Donate
Follow TFF
Facebook-f X-twitter Linkedin-in Tiktok Telegram Weixin Vk
Censorship
Documents expose how Hollywood promotes war on behalf of the Pentagon, CIA and NSA

US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

By Tom Secker and Matthew Alford

Published by INSURGE INTELLIGENCE, a crowdfunded investigative journalism project for people and planet. Support INSURGE to keep digging where others fear to tread.

Tom Secker and Matthew Alford report on their astonishing findings from trawling through thousands of new US military and intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents reveal for the first time the vast scale of US government control in Hollywood, including the ability to manipulate scripts or even prevent films too critical of the Pentagon from being made — not to mention influencing some of the most popular film franchises in recent years.

This raises new questions not only about the way censorship works in the modern entertainment industry, but also about Hollywood’s little-known role as a propaganda machine for the US national security apparatus.

• •

When we first looked at the relationship between politics, film and television at the turn of the 21st century, we accepted the consensus opinion that a small office at the Pentagon had, on request, assisted the production of around 200 movies throughout the history of modern media, with minimal input on the scripts.

How ignorant we were.

More appropriately, how misled we had been.

We have recently acquired 4,000 new pages of documents from the Pentagon and CIA through the Freedom of Information Act. For us, these documents were the final nail in the coffin.

These documents for the first time demonstrate that the US government has worked behind the scenes on over 800 major movies and more than 1,000 TV titles.

Continue reading this mind-boggling analysis with videos and photos here at Insurgence Intelligence.

Photo
Plato’s Cave reimagined for the Hollywood era.
Copyright Derek Swansonn

Recommended reading

Frances Stonor Saunders,
Who Paid The Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War
Granta Books, London 1999.

 

 

No data was found

Share

CensorshipCulturefakeMedia and conflictOmitted media

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

Cold war
Don’t be fooled: Others Could Have More Interest in Sending Drones to the Nordic Countries than Russia
Drones over Nordic airports. No damage. No trace. No answers. Most assume Russia—but what if that’s not so? Why is there so much we are not told? This article explores the strategic ambiguity behind recent drone incursions and asks: Who else might benefit from sending drones into NATO airspace? From Ukraine’s surprising drone supremacy to Russia’s possible signalling, the silence itself may be the loudest message. These are the kinds of questions decent, intelligent investigative journalists and commentators could easily research. Why don’t they? Did you, dear reader, know or think of this? That the most powerful weapon in today’s conflicts might be the one that leaves no trace – and no answers. Just enough fear to justify the next move? Recently, drones have repeatedly appeared over Nordic airports and near some military facilities. They cause no damage – for which reason the designation “hybrid attack” is misleading but serves a purpose. These...
Art and peace
When Empires Fall and Militarism Arrives, Cultural Freedom Must Be Reduced
America’s Strategic Assault on Art, Academia, and the Imagination That Sustains Peace The United States once stood as a beacon of cultural audacity—a place where dissent could be beautiful, and beauty and innovation could challenge the present order of things. Its museums, universities, and artists helped inspire a worldwide imagination rooted in creative freedom and innovation. But today, under the Trump regime’s second term, those dynamic qualities are being systematically dismantled. Just read this. As Trump goes after the arts, many museums remain silent | CNN As CNN reports, the administration has launched an aggressive campaign to “eradicate improper ideology” from federally funded museums. Exhibitions involving race, gender, and identity are being censored or cancelled. Amy Sherald’s reimagining of the Statue of Liberty as a Black, trans woman was pulled from the Smithsonian after curators objected to its symbolism. Sherald warned that “history shows us what happens when governments demand loyalty...
Featured
The Western Liberal Media New Messaging on Gaza: A Critique from the Perspective of Peace and Justice Journalism
A slightly modified version of a text published on Sept. 1, 2025 in TMS. On August 25 Thomas Friedman, always a weathervane for political and economic establishment thinking in the West, wrote a notable column in the NY Times that was pragmatic in tone, misleading in substance, and regressive in intention. Yet it reflects a growing ambivalence toward Israel’s prolonged genocide even among longtime supporters of Israel that now highlights starvation, famine, and a gross distortion of the delivery of humanitarian aid under emergency conditions. But expressed dangerously without hiding the hope that Israel could even now restore its legitimacy without being held accountable for crimes in Gaza and despite all, still expecting to be rewarded by excluding Hamas from any further governance role in Gaza and continuing to move toward the annexation of the West Bank by formal action or through further settlement expansion. It is notable that the headline of...

