News StoriesExcerpts of Key News Stories in Major Media
Note: This comprehensive list of news stories is usually updated once a week. Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.
The United States Department of Justice this week released nearly 11 hours of what it described as "full raw" surveillance footage from a camera positioned near Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell the night before he was found dead. The release was intended to address conspiracy theories about Epstein's apparent suicide in federal custody. But instead of putting those suspicions to rest, it may fuel them further. Metadata embedded in the video ... shows that rather than being a direct export from the prison's surveillance system, the footage was modified. Hany Farid, a professor at UC Berkeley whose research focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, reviewed the metadata at WIRED's request. Farid is a recognized expert in the analysis of digital images. He has testified in numerous court cases involving digital evidence. "If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I'd say no. Go back to the source. Do it right," Farid says. "Do a direct export from the original system–no monkey business." The footage confirms that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at approximately 8 pm on August 9, 2019. However, the recording includes a notable gap: Approximately one minute of footage is missing, from 11:58:58 pm to 12:00:00 am. The video resumes immediately afterward. It looks suspicious–but not as suspicious as the DOJ refusing to answer basic questions about it.
Note: Followup reporting by Wired indicated that almost 3 minutes were cut before this footage was released. Internal US Bureau of Prison (BOP) documents suggest a possible cover-up, while a 60 Minutes 2020 investigation uncovered compelling evidence that challenges the official suicide ruling in Jeffrey Epstein's death–including suspicious neck fractures, missing surveillance footage, and a series of unexplained security failures. Read our comprehensive Substack investigation covering the connection between Epstein's child sex trafficking ring and intelligence agency sexual blackmail operations.
President Donald Trump's Justice Department scrambled on Tuesday to answer questions after its leadership concluded there was no evidence to support a number of long-held conspiracy theories about the death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele. The Justice Department's memo on Epstein, released on Monday, concluded that after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data, there was "no incriminating client list" nor was there any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people. The memo also confirmed prior findings by the FBI which concluded that Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell. A subsequent report by the Justice Department's inspector general later found that the Bureau of Prisons employees who were tasked with guarding Epstein failed to search his cell or check on him in the hours before his suicide. [FBI Director Kash] Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, a former podcaster, both previously made statements before working at the FBI about a so-called client list and often suggested that the government was hiding information about Epstein from the American public.
Note: Could it be that powerful people don't want the full truth about Epstein to be revealed? Read our comprehensive Substack investigation covering the connection between Epstein's child sex trafficking ring and intelligence agency sexual blackmail operations. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Jeffrey Epstein's child sex trafficking ring.
In our first hearing of this Congress titled, "The Corruption of Science and Federal Health Agencies: How Health Officials Downplayed and Hid Myocarditis and Other Adverse Events Associated with the COVID-19 Injections," I asked Dr. Joel Wallskog, an orthopedic surgeon injured by the Covid injections, to describe how those suffering from Covid injection injuries felt. His one-word answer: "Abandoned." The passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 ... led to blanket immunity for vaccines through subsequent regulation. An explosion in the number of vaccine doses on the childhood schedule was the result. Prior to 1986, there were 3 routine vaccines totaling 7 injections. Today the CDC's Maternal and Child & Adolescent vaccine schedules include 19 vaccines requiring 76 injections with 94 total doses of antigen. In August 1997, the FDA ... issued draft guidance to allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers beyond print media into TV and radio. According to one estimate, drug companies spent $10 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising in 2024. That amount of spending has paid off handsomely for Big Pharma and its ability to control the narrative and suppress stories of drug and vaccine injuries. But to understand the true reality we face, there is nothing like hearing from those who have suffered the adverse events that are rarely acknowledged by the medical establishment, federal health agencies, and the corporate media.
Note: Watch the full Senate hearing video and read all statements from mothers and scientists who testified at hearing here. For video clips of witness testimonies, click here. Our well-researched and nuanced Substack reveals the undeniable evidence that COVID vaccine injuries and deaths were covered-up and censored. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on COVID vaccine problems and Big Pharma corruption.
