thespyreport

Spy Tech on Nat Geo

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:03:04 GMT

Tonight at 8:00 (EST), National Geographic is airing "Spy Tech" as part of its "Man-Made" series. NatGeo's website offers no description, so I don't know if this is the same special produced by Danny Beiderman some years back.

More Prisoner News

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:23:48 GMT

Just got this note from Roger Langley which says:

“I took part in a Prisoner radio feature today on City Talk, which is a Liverpool UK commercial station. There is a listen again facility but it is not up yet. The Wednesday show archived is still last week's. The address is

http://www.whatson.com/citytalk/

and you need to find the Duncan Barkes show from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. The Prisoner section is the last hour, so you have to slide the button along past the first 2 hours. The MD of Portmeirion was on too, Robin Llywelyn.

I guess it will be archived soon, but it's only there for a week and is replaced by the following Wednsday edition.”

Don’t forget—“An Actor For All Seasons: Roger Langley Investigates Patrick McGoohan” has just been posted at

WWW.LeslieCharteris.com

And can be found in the “Features” section. Wes Britton also helped interview Roger on “Talking Television with Dave White” on June 17 on the online radio station, KSAV. That interview has been archived at—

WWW.TalkingTelevision.org

And, while we’re talking so much Prisoner, the full story behind the coming remake can be explored at—

http://www.sixofone.org.uk/Prisoner-Remake.htm

New features at Spywise.net!

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:18:32 GMT

Two hot new features now at Spywise.net include:

“A Spy Movie Without Pictures: Inside the Musical Soundscape of Black Tie Spy”
By Wesley Britton

In this interview, guitarist Tom Pervanje provides the inside story behind a great new CD—Black Tie Spy. In many ways, it’s a great soundtrack for a spy movie—for a film that doesn’t exist! It’s a unique and fresh blend of original instrumentals interspersed with the cover tracks that made Tom’s band—Spy-Fi—such a hit with their previous two albums. It includes moods ranging from the romantic to the dramatic, from the exotic to classic. Tom says of this project:

“At face value, a Black Tie Spy might suggest a male James Bond type character in the usual tuxedo and black tie. But as one can see on the CD cover, all is not what it seems. This Black Tie Spy is a woman, and she means business – and says so in Russian throughout the CD.”

Adding interest for James Bond fans—007 guitarist Vic Flick co-wrote and performed on the title track. A real must-have! For more details, check out the conversation in the “Spies on Film” section of Spywise.net.

“Inside the World Espionage Bureau: Q&A with WEB Creator Bill Raetz”
By Wesley Britton

In 2005, novelist Bill Raetz introduced his World Espionage Bureau (WEB) in his first novel, Berlin Files. His savvy with self-publishing and online marketing then led to a series of highly successful WEB novels including Romanian Skylark (2006) and his most recent entry, Surveillance (2007).

For those who haven’t experienced Bill’s brand of fast-paced action-adventure—taking us all back to the days when spy novels were exciting and fun—this interview will give you some flavor as to what WEB is all about. And if you’re already a fan—Bill has some announcements about a new direction in the WEB universe. You can check out our talk in the “Spies in History and Literature” section—again at—

