THE OSBORNE EFFECT

CIA veteran Case Officer, Leutrell "Mike"Osborne, Sr. says even seemingly realistic CIA films are way off base describing operations. An ex-CIA spy master tells us what it's like on the inside of this top-secret organization and what he went through as a CIA spy manager in 30 foreign countries and as a Case Officer at Langley. This work relied as much on personal diplomacy as threats or clandestine action to recruit valuable human intelligence (HUMINT). As a Counter Intelligence expert, Osborne did not engage in Covert Action and deplores it.

In order to tell about personal experiences, all books and movie projects by former CIA staff must be vetted by "The Company." Therefore, many choose to fictionalize their tales for greater freedom and to pump up the dramatic story line. Firstly, no one is even supposed to openly declare what countries they've worked in. Spy Managers are often under cover as diplomatic personnel, certainly a euphemism. There is no such designation as CIA "operative" [sic]. There are Case Officers, Agents, and Assets.

Leutrell M. Osborne, Sr. of Annapolis, MD, was a spymaster for the CIA. James Bond he’s not, but then neither is anyone else, for Bond is portrayed in overlapping roles as both agent and officer. Case Officers function more like spy managers over independent contractors (agents, assets and recruits). They oversee select operations within their respective specialties. They are deployed periodically outside Langley as Field Officers.

Operations include three types: 1) Intelligence, or collection of information, 2) Counter Intelligence (CI) to prevent or stop foreign intrusion; and, 3) Covert Action (CA). Other CIA activities include analysis and projections. Osborne’s specialty was and still is CI – counter intelligence. Many tricks are employed to reach tactical goals, including propaganda, mind control, infiltration, as well as creation and support of insurgents.

Intelligence is one form of control system. Other control systems on the minds of large populations include education (controls behavior), money (controls wealth), law (controls authority), politics (controls national will), economy (controls wealth), history (controls beliefs), psychology (controls thinking), philanthropy (controls opinion), medicine (controls health), religion (controls spiritual beliefs), media / propaganda (controls culture, opinion), and continuity of succession (controls power).

CIA is not the only intelligence agency, but it is deployed by and reports to the U.S. President. There are now 16 intelligence collection agencies (IC) coordinated by the DNI. They include military intelligence, information operations (IO, Intellipedians), satellite and electronic surveillance (SIGINT), science intelligence, even domestic spying and homeland security.

"Law enforcement in the USA has already changed to acquire some of the attributes of intelligence work. That's why FBI SAs are now going to CIA for training. That's why USA is fighting with dirty tricks, aka CA, aka terrorism, formerly known as secret para-military warfare." “For the record,” Osborne says, “the continued preoccupation with reducing vulnerabilities is costly and just the opposite of what the 'Osborne Ultimatum' recommends. We recommend more and improved HUMINT. Intelligence is a property of human beings.”

"When did the DNI's new leadership start determining that we had to give up rights so we can protect a vulnerability in our nation-state's security? How about suggesting that the DNI send a message out to the agencies and departments to do a better and stronger job at conducting Human Intelligence collection operations? We just might find out who and what the adversaries are doing. Thus, we don't have to give up our rights." Osborne has developed a Freedom Program to "counter those activities reducing freedoms, including dirty tricks such as COINTEL PRO." Osborne is currently offering his consultancy services to Hollywood in hopes of improving the accuracy of cinematic story lines about CIA activity.

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Reduce Memoires to 2 hr. film in 7 Acts –

Chapter I Spy Dreams (1939-1957)

Chapter 2 – The ABC's of CIA

Chapter 3 The Far Northern Country (FNC)

Chapter 4 Meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr.

Chapter 5 Earned PHD in Intelligence before my Bachelors

Chapter 6 Assignment abroad in Latin American Country (LAC)

Chapter 7 Advisor to DCIs: Colby and Bush

Chapter 8 Third tour abroad in the Communications Division

Chapter 9 Desegregating the Management for Arab Operations.