The woman, in her 60s, was losing her eyesight. [She] happened to be taking Elmiron, a drug for a bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. By the end of 2024, hundreds of patients on Elmiron had suffered vision loss or blindness. Others taking the drug were even more unlucky. Dozens of patient deaths associated with Elmiron were reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and 45 patients were hospitalized with severe colitis. Another problem? There's no good evidence that Elmiron works. When the government approved Elmiron in 1996, the manufacturer provided close to zero data that the drug effectively treated interstitial cystitis. Elmiron is just one of hundreds of drugs that have been approved by the FDA over the last several decades on the basis of flimsy or nonexistent evidence. Drug companies have been allowed to market hundreds of prescription drugs to doctors and sell them to unsuspecting patients despite glaringly inadequate evidence that they offer any benefit and in many cases amid clear signs that they pose a risk of serious, often irreparable harm. From January 2013 until Dec. 31, 2022, the FDA approved 429 drugs, most of which were authorized on the basis of inadequate evidence that they worked, according to a database of government records created for this investigation. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 128,000 people are killed each year by side effects of prescription drugs that are properly prescribed. That number excludes opioid overdoses and is more than deaths from all illegal drugs combined.
Note: This article is also available here. A JAMA study reveals how Big Pharma spends more on ads for low-benefit drugs to push consumer demand for treatments doctors are less likely to prescribe. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and Big Pharma profiteering.
Ultraprocessed foods, seed oils, herbicides and pesticides, and fluoride: They're all targets of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, whose chief proponent is US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Now, MAHA Films, a production company dedicated to promoting the movement's values, has released its first documentary. "Toxic Nation: From Fluoride to Seed Oils – How We Got Here, Who Profits, and What You Can Do." [The film] highlights those four food- and environmental-related issues that Kennedy's nonprofit MAHA Action ... says "silently endanger millions of Americans every day." The documentary's release follows the May 22 publication of the first MAHA Commission report, which lays the groundwork for an overhaul of federal policy to reduce the burden of chronic disease on American children. Composing up to 70% of the US food supply, ultraprocessed foods are made with industrial techniques and ingredients never or rarely used in kitchens, or classes of additives whose function is to make the final product palatable or more appealing. Ultraprocessed foods are typically low in fiber; are high in calories, added sugar, refined grains and fats, and sodium; and include additives. The [also] film raises concerns about the herbicide glyphosate, citing previously documented links to cancer. Sources also said glyphosate may cause endocrine disruption and damaged gut microbiomes, with the latter potentially increasing risk for irritable bowel diseases and celiac disease.
Note: Read our latest Substack article on how the US government turns a blind eye to the corporate cartels fueling America's health crisis. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on food system corruption and toxic chemicals.
The letters the Food and Drug Administration sends to pharmaceutical companies explaining its decisions on drugs are a treasure trove of valuable information. The FDA has begun making drug decision letters public and is publishing past decision letters retroactively. The historical lack of transparency about FDA decision-making has allowed companies to spin the information to investors and shareholders. For example, if an FDA rejection letter explains that the applicant did not meet agency standards and tells the company to perform a new clinical trial to be reconsidered for approval, the firm might mislead shareholders by saying that the FDA had just asked for a few minor things. A 2015 analysis by the FDA found that drug companies avoided mentioning 85 percent of the agency's concerns about safety and efficacy when announcing publicly that their application had not been approved. In addition, when the FDA calls for a new clinical trial for safety or efficacy, that critical information is not disclosed about 40 percent of the time. As a result, capital can be wasted on futile therapies or companies misrepresenting their regulatory guidance. It is important to point out that when making decision letters public, the FDA will redact any trade secrets and confidential commercial information. At the same time, the deliberations of agency scientists are not the property of the drug's sponsor. The FDA does not belong to the industry; it belongs to the American people.
Note: The above was written by Dr. Marty Makary, the US Commissioner of Food and Drugs. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and Big Pharma profiteering.