WWW.Spywise.net

More details on The Prisoner Remake

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:34:34 GMT

New York, NY June 30, 2008

AMC, the network defining The Future of Classic, announced today that acclaimed film actors Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ, The Thin Red Line) and Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code) have signed on to star in the network's reinterpretation of the highly influential 1960's cult classic, The Prisoner. AMC is co-producing the six-part mini-series with ITV Productions and Granada International, with a worldwide premiere slated for 2009. The Prisoner, AMC's second original mini-series, combines a wide range of genres, including espionage, thriller and Sci-Fi, into a unique and compelling drama, and expands upon the network's distinctive cinematic approach to creating high-quality programming.
Caviezel will play the title role of "Number Six," a part that was originally made famous when played by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan also served as the creator, producer, writer and director of the 1960's series, which has become widely regarded as one of the most famous and intriguing cult TV series ever created, permanently altering the scope of the fantasy genre. Two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen will co-star playing the role of "Number Two."
"Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen bring an incredible level of talent to the project, and we're honored they are taking on these important roles. We look forward to this production revitalizing a classic and bringing Patrick McGoohan's brilliant and captivating story to an entirely new generation of viewers," stated Charlie Collier, AMC's general manager and executive vice president. "The caliber of Hollywood talent AMC is attracting further validates our programming vision and our successful strategy of producing quality cinematic originals that stand alongside our library of iconic movies."
"For those of us who were watching grown-up TV in the 60s, The Prisoner was dangerous, exciting and challenging TV. For those of us who were too young to stay up to watch the series, it casts a long shadow. You don't embark on something this iconic without the best team around to do it justice for a whole new era. With Bill Gallagher as writer, Trevor Hopkins as Producer, Michele Buck, Damien Timmer and Rebecca Keane as the UK Execs, AMC as production partners, ITV as UK Commissioners, and Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen leading the cast, we have that team on board. I can't wait," said John Whiston, Director of ITV Productions.
"Bill Gallagher's new version of The Prisoner is an enthralling commentary on modern culture. It is witty, intelligent and disturbing. I am very excited to be involved," said Ian McKellen.
While the original series, which debuted in 1967, was a riff on Cold War politics, AMC's reinterpretation will reflect 21st Century concerns and anxieties, such as liberty, security, and surveillance, yet also showcase the same key elements of paranoia, tense action and socio-political commentary seen in McGoohan's enigmatic original.
"The Prisoner spawned an enormous group of zealous fans who thrived on each week's psychological twists and turns. AMC's version brings The Prisoner back to primetime, and we're tempted to discuss more details, but in the spirit of the series, what you DO know, may hurt you," said Christina Wayne, SVP of scripted original programming.
The Prisoner mini-series is a co-production of AMC and ITV Productions; the deal was brokered by Granada International, which holds international distribution rights. Bill Gallagher (Conviction, Clocking Off, Lark Rise To Candleford) serves as writer and executive producer, along with Michele Buck, Damien Timmer, Rebecca Keane, and AMC's Charlie Collier, Christina Wayne and Vlad Wolynetz. It is produced by Trevor Hopkins (Dracula, Poirot), and directed by Jon Jones (Northanger Abbey, Cold Feet). Jim Caviezel's deal was coordinated by ICM. Creative Artists Agency orchestrated the deal on behalf of Ian McKellen.

Source: AMC press release, June 20, 2008

Remake of The Prisoner Announced

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:03:18 GMT

Looks like The Saint might not be the only ‘60s stalwart to return to television next year:

AMC and ITV Announce The Prisoner Remake:
AMC and ITV will partner for a six-hour miniseries remake of classic
drama The Prisoner in 2009. Sir Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel have
been cast in the lead roles of Number Two and Number Six. The original
series aired on CBS in the 1968-69 season, with Patrick McGoohan as
Number Six.

Source: "The Programming Insider," a daily e-mail newsletter from
Mediaweek magazine.

Another Federal Logical Fallacy

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:39:48 GMT

As reports issued from SECRECY NEWS are widely circulated, we rarely repeat any of their very useful posts here. But one announcement in today’s e-mail struck us as interesting for several reasons—and stated so with some wit and dash—

COURT INVALIDATES DETAINEE'S "ENEMY COMBATANT" STATUS

A federal appeals panel found that the designation of a Chinese
detainee held in U.S. custody as an "enemy combatant" was "not valid"
because the classified evidence offered by the government was not
sufficient to sustain the charge.

In the first legal challenge to enemy combatant status, Huzaifa Parhat,
an ethnic Uighur, admitted to being an enemy of the People's Republic of
China but denied any connection with al Qaida or the Taleban and
specifically denied that he was an enemy of the United States.

Military prosecutors argued that he qualified as an enemy combatant
because he was "affiliated" with military forces that were "associated"
with al Qaida and the Taleban.

In a straightforward but nevertheless thrilling exercise of judicial
authority, judges said that the classified evidentiary basis for that
argument could not be independently validated and was therefore
inadequate.

"We must be able to assess the reliability of that evidence ourselves,"
the judges wrote.

"The government suggests that several of the assertions in the
intelligence documents are reliable because they are made in at least
three different documents. We are not persuaded," the court said.

Adding a literary flourish, the judges wrote that "the fact that the
government has 'said it thrice' does not make an allegation true. See
LEWIS CARROLL, THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK 3 (1876) ('I have said it
thrice: What I tell you three times is true.')."

Likewise, they wrote, "the government insists that the statements made
in the [classified evidentiary] documents are reliable because the
State and Defense Departments would not have put them in intelligence
documents were that not the case. This comes perilously close to
suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true,
thus rendering superfluous both the role of the Tribunal and the role
that Congress assigned to this court."

In a court of law, the prosecution must prove its case and not simply
assert it, the judges explained.

"We [...] reject the government's contention that it can prevail by
submitting documents that read as if they were indictments or civil
complaints, and that simply assert as facts the elements required to
prove that a detainee falls within the definition of enemy combatant.
To do otherwise would require the courts to rubber-stamp the
government's charges," the ruling stated.