Chapter 10 Empowered and Enfranchised

BACKSTORY

Who doesn't love a good, tense spy thriller? Some of the very best films ground themselves in a gritty reality, focusing not on some fantasy or even thinly-veiled super secret spy organization, but on the CIA itself. Benchmark spy genre films are listed at the end.

Certain mistakes permeate the most popular films. One is the distinction between CIA Case Officers who function as Spy Managers and their contract agents (spies). No one is both a spy and a spy manager. "Operatives" is never an official designation. Another distinction is between Counter Intelligence (CI) which is clandestine or secret and Covert Action (CA) which is paramilitary and includes plausible deniability.

The Intelligence Community (IC) currently includes 16 agencies (called elements) led by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Because of this restructuring the Director of the CIA no longer reports directly to the President, except through the daily briefing. ODNI, Office of Director of National Intelligence now also controls the purse strings of the reinvented IC, whereas the former manager, the DCI, did not.

The CIA is the only member of the intelligence community that doesn't fall under the oversight of a larger cabinet seat. The CIA's focus is collecting intelligence and conducting clandestine operations (CA - Covert Action) for counterintelligence (CI) overseas. Its analysis is used by the military, policymakers, defense planners and law enforcement. Four directorates include Intelligence, Science and Technology, Support, and the National Clandestine Service.

Sinister Spectres

The best films focus on complex facts that change America. Just as we have myths of personal identity, we have myths of nation-state identity. Their portrayal and interpretation can change our ideas about ourselves as a nation. Like the dirty secrets of toxic families, nations can engage in abusive or toxic behavior.

Some accept and some reject CIA. CIA is a flawed system, often characterized as a sinister specter where the blame stops for myriad ills of society. Instead of superheroes and fierce gun battles, more realistic movies focus on spycraft, political maneuvering, disinformation, profiling, detective work, keen observation, and most importantly on very smart characters – those who fight with their brains instead of brawn.  Because they aim to "entertain" rather than educate or inform, none of these films conform with practice.

Some movies focus on power plays on the Grand Chessboard, but there are also individual power plays among the players. As in real life, these quirky heroes and anti-heroes aren’t perfect. Some put personal interests above the mission. In Quantum of Solace, Bond is accused by M of operating from revenge rather than orders. Others go to the mat for their charges to save their lives and careers. There are myths about "rogue institutions" and "going off the reservation." In spy slang, Burn Notice means a compromised agent is blacklisted or terminated.

Corruption is an international fact of life. Sometimes, these movies deal with the extreme creepiness of criminals in and out of government -- an "Enemy of the State." Infractions range from a host of human rights violations including torture, to betrayal, to procedural infractions. Case Officers know that torture is punishment not extraction of critical data. "Body of Lies" gives a nod to the shame and real repercussions of Guantanamo, as did "Rendition."

The dark side of the changing face of intelligence will likely be the subject of numerous future feature films. CIA’s “greatest hits” have been documented as well as their misses, as in Charlie Wilson's War and the 1997 TV film, Bay of Pigs. Air America, raised the specter of spooks dealing drugs, exposed 50 years of CIA arms supplying, international drug trafficking and narco-colonialism used to secure unaccountable black ops funding and foreign corporate markets.

The classic Jack Ryan movie, Clear and Present Danger shows CIA involvement and interdiction in the roots of the Columbian drug cartels. The 2007 release, American Gangster depicts the domestic fallout of Golden Triangle heroin in inner city urban areas.

So many of our clandestine and covert incursions, including the lost War on Drugs, take place in drug-producing countries. It's no accident. Air America showed CIA aiding Asian drug lords. Afghan opium is now a big international issue, setting the stage for a new heroin epidemic. The Mexican mob is growing it now, too, as well as cocaine. They are poised to grab the US meth and pot market. They are trying to monopolize the entire drug market making Traffic and Blow look like a walk in the park.

