ClandesTime

The Watchdogs Didn’t Bark was the last great book on the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. In this episode I... The post ClandesTime 283 – 9/11: The Watchdogs Didn’t Bark first appeared on Spy Culture.

The rise of former CIA officers working as consultants to the film and TV business is one of the cultural... The post Subscribercast #100 – The Latest in the CIA and Hollywood first appeared on Spy Culture.

Godzilla movies vary enormously, from goofy to serious, from smart to utterly moronic.  In this subscribercast we look at the... The post Subscribercast #99 – Godzilla vs Godzilla Minus One first appeared on Spy Culture.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 London Bombings, a terrorist mass murder that I investigated for many... The post ClandesTime 282 – The 7/7 London Bombings Revisited first appeared on Spy Culture.

The Lockerbie bombing, which brought down Pan Am 103 and killed 270 people, is one of the most disturbing events... The post ClandesTime 281 – Conspiracy Theories: The Lockerbie Bombing first appeared on Spy Culture.

Zero Day is the latest in CIA-supported Netflix spy dramas, only this time it’s cyberterrorism rather than Arab hijackers or... The post Subscribercast #98 – Zero Day first appeared on Spy Culture.

I offer some thoughts on the 90s thriller The Fugitive, honing in on the Tommy Lee Jones character and his... The post Subscribercast #97 – The Fugitive first appeared on Spy Culture.

The Pentagon’s Hollywood offices claim that they don’t pitch, they don’t try to push certain content into the culture industries.... The post ClandesTime 280 – How the US Military Pitches Hollywood first appeared on Spy Culture.

We check in with the recently-released season two of Netflix’s The Recruit, a show supported by the CIA, DOD and... The post Subscribercast #96 – The Recruit Season Two first appeared on Spy Culture.

How are government employees portrayed in popular movies? In this episode we review Civil Servants on the Silver Screen, an... The post ClandesTime 279 – Civil Servants on the Silver Screen first appeared on Spy Culture.

In 1982 an anti-anarchist pro-SAS movie supported by the real SAS and based on the Iranian embassy siege was released,... The post ClandesTime 278 – The Final Option (or Who Dares Wins) first appeared on Spy Culture.

For this end-of-year subscriber podcast I take a look at the 1990s cult classic Point Break. A simple tale of... The post Subscribercast #95 – Point Break first appeared on Spy Culture.

Over the last decade, data has become the new resource or commodity underpinning the failing global economy. In this episode... The post ClandesTime 277 – How Big Data is Ruining Football (and possibly the planet) first appeared on Spy Culture.

The murders of Biggie and Tupac remain unsolved. In this episode we examine the film City of Lies, which ties... The post ClandesTime 276 – City of Lies first appeared on Spy Culture.

Netflix’s The Diplomat is cutting edge State Department propaganda, as well as being a Homeland replacement set in and around... The post Subscribercast #94 – The Diplomat Season Two first appeared on Spy Culture.

The Union is the latest big spy film to hit streaming and has proven a success despite being a 10... The post ClandesTime 275 – The Union first appeared on Spy Culture.

The topic of Israel and Hollywood tends to attract racists and conspiracy theorists but for this month’s subscribercast I put... The post Subscribercast #93 – Israel and Hollywood first appeared on Spy Culture.

I hate reality TV but it’s cheap, nasty and has taken over the TV entertainment industry. In this episode we... The post ClandesTime 274 – The US Military and Reality TV first appeared on Spy Culture.

Most of you will have read or heard some of the coverage of the relationship between the military and video... The post Subscribercast #92 – The US Military and Video Games first appeared on Spy Culture.

The government involvement in Hollywood marches on so in today’s episode we examine two films that were released this year,... The post ClandesTime 273 – The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare vs My Spy: The Eternal City first appeared on Spy Culture.

In the many years I’ve been doing this I’ve got a lot of suggestions and recommendations from listeners. In this... The post Subscribercast #91 – Listener Recommendations first appeared on Spy Culture.

When you specialise in an area of research you tend to be asked the same questions, or the same kinds... The post ClandesTime 272 – FAQs first appeared on Spy Culture.

Why did the US military support a film about a drunken, abusive husband and father who is a textbook narcissist?... The post ClandesTime 271 – The Great Santini first appeared on Spy Culture.

Gangster finds God, with the help of a non-linear storyline.  In this month’s subscriber-only episode I have a long, rambling... The post Subscribercast #90 – Pulp Fiction first appeared on Spy Culture.

The original TV series of Mission: Impossible was inspired by the life and work of CIA contract agent Robert Maheu,... The post ClandesTime 270 – The CIA and Mission: Impossible first appeared on Spy Culture.

Gary Webb is one of the journalists who inspired me, and his Dark Alliance series on the CIA complicity in... The post Subscribercast #89 – Gary Webb, the CIA and Cocaine first appeared on Spy Culture.