The court also denied a government request to block public disclosure
of certain unclassified information in the trial record, including
material marked "Law Enforcement Sensitive." (The new ruling is
apparently the first to cite President Bush's memorandum on "controlled
unclassified information" that was published on May 9, 2008.)

Significantly, the court rejected the government's attempt
"unilaterally to determine whether information is 'protected'."
Sealing the judicial record, the judges said, is a decision for the
court to make.

"Without an explanation tailored to the specific information at issue,
we are left with no way to determine whether it warrants protection --
other than to accept the government's own designation. This we cannot
do."

Instead, the government was directed to file a new motion "accompanied
by pleadings specifically explaining why protected status is required
for the information that has been marked. Opposing counsel may file a
response, and the government may file a reply, pursuant to our usual
rules."

The classified June 20, 2008 ruling in Huzaifa Parhat v. Robert M.
Gates was redacted and approved for publication on June 30. A copy is
available here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/parhat.pdf

Source:

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Quatum of Solace trailer--and more!

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:30:13 GMT

The word is out—the new Quantum Of Solace Exclusive Trailer is now available at MSN Video--

video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-gb&vid=3e1ccfe0-654d-4c6f-9b72-3835db18eb77 –

But don’t stop there—after another trailer for the upcoming Batman epic, there’s a string of short interviews with behind-the-scenes folks showing how it’s all done—kind of like seeing 20 minutes of DVD extras before the film hits theatres! Be patient—each interview follows a short time lag—but it’s worth it!

New article on Patrick Mcgoohan

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:25:18 GMT

“An Actor For All Seasons: Roger Langley Investigates Patrick Mcgoohan” is now posted at

WWW.LeslieCharteris.com

In the “Features” section. It’s a review/interview about Langley’s 2007 book, Patrick Mcgoohan—Danger Man or The Prisoner? (Tomahawk) which is the first full-length biography of the enigmatic actor. Yes, there are insights into Danger Man and The Prisoner, but there was more to Mcgoohan’s career both before and after the heady days of the 1960s spy renaissance. The interview discusses the range of Mcgoohan’s roles and provides insights into the reputation Mcgoohan has gained over they years.

While you’re there, don’t forget Wes Britton’s “A Double-Shot of 007: Devil May Care Meets The Moneypenny Diaries” is another new feature at Leslie Charteris.com this week—so there’s much for spy fans to enjoy!

Be seeing you—

Another take on the original Get Smart

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:21:00 GMT

Why the original 'Get Smart' still resonates
Thursday, June 26th 2008, 11:05 AM
(From New York Daily News)

Now that "Get Smart" has launched again, this time as a big-screen movie dolled up with an $80 million budget and two major stars in Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, naturally the nostalgia juices are flowing for the original.

So here's another example of how impressive an impact one silly TV sitcom can make on a nation.

Most of today's television-watching America wasn't born when
NBC unveiled the original "Get Smart," with Don Adams and Barbara Feldon as Agent Maxwell Smart and Agent 99, on Sept. 18, 1965.

But through the miracle of reruns, it's almost as if old Max had never left. Don Adams's death on Sept. 25, 2002, at the age of 82, only spurred another wave of cravings to see Maxwell Smart say, "Would you believe?" one more time.

For the last half of the 1960s, the entire country walked around saying, "Would you believe?" But to paraphrase Ilsa's remark about Sam and "As Time Goes By," no one could do it like Don Adams.

The conventional wisdom about the original "Get Smart," perpetrated by people like Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, who are entitled to address the subject because they created the show, is that it was designed as a satire on slick spy epics like the James Bond movies.

Personally, I've never thought that's all there was to it.

"Get Smart" was unquestionably a satire on Bond-type characters, the kind who might be swinging on the Riviera one day and lying in a Bombay
alley next day.

Smart, whose very name dripped overconfidence, was dull where Bond was sharp, dense where Bond was perceptive, cloddish where Bond was nimble and so on.

But me, I think one of the reasons "Get Smart" was such a hit - it was the No. 12 show of the 1965-66 season, edging out "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," which was working the same side of the street - is that it was also a satire on television.