The first report of the Maha Commission made headlines in May when it raised concerns about a "chronic disease crisis" in children. Echoing language that [Robert F.] Kennedy campaigned on, the report argued that "the American diet has shifted dramatically toward ultra-processed foods" and that "nearly 70% of children's calories now come from UPFs, contributing to obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions". "The greatest step the United States can take to reverse childhood chronic disease is to put whole foods produced by American farmers and ranchers at the center of healthcare," the report found. It went on to describe the dismal state of nutrition research in the United States: "Government funding for nutrition research through the NIH is only 4-5% of its total budget and in some cases is subject to influence by food industry-aligned researchers." Kennedy has ordered the FDA to explore how to eliminate a policy that allows food companies to decide themselves whether food additives are safe, called the Generally Recognized as Safe (Gras) loophole. "That's a really, really big deal," says Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. "Ninety-nine per cent of compounds in food were added through this loophole." Several states are also pursuing policies that would limit spending from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) on "junk food".
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and food system corruption.
Dozens of companies that make ice cream and frozen dairy desserts announced on Monday that they would remove artificial food dyes from their products by 2028, marking yet another voluntary move away from such food coloring within the food industry. It comes in response to a mission set forth by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remove the artificial additives. In April, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would move to eliminate several synthetic dyes by the end of next year. That includes Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, and Blue 2. Red 3 was set to be banned in food by 2027 because it caused cancer in laboratory rats; the FDA called for that deadline to move up. Artificial dyes are used widely in U.S. foods. In Canada and in Europe – where synthetic colors are required to carry warning labels – manufacturers mostly use natural substitutes. Several states, including California and West Virginia, have passed laws restricting the use of artificial colors in foods. Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods, citing mixed studies indicating they can cause neurobehavioral problems, including hyperactivity and attention issues, in some children. The FDA has maintained that the approved dyes are safe and that "the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives."
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on food system corruption.
Most of us are raised on stories and songs of the family farm, where the barns are rust-red and picturesque, and cute animals gambol happily in a picket-fenced yard. "Little Red Barns," [journalist Will Potter's] second book, is the reportage of his epic, emotionally and physically draining 10-year investigation into American factory farms – also known as CAFOs, "concentrated animal feeding operations" – and the dedicated activists seeking to expose the mass suffering within. Like his first book, "Green Is the New Red" (2011), an exploration of how agencies such as the FBI target environmental and animal rights activists, it's impassioned and deeply researched. The book is a lucid indictment of a food system whose normalization of cruelty on a staggering scale is rivaled only by the tightly controlled, government-sanctioned regime of non-transparency that enables it. Discussing the history of undercover efforts to expose abuses in farm factories – in which the advent of phone cameras and other concealable, portable video equipment in the 2000s played a key role – Potter describes the subsequent rise of "ag-gag" laws, passed to stop reporters and activists from filming such private abuses and making them public. Keep in mind, Potter notes, that the U.S. agriculture lobby spends as much on buying influence with politicians every year as the fossil fuel lobby; in 2023 alone, it spent $177 million.
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on food system corruption and factory farming.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended herself before the European Parliament Monday as she faces a largely symbolic no-confidence vote. Thursday's vote focuses on "Pfizergate" – a 35 billion euro ($38.5 billion) deal with Pfizer for up to 1.8 billion Covid vaccine doses that von der Leyen, head of the EU executive branch, negotiated ... with the company's CEO. The controversy began in March 2021 when von der Leyen bypassed normal EU procedures to negotiate directly with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla via text. The EU paid substantially more for the vaccines von der Leyen negotiated – 19.50 euros ($21.45) per dose versus 15.50 euros ($17.05) in previous contracts, according to leaked EU documents reported by European media – costing taxpayers billions. The text messages could contain vital information about how this price escalation happened and whether proper competitive procedures were followed. The scandal also involves concerns about the sheer volume of doses purchased. The 1.8 billion dose contract was signed when EU vaccination rates were already climbing, raising questions about whether such quantities were necessary. Critics point out that significant amounts of the vaccine supply now sit unused in warehouses across Europe. The European Court of Auditors published a damning report in September 2022 finding von der Leyen had conducted Pfizer negotiations improperly.
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on COVID vaccine problems and government corruption.