Perhaps we should be most afraid of what isn’t being shown, what isn’t being disclosed, what are still real state secrets. Syriana (2005) is probably still the quintessential topical CIA film. It is a common sense tale with the basic thesis that if you want to keep consuming petroleum products like there is no tomorrow then you are going to have to get used to pan-national corruption, designed poverty, terror-cell spawning, and doomed-to-failure empire gambits. It’s the spy, his enemies and the shadowy world that have secured the American lifestyle at the expense of others.

Feature films now compete with a new genre of low-budget independent documentary, “truth” or conspiracy films and idiosyncratic exposes, such as “Zeitgeist,” “Esoteric Agenda,” “JFK II,” and myriad 9/11 films. Each expresses a point of view alerting the citizenry to acts done in the name of our nation.

Some segments of the public have become de facto Digital Spies, using Open Source to track down facts and deduce patterns to satisfy their own ends. The spies are being spied on by the watchdogs, including those CIA veterans who have become disillusioned and know the "straw men," "dirty tricks" and "false flags" when they see them. They know the tales that "Wag the Dog."

Spy Genre

Hollywood loves the spy genre which resonates with pop culture. Drama is inherent in these situations. The genre officially includes films that deal with undercover agents of any government, including FBI and CIA agents, postal inspectors, Army and Department of Treasury investigators, and other special government agents. The 2007 Academy Award winning German film, "The Lives of Others," is fair warning where obsessive monitoring can go. Totalitarian excess is a valuable lesson perhaps lost in a political climate that no longer even pays heed to "plausible deniability."

But the film world loves to focus on spies. The gamut includes propaganda films of World War II, the James Bond phenomenon, anti-communist spies of the Cold War era, military espionage in the Eighties and Nineties, and terrorism in the Naughties.

In 1973, the landmark spoof, The Spook Who Sat Next to the Door took on issues of discrimination at CIA and Black militancy. "Spook" was used as a racial slur, as well as slang for spy. This spook used his CIA paramilitary training to recruit militants. The story of hypocrisy and oppression has universal qualities. Soon after its release, this politically controversial film was suppressed. Now this political commentary is a radical time capsule, complete with stereotypes.

Spies thrill us and often rise to cult status. Spy films tend to fall into three categories. The formulaic range from the ultra-patriotic Jack Ryan stories to Bond films. The spoofy range from the suave “Our Man Flint,” "Matt Helm," and “Modesty Blaise” to the slick thriller "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" to the unabashedly puerile “Get Smart” and “Austin Powers” series. The wacky theories of Mel Gibson’s 1997 film “Conspiracy Theory” have become commonly accepted knowledge, no longer "fringe."

Sophisticated films focus less on gags than getting the tricky job done. They believably detail core principles and intelligence tasks beyond “bang & burn,” (demolition and sabotage), such as training, information gathering, risk assessment, security awareness and support, counter intelligence, recruiting, assassination, and double-crossing. Still, all films deal with our cultural fantasies of such things more than facts. All are flawed from the operational perspective of espionage insiders. Spies don't operate on their own but under the direction of Case Officers - spy managers. As the tagline for "Spy Game" says, "It's not how you play the game. It's how the game plays you."

CIA is a maze of acronyms that mystify the uninitiated. The real culture of CIA is as difficult to capture as the intelligence it seeks. The chain of command makes it difficult to place blame, when even a George Tenet can be bullied by a President into doctoring intel analysis for a war agenda. Hence, most spy films are the slice-of-life variety. There are many hierarchical levels from the deep insiders of Skull & Bones to the Case Officers, translators, analysts, the man in the street, assets, and pawns. They surveille one another as well as the enemy. They are The Watchers.

In films we all get a rare chance to watch back, to observe the masters of disguise and duplicity. Many of our opinions of clandestine and black ops come from these fictional depictions. We never seem to tire of these observational tales, so we can expect more “buzz” and many more Coming Attractions. They help us collectively process the shadowy underbelly and deeper dark realities of global life that support the American way of life. Dramatic enactment is more powerful than a news or TV story. It lets us into their lives and experience -- the feelings.