Full text at:
208.7.160.123/entertainment/tv/2008/06/26/2008-06-26_why_the_original_get_smart_still_resonat.html - 37k -

Robert Winston Mercy's I Hear No Bugles

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:09:50 GMT

While not related to espionage, we’d like to alert you to “Real War vs. Reel War—Wes Britton reviews I Hear No Bugles” posted today at

WWW.CinemaRetro.com

The review discusses the new memoir by Robert Winston Mercy about his becoming a member of the U.S. military before and during the Korean War in 1950. The book shows how war films served as cultural propaganda that shaped Mercy’s consciousness when he was a child and how these films remained an important part of his “DNA” on the battlefield. After the war, Mercy became a character actor in Hollywood—and he found himself playing the very roles that he had watched in dark moviehouses all those years before.

Check out the review at CinemaRetro—

Wes Britton
WWW.Spywise.net

James Bond, continuation novels, and The Saint

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:53:22 GMT

Wes Britton’s new article, “A DOUBLE SHOT OF 007: DEVIL MAY CARE MEETS THE MONEYPENNY DIARIES” is now posted at

http://www.lesliecharteris.com/double_shot.htm

After tracing the attempts of continuation novelists to take 007 out of the 1960s, Wes shares a double-review of books returning Bond to his roots, namely Sebastian Fauks Devil May Care and the new American edition of The Moneypenny Diaries by Kate Westbrook. Along the way—this is a Leslie Charteris website—there’s important references to a certain literary character called Simon Templar . . .

The webmaster, by the way, says the article looks best if you go first to the main site—

www.lesliecharteris.com

and then go to the article in the “Features” section. Ian tells me photos will be added soon as well.

Former MI5 Chief at International Spy Museum

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:14:41 GMT

The International Spy Museum has just announced “An Evening with the Former MI5 Director General, Stella Rimington,” for Tuesday, 8 July; 6:30 pm. According to their press release:

When Stella Rimington became director general of MI5, the UK’s domestic security service, her appointment drew a lot of attention. Not only was she the first woman to lead MI5, but she was an advocate for more openness in the intelligence field. To the public, Dame Stella seemed to burst onto the scene, but she had been a hardworking intelligence officer with MI5 since 1969 with experience in both counterintelligence and counterterrorism. As leader of MI5, Rimington encouraged public transparency and upon her retirement in 1996 she continued this policy with the publication of her autobiography Open Secret. She has moved on to publish a series of espionage thrillers featuring intelligence officer Liz Carlyle. The latest installment in the saga of the
ambitious MI5 officer is Illegal Action. Join Dame Stella for an exciting evening of frank discussion as she highlights her new book, her experience as the director general of MI5, and her thoughts on the state of the intelligence field today.

Tickets: $20 • Members of The Spy Ring® (
Join Today!
): $16

For more information, visit the Museum’s website.

The Mossad, Syria, and Iran

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:06:44 GMT

Mossad Chief Empowered to Prepare Groundwork for Iran Strike
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
June 23, 2008

Meir Dagan appointed to seventh year as Mossad Director

By extending the Mossad director, Meir Dagan’s tenure for another year until the end of 2009, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has put in place a vital constituent for a possible eleventh-hour unilateral strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In his six years on the job, the 61-year old external intelligence has proved his covert mettle in a variety of counter-terror operations, including most recently to a highly successful intelligence coup leading up to the demolition of Syria’s North Korean plutonium reactor in al Kebir last September.

Appointed by former prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2002, Dagan’s first four years as the Mossad’s tenth chief were dedicated to counterterrorism rather than tracking Iran’s nuclear activities or monitoring Iran’s burgeoning strategic ties with Syria and Hizballah.

From mid-2006, the former general shifted the agency’s priorities to include these targets, while the Mossad continued to show its fearsome counter-terror paces in Damascus, Beirut and other Arab capitals.

Not all the Mossad’s operations have seen the light of day, but it has been credited in the past two years with hits against high-profile Hizballah, Hamas and Jihad Islami operatives in Syria and Lebanon.

The operation against Syria’s plutonium reactor last year was one of the most complex operations ever performed by the Mossad. For the Israeli raiders to put the facility out of commission and lift out the evidence of a working nuclear collaboration between Syria, Iran and North Korea, they needed from the Mossad precise data on the facility’s inner and outer defenses. It had to include the air defense systems in place across Syria, the whereabouts of the
materials and equipment the Israeli team was assigned to appropriate from the site and transfer to the United States, and the nature and numbers of the Syrian, Iranian and North Korean personnel present.

It was not until April 2008, seven months later, that the US Central Intelligence Agency released news of the operation in Washington, providing graphics attesting to the depth of Mossad’s penetration of the of the most secret and well-protected facility in Syria.

Examination of those visuals attested to one or more agents having been planted solidly enough in the Syrian nuclear project to have photographed the different stages of the reactor’s construction and the North Korean equipment installed there – a feat which drew the respect of Dagan’s undercover colleagues in
the West.

