Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabb, OBE, was a Royal Navy frogman and MI6 diver who disappeared while on an underwater spying mission in April 1956. For three quarters of a century the story around Crabb has remained a mystery – was he killed by the Soviets, whose ship he was spying on? Did he defect and assume a new identity? Did he die in an absurd, politically-charged accident?
Buster Crabb was a WW2 British Navy Frogman who in 1956 was recruited by MI6 to spy on Soviet ships docking in Portsmouth harbour during a goodwill visit. These files - some available here for the first time - detail the British government's interference in the inquest into Crabb's presumed death, their internal inquiry into what happened and their attempts to prevent the BBC making a documentary about the story.
In 2004 three men were arrested in the UK for trying to buy red mercury – a trigger for a nuclear bomb – from an undercover journalist working with British intelligence. This plot inspired multiple films and TV programmes and the resulting trial cost over £1 million. The problem is that ‘red mercury’ doesn’t exist.
Chris Cook invited me back on Gorilla Radio to continue our conversation on all things spy-related. We talked about some of the differences between the British and American intelligence agencies, the role John Le Carré plays in the British spy fiction landscape, the new film American Made and how to spot which films are sponsored by government agencies. (Read more...)
Just prior to the 2016 Presidential Election the US Air Force took several dozen Hollywood figures on a Civic Leader Tour of military facilities in Alaska, as part of their ongoing attempts to gain friends and influence in Tinseltown. While the Air Force entertainment liaison office would not tell me anything about this trip (even that 'CLT' stands for 'Civic Leader Tour') a FOIA request yielded dozens of pages of documents related to the trip.
The 2011 pandemic thriller Contagion was a massive PR boost for the CDC. In this month's subscriber-only podcast I examine the film and nearly 1000 pages of documents from the CDC about their involvement in helping to make the film, what they thought of it, and the promotional events they created around the movie's release.
John Harrison of Sputnik radio's Level Talk invited Matt and I on to talk about National Security Cinema and the relationship between Hollywood and Washington.
Despite being a bit drunk and tired, I joined Pearse for the first hour of his radio show this week to discuss 9/11, the emotional impact of the anniversary and the legacy of Al Qaeda. We touched on my Alternative History of Al Qaeda series as well as asking if there is a better way to respond to 9/11 than waving flags and repeating 'never forget' slogans. (Read more...)
While the 2011 plague thriller Contagion did benefit from military support it is perhaps more important for the big screen debut of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This lesser-known government agency recently released nearly 1000 pages of internal documents on their role in supporting the movie, as well as their PR efforts exploiting its release.(Read more...)
This week I am joined by Robbie Martin and Pearse Redmond to review and analyse the low budget conspiracy thriller Operation Terror. We analyse the plot – where a member of the Council on Foreign Relations recruits a CIA officer to prepare and carry out the 9/11 attacks – and why this is unrealistic.
