CIA Officer Rates 9 Counterterrorism Scenes in Movies

The former CIA counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou looks at counterterrorism scenes in movies and TV and breaks them down for realism.

Kiriakou explains the counterterrorism efforts done to directly address the September 11 attacks — commonly known as 9/11 — such as the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, which ultimately led to his killing, in « Zero Dark Thirty, » featuring Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, and Chris Pratt; and the CIA’s interrogation techniques — such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation — to detainees, such as the Al-Qaeda members Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in « The Report, » starring Adam Driver. He breaks down the plausibility of weapons used by terrorists, such as the use of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nerve agents, in « Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, » with Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg; and the cyberterrorism attack in « Skyfall, » featuring Daniel Craig and Judi Dench. Kiriakou looks at more counterterrorism strategies, such as the drone attack in « Homeland » S4E1 (2014), starring Claire Danes; and the collaboration of intelligence agencies in « Body of Lies, » featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crow, and Oscar Isaac. He also reacts to the depiction of other real-life terrorist attacks, such as the 2008 Mumbai attacks in « Hotel Mumbai, » starring Dev Patel; the Munich Massacre, which involved the Palestinian militant organization Black September, in « Munich, » with Daniel Craig and Eric Bana; and the depiction of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight 814, which landed in Kandahar International Airport in Afghanistan — then a stronghold of the Taliban — in « IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack » E5 + E6 (2024).

Before 9/11, Kiriakou served as a counterterrorism operations officer in Athens, Greece; and after the 9/11 attacks, Kiriakou was appointed chief of counterterrorist operations in Pakistan, where he oversaw a series of military raids on Al-Qaeda safe houses, resulting in the capture of numerous Al-Qaeda members, including leading the raid that captured Abu Zubaydah — who was then believed to be Al-Qaeda’s third-highest-ranking member. He left the CIA in 2004, and in 2007, he went public with his information about the CIA’s « enhanced interrogation techniques, » a program of systematic torture of detainees. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of revealing information that identified a covert agent. He went on to become a senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a terrorism consultant for ABC News. He has written various books and teaches and speaks around the country, focusing on the CIA, terrorism, torture, and ethics in intelligence operations.

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Here is a link to Kiriakou’s books.