The other outstanding feature of the Al Kebir operation was one that has come to be associated with the spy chief’s method of operation: No leads or clues were left for the Syrian, Iranian and North Korean investigators to find –even after the photos were published.

His spy or spies proved untraceable.

Dagan, a hands-on spymaster, demonstrated this skill earlier in the operation to eliminate one of the longest-running and most dangerous enemies of Israel and America, the head of Hizballah’s special security apparatus, Imad Mughniyeh, in Damascus on February 12. It followed similar methods in the preceding
two years - usually explosives planted under a driver’s seat or headrests of vehicles driven by Hizballah, Hamas and Jihad Islami operatives. Neither Hizballah nor Syrian intelligence has been able to prevent these liquidations or catch the hit-teams.

The intelligence operation for aborting Iran’s aspirations to acquire a nuclear bomb would undoubtedly ratchet up the Mossad’s targets for its most formidable mission ever. It would be undertaken in the full knowledge that a nuclear bomb in the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran would constitute the most dangerous
threat to Israel’s survival in 60 years of statehood, as well as a menace to the free world.

It would be up to Meir Dagan, a Holocaust survivor born in the Soviet Union, to rise to the Mossad’s motto: "Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs XI/14)

The Mossad chief has his critics at home. In Israel’s clandestine agencies, some find his style excessively individualist, secretive and highhandedly confined to fields which he finds interesting rather than objectively important to national security. He is faulted with shunning the close collaborative relations traditional in the undercover world. The Mossad’s structure is also said to be antiquated and in need of an extensive overhaul, although it recently launched
a website for recruitment.

But Dagan has the full trust of his boss, the prime minister.

The timing chosen for extending the Mossad chief’s tenure – early summer of 2008 – is indicative. Israeli intelligence estimates the summer months are critical for acting against Iran’s nuclear advances, especially uranium enrichment which Iran refuses to forego. If it is not stopped by September or October of 2008, it will be too late; Iran will have crossed the threshold to the last lap of its military program.

Israeli intelligence and its armed forces have three months to finish the job which has long been in preparation.

(Thanks to Helene Fragman Abramson for passing along this item.)

James Bond, Miss Moneypenny and Honeychile Ryder--in Kent, England

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:01:04 GMT

In a new article by Graham Rye, “From Kent, With Love: Ian Fleming & James Bond - The Kentish Connection,” Rye establishes that Ian Fleming named 007’s Miss Moneypenny and Bond girl Honeychile Ryder after farms in South-East England.

In the detailed and heavily illustrated piece, Rye shows how Kent played a major role in the novels Moonraker, Goldfinger, and Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang—along with notable moments in Man With the Golden Gun, You Only Live Twice, and in Fleming’s own life.

The full story is posted at:

http://www.007magazine.co.uk/fleming/kentish01.htm

New Article on U.N.C.L.E.

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:59:20 GMT

“My, my what a spy: 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'” by Robert Francis appeared in the June 19 issue of the Fort Worth Business Press. It’s a nifty summary of the show—with the news the DVD set of all four seasons—now only available via mail-order through Time-Life—will be seen in stores this fall.

Check out—

www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=7783

Get Smart interviews

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:08:33 GMT

The campaign to sell the new Get Smart is on—including many media appearances for the stars and participants. Last night, I watched the vacuous hour of interviews on the “TV Guide” channel from my cable company—almost completely useless. The only interesting tidbit was a short interview with Peter Ernest, director of the International Spy Museum, showing some interesting Cold War spy gadgets. Everything else—airhead fluff.

Far more interesting are interviews posted at the Archive of American Television website. Here’s their description of their Get Smart offerings:

Steve Carell has filled the shoe phone of Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, made famous by Don Adams in the 1965-70 series, for the new Get Smart movie. Although, sadly, we missed interviewing Don Adams by that much, would you believe we have interviews with executive producer Leonard Stern, producer Jay Sandrich, and Agent 99 herself Barbara Feldon? Would you believe the best boy and the script girl? What about a stand-in and an extra from the third episode?

Watch these videos of Archive interviewees talk about the original series, by clicking on the links below.
s200/tomPoston

First, Tom Poston remembers how the script for Get Smart, was originally written for him. Leonard Stern adds that the network turned it down, but after they revised the script for Don Adams it was later picked up.

s200/barbaraFeldon
Then, Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) talks about being cast in the role after producers spotted her in a commercial for Chemstrand carpets, and then later, Executive Producer Leonard Stern realized there might be a problem since she was so much taller than her co-star, Don Adams.