Very few major films have been made about the wars in Yugoslavia, but two are certainly worth examining. In this... The post ClandesTime 269 – The Balkan Line vs Behind Enemy Lines first appeared on Spy Culture.

What connects Kris Kristofferson, Willem Dafoe, Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman? They have all starred in Iran-Contra themed movies. In... The post ClandesTime 268 – The Cinema of Iran-Contra: Part II first appeared on Spy Culture.

Lone Survivor. Black Hawk Down. Kandahar. Stick them in a blender and you get this episode’s movie – Land of... The post ClandesTime 267 – Land of Bad first appeared on Spy Culture.

What connects the Glazer family, owners of Manchester United football club, and the CIA?  Three companies: the Zapata Corporation, founded... The post Subscribercast #88 – The Glazers, Manchester United and the CIA first appeared on Spy Culture.

The spy movie is dying, despite efforts to reform it in recent years. In this episode we examine Argylle, the... The post ClandesTime 266 – Argylle first appeared on Spy Culture.

Continuing our vaguely Gary Devore-related explorations, in this month’s subscribercast we look at two unconventional bank heist films where the... The post Subscribercast #87 – The Bank Job vs Inside Man first appeared on Spy Culture.

Kevin Gosztola joins us to talk about his new Medium publication The Wide Shot, a film review and industry analysis... The post ClandesTime 265 – The Wide Shot, David Robb and Phil Strub first appeared on Spy Culture.

What does a military movie with no heroes look like?  It looks like Buffalo Soldiers, a tale of bored, criminally... The post Subscribercast #86 – Buffalo Soldiers, etc. first appeared on Spy Culture.

It isn’t often that you get a long-term inside view of a government propaganda office, but that’s what I’ve got... The post ClandesTime 264 – The US Marine Corps in Hollywood: 1974 to 1982 first appeared on Spy Culture.

Apocalypse Now and Francis Ford Coppola were rejected by the Pentagon when they asked for production support. A decade later... The post ClandesTime 263 – Gardens of Stone first appeared on Spy Culture.

15 years after podcasts first became a popular medium, the CIA has cottoned onto the value of pre-recorded audio content.... The post ClandesTime 262 – The CIA and Podcasts Decoded first appeared on Spy Culture.

Two years on from my investigation into over 3000 pages of Bureau of Prisons files on Jeffrey Epstein we return... The post Subscribercast #85 – The Epstein-Maxwell Cover-Up first appeared on Spy Culture.

Dying of the Light. Dark. The Card Counter. Aside from all being written and directed by Paul Schrader, what do... The post ClandesTime 261 – A Paul Schrader Trilogy first appeared on Spy Culture.

In this month’s subscriber-only podcast we tackle the final season of The Shield, and do so head on.  In this... The post Subscribercast #84 – The Shield Season Seven first appeared on Spy Culture.

Netflix’s The Diplomat marks the first time that the British Foreign Office and the US State Department have made a... The post ClandesTime 260 – The Diplomat first appeared on Spy Culture.

For this Christmastime subscribercast we welcome back Henri to discuss the 1980s sci-fi comedy classic Back to the Future. We... The post Subscribercast #83 – Back to the Future first appeared on Spy Culture.

Between 2018 and 2022, three major OSS spies have been canonised in film and TV – Julia Child, Moe Berg... The post ClandesTime 259 – The OSS in Popular Culture first appeared on Spy Culture.

Continuing our review series, on this month’s subscribercast we look at the sixth and penultimate season of The Shield. We... The post Subscribercast #82 – The Shield Season 6 first appeared on Spy Culture.

The CIA’s Museum is a monument to lies, murder and secret power. Not officially, of course, they use much prettier... The post ClandesTime 258 – The CIA Museum first appeared on Spy Culture.

How do you hold the police accountable if Internal Affairs are corrupt?  That’s the core question in The Shield season... The post Subscribercast #81 – The Shield Season Five first appeared on Spy Culture.

Ted Kaczynski a.k.a. the Unabomber died earlier this year. As a tribute, in this episode we look at the latest... The post ClandesTime 257 – Was the Unabomber Wrong? first appeared on Spy Culture.

In this special report we examine the documentary accusing celebrity Russell Brand of sex crimes. We look at the troubling... The post ClandesTime Special – The Russell Brand Allegations first appeared on Spy Culture.

One thing the Pentagon love to do is ‘showcase’ absurdly costly technologies to the public. This military product placement helps... The post ClandesTime 256 – Military-Industrial Product Placement first appeared on Spy Culture.

Should the government be allowed to seize people’s property because they think it was bought with the profits from crime? ... The post Subscribercast #80 – The Shield Season Four first appeared on Spy Culture.