Loneliness has become a global public health concern. Countries including Britain and Japan have appointed "ministers of loneliness" to help tackle the problem. In the United States, then-Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued a public health advisory on loneliness, stating that the risk for premature death from loneliness is akin to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. What if, instead of trying to "fix" the individual, strategies focused on shaping the environment in a way that facilitates social connection? Recently, researchers have been trying to leverage nature as a way to bring people together and reduce negative feelings about social isolation. They say living in what is known as a "lonelygenic environment" – one dominated by cars and concrete instead of grass and trees – can cause or aggravate loneliness. Even if you live in a lonelygenic environment, experts say, spending just an hour or two in nature per week ... may help people feel less isolated. One proposed approach for tackling loneliness as a public health issue is through social prescribing, where physicians connect their patients with non-medical services in the community similar to how they prescribe medication. Nature comes in many forms. An ongoing study by [Matthew] Browning and his colleagues investigates the amount of time a representative sample of Americans spends outdoors in nature. "What we find is that nature is, for most people ... watching their kids play soccer outside or grilling in the backyard."
Note: What if the negative news overload on America's chronic illness crisis isn't the full story? Check out our Substacks to learn more about the inspiring remedies to the chronic illness and loneliness crisis! Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies and mental health.
What started as a grassroots movement in the United States over a decade ago, park prescriptions have become an evidence-based treatment regimen that helps people confront both mental and physical ailments by spending more time outdoors. In fact, at least nine countries now have nature prescription programs in some form. Park prescriptions fall under an area of medicine called "social prescribing," which encourages doctors to consider non-clinical treatments in primary mental and physical healthcare. "Social prescribing is a model of care delivery that enables health professionals to formally prescribe non-clinical community activities – including the arts, movement, nature, and service (volunteering) – to improve patient health, and at minimal patient cost," Social Prescribing USA's website reads. "Social prescribing is designed to address social determinants of health, including social connection. Built on a foundation of health equity and collaboration across sectors, social prescribing is intended to broaden health professional toolkits, rather than to replace pharmacological measures." Studies show that stress hormone levels drop after just 15 minutes outside; spending time in forests reduces inflammation and risks of lung infections; increasing nature time reduces risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes; and seniors who live near walkable green spaces live longer.
Note: Read our Substack to learn about social and green prescribing along with other inspiring remedies to the chronic illness crisis ravaging the world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies and mental health.
A recent study published in Science offers strong new evidence that the human brain continues to generate neurons in the hippocampus, its key memory region, well into later stages of life. Conducted by researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, the study addresses a long-standing debate about how adaptable the adult brain really is. The hippocampus plays a critical role in memory, learning, and emotional regulation. In 2013, Jonas Frisén and his team at Karolinska Institutet made headlines when they demonstrated that new neurons could form in this region during adulthood. Despite this earlier discovery, questions remained. In particular, scientists lacked direct evidence that the cells responsible for generating new neurons, known as neural progenitor cells, are present and actively dividing in adult human brains. "We have now been able to identify these cells of origin, which confirms that there is an ongoing formation of neurons in the hippocampus of the adult brain," says Jonas Frisén ... who led the research. The newly formed cells were located in a specific area of the hippocampus. This area is important for memory formation, learning, and cognitive flexibility. "This gives us an important piece of the puzzle in understanding how the human brain works," explains Jonas Frisén. "Our research may also have implications for the development of regenerative treatments that stimulate neurogenesis in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders."
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies.
Surveillance capitalism came about when some crafty software engineers realized that advertisers were willing to pay bigtime for our personal data. The data trade is how social media platforms like Google, YouTube, and TikTok make their bones. In 2022, the data industry raked in just north of $274 billion worth of revenue. By 2030, it's expected to explode to just under $700 billion. Targeted ads on social media are made possible by analyzing four key metrics: your personal info, like gender and age; your interests, like the music you listen to or the comedians you follow; your "off app" behavior, like what websites you browse after watching a YouTube video; and your "psychographics," meaning general trends glossed from your behavior over time, like your social values and lifestyle habits. In 2017 The Australian alleged that [Facebook] had crafted a pitch deck for advertisers bragging that it could exploit "moments of psychological vulnerability" in its users by targeting terms like "worthless," "insecure," "stressed," "defeated," "anxious," "stupid," "useless," and "like a failure." The social media company likewise tracked when adolescent girls deleted selfies, "so it can serve a beauty ad to them at that moment," according to [former employee Sarah] Wynn-Williams. Other examples of Facebook's ad lechery are said to include the targeting of young mothers based on their emotional state, as well as emotional indexes mapped to racial groups.