Recent Articles

Archive 1986 - 2017
Kasturba: a life – Book Review
Gandhi, Arun. Lord Richard Attenborough. Kasturba: a lifeNew Delhi: Penguin Books Ltd., 2000.315 pp, 295 Indian Rs, US $22.51 January 29, 2002 Arun Gandhi, grandson to Mohandas and Kasturba, has written a thorough account of Kasturba’s life. Arun begins with a description of Kasturba’s childhood in Porbandar in the late1800s, before she met Mohandas. By having chosen to embark on difficult research into his grandmother’s life, including her first years which are not well-documented, Arun ensures that the reader receives an intimate and life-long portrait of this amazing woman. Kasturba is presented as a lively woman &endash; obedient, yet with a mind of her own. As the relationship between Kasturba and Mohandas developed, Arun maintains that Kasturba’s influence over Mohandas in her own quiet way also grew, to which some of Mohandas’ writings also attest.  Arun paints a vivid picture of the beginnings of Mohandas’ non-violence movement in South Africa, a...
Archive 1986 - 2017
The People Power Revolution in the Philippines: Lessons Learned for the Twenty-first Century
In response to an urgent Appeal from all the living Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, the General Assembly of the United Nations, on November 1998, unanimously declared the first decade of the twenty-first century to be The Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. While people are naturally concerned about the amount of violence in our world and how it threatens our future, the Nobel Laureates are right to remind us of the potential of nonviolence and our calling to build a culture of peace and nonviolence.  The twentieth century is instructive in the way that the philosophy and practice of nonviolence have begun to flourish and in the way that nonviolent movements have had an exponential growth across the world. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are the most famous nonviolent leaders but many have built upon the paths they charted as in country after country, tyrannies and...
Archive 1986 - 2017
Doctors and Torture
We know that medical personnel have failed to report to higher authorities wounds that were clearly caused by torture and that they have neglected to take steps to interrupt this torture. In addition, they have turned over prisoners’ medical records to interrogators who could use them to exploit the prisoners’ weaknesses or vulnerabilities. We have not yet learned the extent of medical involvement in delaying and possibly falsifying the death certificates of prisoners who have been killed by torturers. A May 22 article on Abu Ghraib in the New York Times states that “much of the evidence of abuse at the prison came from medical documents” and that records and statements “showed doctors and medics reporting to the area of the prison where the abuse occurred several times to stitch wounds, tend to collapsed prisoners or see patients with bruised or reddened genitals.” http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080604J.shtml#16 According to the article, two doctors who...

TFF on Substack

Discover more from TFF Transnational Foundation & Jan Oberg.

