostility. Murrow used his prime time series See It Now to attack McCarthy and the culture and mentality of McCarthyism, showing the senator to be a hypocrite who persecuted his targets.

This is the story that is told in Good Night, and Good Luck, a film born out of the creative relationship between George Clooney and Grant Heslov. In this episode we take a sideways look at the historical events and ask why Clooney and Heslov chose to lionise not just Murrow but the whole See it Now/CBS crew. We try to persuade Ed of an alternative interpretation of events, with Murrow not quite being the heroic counter-establishment figure he is in the film and CBS being a rotten media organisation with deep ties to the CIA. We then explore how almost everyone involved in Good Night, and Good Luck had either already made a film with CIA assistance, or went on to do so. We round off talking about Clooney’s bizarre Las Vegas connection, E Michael Burke, George Steinbrenner and (inevitably) Donald Trump.