Few know that Don Adam's character, including many of the catch-phrases from the show, such as "would you believe?", came from the pen of writer-comedian and Archive interviewee Bill Dana. After writing for Adams' standup routines in the 1950s, Dana enhanced the character's stringent delivery, based on William Powell in "The Thin Man", for a character Adams' played on The Bill Dana Show, Hotel inspector Byron Glick. Dana's brother, Irving Szathmary, wrote the opening music for Get Smart.

www.emmys.tv/foundation/archive/index.php -

Burn Notice Season One on DVD

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:51:37 GMT

USA Network has just announced the first season of Burn Notice is now out on DVD. Along with the first 11 episodes are:

• Scene-specific commentary on all episodes with actors Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless along with series creator Matt Nix
• Gag reel
• Audition footage
• Characters montage
• "Girls Gone Burn Notice" montage
• Action scenes montage

For more information, check out—

http://www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice/email/dvd/

Danger Man, The Prisoner on radio

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:30:22 GMT

On Tuesday, June 17, author Roger Langley will be the featured guest on “Talking Television with Dave White” on online radio station, KSAV. Roger wrote 2007’s Patrick Mcgoohan: Danger Man or Prisoner? (Tomahawk Press), so the conversation with Dave and Wes Britton will focus on Mcgoohan’s career, especially as John Drake in Danger Man, Number Six in The Prisoner, and his various guest roles on Columbo.

Roger will come on at 8:00 (EST) for an hour; at 7:30, Dave and Wes will also interview actor and writer Robert Winston Mercy who’ll talk about his new book, I Hear No Bugles describing his years serving in North Korea.

You can hear “Talking Television” anywhere in the world—simply click on the links at either

WWW.TalkingTelevision.org

Or

WWW.KSAV.org

If you miss the broadcast, the interviews will be archived at TalkingTelevision.org a few days after the Tuesday show. Both Roger and Robert have been featured at

WWW.Spywise.net

Just check out the files in the “Spies on Film” button.

Confirming the obvious

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:11:10 GMT

While we no longer post most bulletins sent from Secrecy News—as these are shared at so many other places on the net—one story today deserves special attention:

SENATE COMMITTEE ISSUES REPORTS ON PRE-WAR IRAQ INTEL

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today finally released the
final two reports of its investigation into pre-war intelligence on
Iraq.

"Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the
American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the
threat we faced," said Senator Jay Rockefeller in a news release.

"Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration
made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence,"
Rockefeller said. "In making the case for war, the Administration
repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was
unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the
American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much
greater than actually existed."

A summary of the report's conclusions, which would have been most
useful about four years ago, is presented here, with links to the newly
released reports:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/06/rock060508.html

If you’re not a subscriber to the very important Secrecy News service, go to:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

New take on I Spy

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:04:10 GMT

I Spy, the original black-and-white buddy comedy. - By Troy Patterson - Slate Magazine
Posted Thursday, June 5, 2008, at 7:02 AM ET

I Spy, the snazzy espionage show just out on DVD, ran on NBC between the fall of 1965 and the spring of 1968, roughly between the time when Sean Connery's James Bond bedded Domino in Thunderball and when George Lazenby's found true love with Tracy Di Vincenzo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The Cold War entertainment complex was chugging along at full thrust then, with everything from the dry ice of John Le Carré novels to the fluorescent buffoonery of James Coburn's Our Man Flint delightfully exploiting anxieties about the Soviet threat. But the singular brilliancy of I Spy was its way of deepening escapist
fantasy by sketching both the red star of communism and the color line in America.

To date the show more exactly, it aired between the Watts riots and the signing of the Fair Housing Act. Starring Robert Culp (boyish, playboyish, and pale) as Kelly Robinson and Bill Cosby (two decades before his revolutionary prime-time turn as white America's preferred interpreter of the black experience) as Alexander Scott, I Spy represented pop culture's first (or, at the very least, boldest) attempt at entertaining a notion of racial equality on screen.
Which is to state what should be obvious—that pioneering Sidney Poitier was hamstrung as usual in The Defiant Ones (1958) by the need to play the Noble Negro, and that Dean Martin's onscreen relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. was not notably different from Jack Benny's with his valet Rochester. "Cosby proffered the idea of an America that transcended race," as Ta-Nahisi Coates wrote in a recent Atlantic profile that traced Cosby's arc from the sly and playful hep cat of this series to the fuming black conservative of today. Without I Spy, there is no Will Smith and maybe no Barack Obama, and the cultural roles
for fuming black conservatives would certainly be fewer.