Note: Facebook hid its own internal research for years showing that Instagram worsened body image issues, revealing that 13% of British teenage girls reported more frequent suicidal thoughts after using the app. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Tech and mental health.
Klaus Barbie, the notorious Nazi war criminal known as the "Butcher of Lyon," managed to escape justice for decades, living under a false identity in Bolivia until his arrest in 1983. Barbie worked for Western intelligence services and adopted the alias Klaus Altmann in South America. In Bolivia, he became the chief security adviser to Roberto Suárez, one of the world's most powerful drug traffickers. Barbie's success with Suárez brought him new clients, including dictator Luis GarcĂa Meza, who seized power in 1980 with the backing of cocaine barons. Barbie, hailed as the ideological architect of Bolivia's "Cocaine Coup," was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Bolivian army and granted immunity for his actions. He helped Meza set up death squads and served as Bolivia's de facto intelligence chief. New revelations stem from recently declassified CIA cables from 1974, which show that agency operatives suspected Barbie of involvement in the drug trade – including possible links to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Barbie was reportedly recruited by the CIA. His role in aiding drug cartels was allegedly part of a broader U.S. effort to prevent leftist regimes from taking power in Bolivia – as had happened in Cuba – by bolstering military dictatorships. This cooperation is believed to have allowed Barbie to evade extradition to France for years. When he was finally captured, the U.S. formally apologized to France for helping him flee.
Note: Read our Substack on the dark truth behind the war on drugs. For more, explore our information on Operation Paperclip, where more than 1,500 Nazis were secretly embedded in the US scientific community and intelligence establishment.
The forensic scientist Claire Glynn estimated that more than 40 million people have sent in their DNA and personal data for direct-to-consumer genetic testing, mostly to map their ancestry and find relatives. Since 2020, at least two genetic genealogy firms have been hacked and at least one had its genomic data leaked. Yet when discussing future risks of genetic technology, the security policy community has largely focused on spectacular scenarios of genetically tailored bioweapons or artificial intelligence (AI) engineered superbugs. A more imminent weaponization concern is more straightforward: the risk that nefarious actors use the genetic techniques ... to frame, defame, or even assassinate targets. A Russian parliamentary report from 2023 claimed that "by using foreign biological facilities, the United States can collect and study pathogens that can infect a specific genotype of humans." Designer bioweapons, if ever successfully developed, produced, and tested, would indeed pose a major threat. Unscrupulous actors with access to DNA synthesis infrastructure could ... frame someone for a crime such as murder, for example, by using DNA that synthetically reproduces the DNA regions used in forensic crime analysis. The research and policy communities must dedicate resources not simply to dystopian, low-probability threats like AI designed bioweapons, but also to gray zone genomics and smaller-scale, but higher probability, scenarios for misuse.
Note: For more, read our concise summaries of news articles on corruption in biotech.
Trust in academic research is crucial. This trust, however, could be affected by the presence of conflicts of interest (CoIs), situations where a specific interest of the researcher could compromise the researcher's impartiality. Academic research in fields such as economics, medicine, and many others is becoming more costly and often depends on funding or access to databases controlled by private parties. To what extent do these relationships undermine trust in research? In our new NBER working paper, we address this ... by examining how different types of CoIs shape perceptions of the trustworthiness of economic research. Trust in the results declined across all groups (on average by 30%) following the disclosure of a CoI, despite the research being peer-reviewed and published in a prestigious academic journal. This decline was moderated by expertise, with average Americans experiencing greater declines in trust than "elite" economists (who publish in the top journals). Nonetheless, even elite economists experienced a drop in trust. Financial incentives (such as funding) were not the sole or the most significant factor influencing trust. Instead, privileged access to data had the most pronounced effect. When research utilized private data aligned with the interests of the data provider, trust in the results decreased by over 20%. Trust dropped by approximately 50% if the data provider retained review rights over the research outcomes.