Posts
Videos

Most Popular

Archive 1986 - 2017
Kasturba: a life – Book Review
Gandhi, Arun. Lord Richard Attenborough. Kasturba: a lifeNew Delhi: Penguin Books Ltd., 2000.315 pp, 295 Indian Rs, US $22.51 January 29, 2002 Arun Gandhi, grandson to Mohandas and Kasturba, has written a thorough account of Kasturba’s life. Arun begins with a description of Kasturba’s childhood in Porbandar in the late1800s, before she met Mohandas. By having chosen to embark on difficult research into his grandmother’s life, including her first years which are not well-documented, Arun ensures that the reader receives an intimate and life-long portrait of this amazing woman. Kasturba is presented as a lively woman &endash; obedient, yet with a mind of her own. As the relationship between Kasturba and Mohandas developed, Arun maintains that Kasturba’s influence over Mohandas in her own quiet way also grew, to which some of Mohandas’ writings also attest.  Arun paints a vivid picture of the beginnings of Mohandas’ non-violence movement in South Africa, a...
Archive 1986 - 2017
The People Power Revolution in the Philippines: Lessons Learned for the Twenty-first Century
In response to an urgent Appeal from all the living Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, the General Assembly of the United Nations, on November 1998, unanimously declared the first decade of the twenty-first century to be The Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. While people are naturally concerned about the amount of violence in our world and how it threatens our future, the Nobel Laureates are right to remind us of the potential of nonviolence and our calling to build a culture of peace and nonviolence.  The twentieth century is instructive in the way that the philosophy and practice of nonviolence have begun to flourish and in the way that nonviolent movements have had an exponential growth across the world. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are the most famous nonviolent leaders but many have built upon the paths they charted as in country after country, tyrannies and...
Archive 1986 - 2017
Doctors and Torture
We know that medical personnel have failed to report to higher authorities wounds that were clearly caused by torture and that they have neglected to take steps to interrupt this torture. In addition, they have turned over prisoners’ medical records to interrogators who could use them to exploit the prisoners’ weaknesses or vulnerabilities. We have not yet learned the extent of medical involvement in delaying and possibly falsifying the death certificates of prisoners who have been killed by torturers. A May 22 article on Abu Ghraib in the New York Times states that “much of the evidence of abuse at the prison came from medical documents” and that records and statements “showed doctors and medics reporting to the area of the prison where the abuse occurred several times to stitch wounds, tend to collapsed prisoners or see patients with bruised or reddened genitals.” http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080604J.shtml#16 According to the article, two doctors who...
Read More
Imagen-thumbnail-The-Transnational-1
Archive 1986 - 2017
Kasturba: a life – Book Review
Gandhi, Arun. Lord Richard Attenborough. Kasturba: a lifeNew Delhi: Penguin Books Ltd., 2000.315 pp, 295 Indian Rs, US $22.51 January 29, 2002 Arun Gandhi, grandson to Mohandas and Kasturba, has written a thorough account of Kasturba’s life. Arun begins with a description of Kasturba’s childhood in Porbandar in the late1800s, before she met Mohandas. By having chosen to embark on difficult research into his grandmother’s life, including her first years which are not well-documented, Arun ensures that the reader receives an intimate and life-long portrait of this amazing woman. Kasturba is presented as a lively woman &endash; obedient, yet with a mind of her own. As the relationship between Kasturba and Mohandas developed, Arun maintains that Kasturba’s influence over Mohandas in her own quiet way also grew, to which some of Mohandas’ writings also attest.  Arun paints a vivid picture of the beginnings of Mohandas’ non-violence movement in South Africa, a...
Imagen-thumbnail-The-Transnational-1
Archive 1986 - 2017
The People Power Revolution in the Philippines: Lessons Learned for the Twenty-first Century
In response to an urgent Appeal from all the living Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, the General Assembly of the United Nations, on November 1998, unanimously declared the first decade of the twenty-first century to be The Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. While people are naturally concerned about the amount of violence in our world and how it threatens our future, the Nobel Laureates are right to remind us of the potential of nonviolence and our calling to build a culture of peace and nonviolence.  The twentieth century is instructive in the way that the philosophy and practice of nonviolence have begun to flourish and in the way that nonviolent movements have had an exponential growth across the world. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are the most famous nonviolent leaders but many have built upon the paths they charted as in country after country, tyrannies and...
Imagen-thumbnail-The-Transnational-1
Archive 1986 - 2017
Doctors and Torture
We know that medical personnel have failed to report to higher authorities wounds that were clearly caused by torture and that they have neglected to take steps to interrupt this torture. In addition, they have turned over prisoners’ medical records to interrogators who could use them to exploit the prisoners’ weaknesses or vulnerabilities. We have not yet learned the extent of medical involvement in delaying and possibly falsifying the death certificates of prisoners who have been killed by torturers. A May 22 article on Abu Ghraib in the New York Times states that “much of the evidence of abuse at the prison came from medical documents” and that records and statements “showed doctors and medics reporting to the area of the prison where the abuse occurred several times to stitch wounds, tend to collapsed prisoners or see patients with bruised or reddened genitals.” http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080604J.shtml#16 According to the article, two doctors who...
Imagen-thumbnail-The-Transnational-1
Archive 1986 - 2017
1. Internationale konflikter -familiestrid eller magtpolitik?
Jan Øberg behandler i artiklen en lang række faktorer, som ligger til grund for den måde vores samfund er organiseret på – og derfor også for konflikter. Artiklen introducerer således sammenhængen mellem familien, foreninger, regeringer, NGO’ er, nation, stat, nationalstat og alliancer for på denne måde bedre at kunne forstå konflikter og i sidste ende blive klogere mht. at løse disse. Øberg, der er fortaler for global bevidsthed, hvilket skal ses i lyset af den øgede globalisering, skelner mellem kulturkamp og kulturdialog. Endelig behandles begrebet magt og magtesløshed: giver magt ret til at udøve magt – fordi man mener at have ret? Litteraturliste og arbejdsspørgsmål efter artiklen. Ordene vi bruger om verden I satellitperspektiv kan man godt tale om den menneskelige familie eller menneskeheden. Udtrykket understreger, at der eksisterer – eller burde eksistere – et fællesskab fordi vi alle er mennesker og sammen bebor denne klode og ingen anden. Og...
Imagen-thumbnail-The-Transnational-1
Archive 1986 - 2017
4. Forholdet Europe – USA # 3
Kapitel 2: Forskellige sider af Europa og USA…fortsat 2.5 Militære relationer I forbifarten har vi allerede sagt nogle ting om USA’s militære situation. Kig lige en gang til på afsnit 2.3. Nu skal vi uddybe det militære forhold mellem USA og EU. Der er en række ligheder mellem visse europæiske landes og USA’s militær. Næsten alle er med på en eller anden måde i NATO, direkte som medlem – selv Island, der ikke har et forsvar – eller indirekte i Partnerskab for Fred. USA og Canada er med i OSCE (på dansk OSSE), Organisationen for Sikkerhed og Samarbejde i Europa, der tæller over 50 lande. USA samt England og Frankrig er kernevåbenstater og de har styrker til intervention langt borte fra hjemlandet, om end USA’s er tifold større. Alle har også en omfattende våbeneksport og bruger den som et middel til at tjene penge og få loyale venner på, det...
Imagen-thumbnail-The-Transnational-1
Archive 1986 - 2017
Mission Report TFF’s Second Mission to Burundi November 2003. With Co-Operation Agreement
Background Christian Harleman and Jan Oberg conducted a fact-finding mission to Burundi between November 26 and December 6, 2003. (See websites about the country here). The first TFF mission took place in March 1999. Unfortunately, since then it has not been practically possible to implement the co-operation with Burundi’s Ministry of Education and Burundian NGOs that was planned at the time. The 2003 mission had three purposes. First, to do fact-finding in general about the situation and, in particular, the progress under the Arusha Peace Process. Second, to explore the possibilities for co-operation between the government and relevant NGOs on the one hand and TFF on the other, in order to develop and deepen the existing competence in fields such as conflict-understanding, reconciliation and peace-building. Finally, third, to find out whether it would be possible, in co-operation with the Swedish Rescue Services Agency (Statens Räddningsverk), to establish a health care unit that...