Unless you count Huck Finn—and you could—I Spy is the ur-text of black-and-white buddy comedies. It's a mark of the show's sophistication—and also of its New Society values and of a commercial consciousness that dictated a certain reserve—that Robinson and Scott don't go in for the bristling cross-racial one-upmanship that characterizes Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop movies (or even, to a lesser extent, the perfectly average 2002 I Spy remake with Murphy and Owen Wilson). Like the Ian Fleming heroes that made their existence possible—not just Bond but also Napoleon Solo, the man from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.—Robinson
and Scott would no sooner submit to broad comic jousting than they'd leave the hotel suite in wrinkled dinner jackets. As spies working for the Pentagon and globetrotting undercover as tennis pros, they are as slick as an ad in Harold Hayes' Esquire, and their laid-back world-weariness is too perfect to be disturbed by anything less than matters of national security or a pretty Russian defector in a lovely sun hat. Their racial harmony, though so perfect
as to constitute a progressive fantasy itself, was depicted as a core American value, a condition of patriotism.

The brief was clear from the first episode of the first season, titled "So Long, Patrick Henry," which opens with Robinson and Scott watching a show within the show, as they often do. It's new footage of a black American Olympian who has decamped for the People's Republic of China, which is planning to launch "The Afro-Asian Games" as part of a plan to seize African resources and has paid the athlete to be its shill. The Olympian is crude, describing Africa
as "a nice zoo" at a press conference and elsewhere lobbing at Robinson an epithet of the day, "ofay." Cosby, showing a hint of his mean streak, snarls at the jock, and Culp eyes him icily. They're united in being affronted, and their disgust with his self-loathing and race-baiting is indistinguishable from their revulsion at the Olympian's eagerness to sell out his country for a Dr. Evil-esque quarter-million dollars.

I Spy managed to get away with looking hard at politics partly by looking indelibly sharp. The series is a generous gift to fashion editors who find inspiration in its glen-plaid sangfroid, an unwitting taunt at contemporary cinematographers who don't have the budget or leisure to emulate its patient long shots
and luscious location shoots, a welcome time capsule for us new sentimentalists who think that America was as her best in the mid-'60s and that it's all been downhill since the Summer of Love and the goddamn hippies. It is detached to the point of whimsy and yet politically engaged in surprising ways—was
any other show venturing to Vietnam in 1966? The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was tenser, and Mission: Impossible more tightly constructed, but I Spy has a claim to being the great American spy show, an ideal integration of cool in the Marshall McLuhan, Arthur Fonzarelli, and Miles Davis senses of the word.

Source:

http://www.slate.com/id/2192932/

The Prisoner review on Live Journal

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:47:44 GMT

We’ll be sharing some cool The Prisoner news in the next few weeks—in the meantime fans of Number Six might enjoy a review posted at another Live Journal blog—

http://franciskerst.livejournal.com/

Burn Notice news

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:46:01 GMT

The newest issue of Entertainment Weekly reports Battlestar Galactica's blond Cylon beauty Tricia Helfer will join the cast of Burn Notice when the series returns this summer. According to series creator Matt Nix, Helfer will play a "mysterious" spy named Carla, "the public face of the folks that burned Michael." Therefore, we can expect some tension out of her relationship with series star Jeffrey Donovan. "It's a fun tension," says Nix. "He has to play nice, but not too nice." No doubt this relationship will generate some tension of a different sort between Helfer and hero Michael Westin's fiercely jealous on-again/off-again girlfriend, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar)...

The magazine also reveals that the show's plus-sized second season of sixteen episodes will be split into two parts. Nine new episodes will air on USA this summer, starting July 10, with seven more bringing up the rear "early next year."

Check out the "Summer TV Preview" issue
of Entertainment Weekly for more Burn Notice goodness, including choice quotes from Nix like, "I was a Magnum, P.I. fan when I was a kid, and [Burn Notice] became an update of a kind of show that isn't really on TV anymore. It feels new, but it owes something to things that I love."

Source:
www.doubleosection.blogspot.com

Get Smart, U.N.C.L.E., and the CIA

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:51:36 GMT

What the CIA Learned From Get Smart
By Jennifer Hillner
Wired.com

Maxwell Smart always "missed it by that much," but some of those dopey spy shows of the '60s were right on the money. "Many of the devices first seen in movies and on TV actually came about," says Robert Wallace, former head of the CIA's covert skunk works, the Office of Technical Services. "Remember the
Cone of Silence? We built shielded enclosures that did the same thing. And the pen communicator in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? That evolved, 10 years later, into short-range agent communication." Wallace, who was basically the agency's real-life Q, reveals these gadgets and more in his new book, Spycraft , the first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present. "Here's the laboratory," Wallace used
to tell new recruits. "The only thing that is going to limit what you can do is your imagination." It seems they took him at his word.