Note: "Trust the science" sounds noble–until you realize that even top editors of world-renowned journals have warned that much of published medical research is unreliable, distorted by fraud, corporate influence, and conflicts of interest. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on corruption in science.
Technology already available – and already demonstrated to be effective – makes it possible for law-abiding officials, together with experienced technical people to create a highly efficient system in which both security and privacy can be assured. Advanced technology can pinpoint and thwart corruption in the intelligence, military, and civilian domain. At its core, this requires automated analysis of attributes and transactional relationships among individuals. The large data sets in government files already contain the needed data. On the Intelligence Community side, there are ways to purge databases of irrelevant data and deny government officials the ability to spy on anyone they want. These methodologies protect the privacy of innocent people, while enhancing the ability to discover criminal threats. In order to ensure continuous legal compliance with these changes, it is necessary to establish a central technical group or organization to continuously monitor and validate compliance with the Constitution and U.S. law. Such a group would need to have the highest-level access to all agencies to ensure compliance behind the classification doors. It must be able to go into any agency to inspect its activity at any time. In addition ... it would be best to make government financial and operational transactions open to the public for review. Such an organization would go a long way toward making government truly transparent to the public.
Note: The article cites national security journalist James Risen's book on how the creation of Google was closely tied to NSA and CIA-backed efforts to privatize surveillance infrastructure. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Tech and the disappearance of privacy.
A new study of defense department spending previewed exclusively to the Guardian shows that most of the Pentagon's discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 has gone to outside military contractors, providing a $2.4tn boon in public funds to private firms in what was described as a "continuing and massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to fund war and weapons manufacturing". The report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Costs of War project at Brown University said that the Trump administration's new Pentagon budget will push annual US military spending past the $1tn mark. That will deliver a projected windfall of more than half a trillion dollars that will be shared among top arms firms such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as well as a growing military tech sector with close allies in the administration such as JD Vance, the report said. The US military budget will have nearly doubled this century, increasing 99% since 2000. "The US withdrawal from Afghanistan in September 2021 did not result in a peace dividend," the authors of the report wrote. "Instead, President Biden requested, and Congress authorized, even higher annual budgets for the Pentagon, and President Trump is continuing that same trajectory of escalating military budgets." The growth in spending will increasingly benefit firms in the "military tech" sector who represent tech companies like SpaceX, Palantir and Anduril.
Note: Learn more about arms industry corruption in our comprehensive Military-Intelligence Corruption Information Center. For more, read our concise summaries of news articles on military corruption.
There's a revolving door of talent between the country's premiere intelligence agency and its entertainment industry, with inspiration and influence often working both ways. The agency is targeting professionals at the intersection of arts and technology for recruitment ... and continues to cooperate with entertainment giants to inspire the next generation of creative spies. Creative minds in Hollywood and the entertainment industry have long had a role at the Central Intelligence Agency, devising clever solutions to its most vexing problems, such as perfecting the art of disguise. In the 1950s, a magician from New York named John Mulholland was secretly contracted with the agency to write a manual for Cold War spies on trickery and deception. These days, the officers said, creative skills are more valuable than ever. "You're only limited by your own imagination – don't self-censor your ideas," said Janelle, a CIA public affairs officer. "We're always looking for partners." Some of the CIA's most iconic missions – at least the declassified ones – document the agency's rich history with Hollywood, including Canadian Caper, when CIA operatives disguised themselves as a film crew to rescue six American diplomats in Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis, an operation moviegoers will recognize as the plot of "Argo." CIA analysts have also been known to leave the agency for opportunities in the entertainment industry, writing books and scripts drawing from their experiences.
Note: Learn more about the CIA's longstanding propaganda network in our comprehensive Military-Intelligence Corruption Information Center. The US Department of Defense has had a hand in more than 800 top Hollywood films. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on censorship and intelligence agency corruption.
Important Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.