How the Pentagon Exploits Hollywood to Promote Its Military Agendas

Responsiblestatecraft.org recently published an article highlighting how the Hollywood movie industry is being used by the Pentagon as a tool for military promotion and shaping American public opinion toward military and political issues.

The report confirmed that the Pentagon does not intend to mention its contribution in directing these cinematic works, and is trying to use them as part of military propaganda.

The report also revealed the methods, goals, and budget allocated by the Pentagon to impose its control over this type of cinematic production.

The German-French station ARTE showed several years ago a documentary movie entitled ‘Hollywood and the Pentagon,’ in which it revealed the existing relationship between the US Department of Defense and cinematic movies, especially those that talk about U.S. wars.

It explained that the missions of the Pentagon and the CIA offices in Hollywood specialize in monitoring scenarios, and even interfere in the performance of the actors, especially if one of them is playing the role of an American soldier or in any scene related to the U.S. army.

It is noteworthy that the U.S. Army has contributed significantly to many Hollywood movies, including Sully, Iron Man, Transformers, Tomorrow Never Dies, Black Hawk Down, Captain Phillips, and Bridge of Spies.

Military Promotion

The White House realized from an early age the importance of cinema in influencing the masses, so it tried to exploit it to serve its policy and goals. This was demonstrated in World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War.

The politicians in the White House and the Pentagon tried to establish strong relations with the movie people in Hollywood.

The German website Telepolis concluded that the Pentagon largely controls the Hollywood movie industry and uses it as a tool to promote its military agendas.

It pointed out that the Pentagon controls Hollywood movies scripts to ensure that the US military is portrayed favorably, noting that this practice aims to influence the public in an unconscious and unnoticed way, and to promote the idea of U.S. military interventions in the affairs of other countries.

The website included a quote by Elmer Davis, the first director of the US Office of War Information (OWI), that the easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people's minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.

It also pointed out that during the Cold War, specifically in 1953, then US President Dwight Eisenhower commented on the growing partnership between Hollywood and the Pentagon by saying: “The hand of government must be carefully concealed and wholly eliminated.”

Referring to the military entertainment industry, the website mentioned cinematic works such as Top Gun movie, the Marvel franchise, and the Extreme Makeover show, pointing out that the Pentagon has been able to shape the narratives of more than 2,500 movies and TV shows.

Emotional Connection

In his documentary called Responsible Statecraft, Roger Stahl, head of the Department of Communication Sciences at the University of Georgia, noted that the Department of Defense ties the loan of weapons systems to the condition of full access to the work entertainment script through the Office of Entertainment Communication, which is the successor to OWI.

In this context, the website pointed out that when the script is revised and reprinted with notes or even major changes in the plot, the studio could accept the changes completely or lose access to military resources.

This unequal relationship could lead to scandalous propaganda, according to what was reported on the website.

On the other hand, Tom Secker, the journalist labeled a vexatious requester by the Pentagon due to his incessant barrage of FOIA requests, shared the hitherto unpublished Production Assistance Agreement Contract for 'Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning'.

In addition to permitting the Mission Impossible crew to film on US military bases in the UAE, the contract has the Defense Department loaning the production team a Boeing-made V-22 Osprey for use in at least two scenes in which the aircraft would be filmed both internally and externally.

The Osprey, known as the widowmaker, is a $120 billion disaster that is one accident away from being decommissioned, as it has already caused the deaths of 62 service members.

According to Roger Stahl, these scenes are intentionally designed to forge an emotional connection between the viewer and the weapon systems.

This is intended to avoid criticism when viewers realize the absurdity and high cost of the aircraft and any other military systems, which contributes to making this huge expenditure seem normal.

In this regard, the website noted that while previously the objectives of its cooperation with the entertainment industry were justified by the principle of promoting the veracity of the depiction of military operations and maintaining an acceptable standard of dignity in the representation of the armed forces, these directives changed in 1988.

The aims of the new cooperation include promoting public understanding of the US armed forces , enhancing Armed Forces recruitment and retention programs, and compliance and promotion of US government policies.

On the other hand, the website pointed out that military entertainment shows that the United States protects people from the world's dictators.

For example, in Season 2 of Jack Ryan, everyone's favorite Jim helps the CIA take down a nuclear-wielding Venezuelan dictator.

It is noteworthy that this season aired around the same time Washington was parading Juan Guaido as Venezuela's new leader.

In giving an overall diagnosis of the problem, Stahl mentioned that the issue lies with the American People’s perceived interests, adding that while they focus on state subsidies and welfare programs, they are oblivious to the costs of our militaristic engagement with the world.

This cost was briefly summarized at the end of the documentary as reaching $8 trillion in the period after September 11, 2001 alone.

With a military budget that’s rapidly nearing $1 trillion and a new nuclear system on the books, the influence of the military entertainment industry is undeniably sinister and more present than ever.

US Intervention

Several years ago, in their book ‘National Security Cinema’, Matt Alford and Tom Secker exposed how various security institutions, such as the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, and the CIA, interfere in Hollywood film making, sometimes by directing and sometimes by deleting.

The researchers obtained four thousand pages of Pentagon and intelligence documents that contained amazing discoveries, as they showed that the American government was present behind the scenes of more than 800 mass-produced movies and more than 1,000 TV shows.

These works include movies such as ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’, starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, and ‘Meet the Parents’, starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro.

The two researchers also revealed that huge modifications had been made to the scripts of some major movies as a result of the US government’s intervention. 

These works include parts of the ‘James Bond’ series and ‘Transformers’ movies, in addition to a group of comic movies produced by Marvel and DC companies.

They also indicated that if a scriptwriter or movie producer wants to obtain assistance from the Pentagon, he must send the script to the liaison office for examination, explaining that the final say on this matter rests with Philip Strub, head of the Pentagon's Hollywood liaison office from 1989 to 2018.

The CIA has also been working since 1996 to improve its image through movies, to present itself as a strong agency that protects the United States and doesn’t make mistakes, according to Tricia Jenkins, a professor at the University of Michigan and author of the book ‘The CIA in Hollywood’.

One of the most prominent movies that embodies intelligence cooperation with Hollywood is ‘Argo’, which won an Oscar, but it reduced the importance of Canada’s major role in the operation to free the American hostages in Iran, giving more space to US intelligence.

However, other movies sparked great controversy, such as ‘Homeland’, which received CIA assistance, but faced criticism for justifying US war crimes and for mixing Muslims with terrorism.

One of the movies that also received criticism was ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, which talks about the pursuit of Osama bin Laden, and it also received assistance from the CIA, but it received criticism from the Senate Intelligence Committee because he suggested that torturing detained Islamic extremists was useful in determining the whereabouts of the former leader of Al Qaeda.