1940s Cigarette gun
Lipping this pistol disguised as a cigarette, an agent could easily release the safety pin. Rotating the filter end counterclockwise armed the gun, and a push of the thumb caused it to fire a single .22-caliber bullet. It really worked.

Full text with images at:

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/multimedia/2008/05/pl_print

Spies on Irish Radio

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:06:40 GMT

If you missed the panel discussion with Wes Britton, former Irish private eye Sandra Mara, and espionage novelist Charles Cumming on “Culture Shock with Fionn Davenport” today on Newstalk 106-108 (Dublin, Ireland), you can download the show from the link below. I understand the link will only be up for perhaps a week, so now’s your chance to hear the conversation!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/gj41lw

(Thanks to Ray Goulet for posting this file.)

The Bourne Films . . . as Modern Art

Thu, 29 May 2008 21:02:36 GMT

"Bourne" Trilogy Headed To The MoMA - Entertainment on The Huffington Post
JENNIFER PELTZMay 28, 2008 04:04 PM EST
AP

NEW YORK — One of the Museum of Modern Art's latest film acquisitions isn't an art-house experiment by Andy Warhol or Michelangelo Antonioni. It's the spy-action blockbuster "The Bourne Identity" and its sequels.

This week the museum is screening the films and hosting a panel discussion with "Bourne" director/producer Doug Liman and a noted neuroscientist to talk about memory, identity and the mysterious workings of the brain.

For the uninitiated: The films center on amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, who possesses superb espionage skills but no memory of his past, which includes the ultrasecret CIA unit that trained him and now wants to kill him to cover up an operation gone wrong.

Based on the late Robert Ludlum's series of best-selling novels, the "Bourne" movies _ packed with dizzying chases, gripping fights and more scenic European locales than the Michelin guides _ took in more than $525 million at U.S. box offices alone. The last installment, "The Bourne Ultimatum," won Academy Awards this year for film editing, sound editing and sound mixing.

The "Bourne" movies aren't the first smash-hit spy capers among MoMa's more than 22,000 films, which include all of James Bond's adventures. But the "Bourne" acquisition does raise interesting questions about what makes a movie art.

"You say the word 'action movie,' and everyone's standards go down," Liman said Tuesday. "And it was my goal with 'The Bourne Identity' to create a movie wherein the drama would hold up even if you took the action out."

Liman, who directed "Identity" and served as executive producer of sequels "Supremacy" and "Ultimatum," called the films' inclusion in the museum's renowned collection "a huge, huge honor."

Cinemaphiles have praised not only the movies' technical skill and heart-pounding pace, but their relatively realistic feel and character development as Bourne strives to find out who he is and why killers stalk him wherever he goes.

"What the 'Bourne' films managed to do was to move people's expectations into a whole new area in terms of what the spy genre could deliver," said MoMA chief film curator Rajendra Roy.

Roy presides over one of the nation's biggest motion picture archives, housed in a specially built repository in Hamlin, Pa. The holdings are as diverse as 1895's "Feeding the Baby (Repas de BeBe)" _ one of the earliest motion pictures ever shown in a theater _ and the 2006 barnyard charmer "Charlotte's Web."

The "Bourne" trilogy was a clear fit for the 73-year-old collection, which has long included what curators see as significant commercial movies, as well as experimental and historical works, Roy said.

"We would never ignore the fact that we are also engaged with a very popular medium," he said.

Nor should they, says Andrew G. Sarris, a noted cinema critic and Columbia University film history and theory professor.

There's a point to placing the "Bourne" pictures and other popular, well-executed mainstream movies alongside film festival favorites, he said: It "proves that, occasionally, the system still works."

Friday's panel at MoMA is part of World Science Festival, a five-day gathering of researchers, artists and writers meeting throughout the city. Besides Liman, it will feature University of Wisconsin-Madison psychiatrist Dr. Giulio Tononi.

That discussion is likely to focus in part on the nature of Bourne's deep amnesia.

While Liman said he focused on "character truth," not scientific veracity, Tononi said the condition depicted is real, if very rare.

Like the multilingual Bourne, who easily fends off assassins with his extraordinary physical skills, some patients do retain abilities they can't remember acquiring, the scientist said.

Tononi also said Bourne's anguish over not remembering his past rings true. On or off the screen, he said, "we have this incredible, compelling need to create a narrative about who we are."