Watching You Watching Me Watching You

Undeniably the spy genre has tremendous box-office appeal. Each season brings the latest thriller. Our cultural myths play out in these films just as they do in the socio-political landscape of the Great Game. Myth is quite different than the blunt reality of espionage. The real fight is dirty, brutal and often illegal. It has repercussions – blowback. CIA is cast as the villain as often as not.

Aren’t governments accountable to their citizens? Thus, we have gritty cautionary tales on the hazards of working so closely with evil. They define who is a patriot and who is a traitor and who inhabits the No Man’s Land of moral relativism. The lines are blurry, so it can be tough to tell when they are crossed and double-crossed. They can wave the flag or show our secret shame and conflict. Dialogues hinge on leveraged trust and deceit.

Some of these movies are not so subtle propaganda for the left or right. Does the end ever justify the means? Does an immediate victory insure future retaliation? No nation ever really forgets anything whether the grudge remains secret or open. Muslims still call us The Crusaders. All wars are Cold Wars, including asymmetrical war. Fates of nations hang in the balance. Our fates hang in the balance.

Seeing is Deceiving

But, the turbulent life of CIA spy managers and spies isn't exactly what Hollywood makes it out to be. CIA cannot control its own public image entirely. Speaking to the political and social concerns of the times, spy films portray a matrix of values with greater or lesser accuracy and the formal dynamics of cultural complexity. Stereotypes don't always hold up. There are case officers with successful long-term marriages, for example. Intrigue, conspiracy, covert action and shadowy double-dealing make up the plot. Deconstructing society’s rules is what makes the spy genre tick.

Visual representations of this normally unseen agency is an evergreen subject. Perhaps it helps us enact and react to our national identity. It certainly shows us our collective shadow side even when that is hard to take. These films show us the uncertain landscape and morphing atmosphere of some of the world’s most dangerous and critical situations. Spy films are full of secrets.

Dark Shadows

Dirty secrets are at the core of every toxic family, and the dominant hand of the CIA is no exception because it must keep close secrets to function effectively. CIA is the scapegoat of the Shadow Government with its corporate greed and phony religious talk. It has created a national emergency and a Cult of Secrecy. CIA doesn't operate in a vacuum. It is a capitalist tool of the military industrial complex (MIC). The Shadow Government includes the Executive Branch, the Intelligence Branch, the War Department, the Weapons Industry, and the Financial Department.

Because of the fear-mongers, we are now scared of our own collective shadow, everything we have denied and projected as a nation. Ethnic, religious and racial stereotyping is projection, the root of the blame frame which identifies the enemy. We are in the midst of global financial meltdown. No longer backed by the unquestioned "might is right" military capacity of the US, the Greenback is failing and taking Europe and Asia with it. Civil liberties have been subverted in the process, confirming our worst fears.

We have met the enemy and it is us. All this is fodder for filmmakers, led by Oliver Stone's spoof of George "W." Sometimes, what can you do but laugh at the absurdity?

CINEMATIC SURVEILLANCE: Films explore the creative space between action and identity. The spy genre explores the potential in masquerade where identity is conditional – a fashioned self. Things are never what they seem; there is always a mind-bending twist. The viewer has the enviably safe position of the Observer Self, free to come to a personalized view of unfolding events. One gets to participate as the innocent caught up in clandestine activities, then go home unscathed to order pizza.

There are lots of spy and spy-fi movies, but most of them bear little resemblance to reality, nor do they try to do so, even when they have knowledgable consultants who know better. Films are made in the editing room, long after shooting. But while we watch the movies, the public is watching the spies back while the filmmakers simultaneously shape their opinions. Some might call that mind control stronger than any of that exerted by CIA. Often they show us our folly, or hidden truths, such as Lords of War, in which illegal arms dealers receive political protection at the highest level. After all, small wars are good for business, or are they?

CONSENSUS NARRATIVE: Films make us see things in a certain way and it may be difficult to distinguish fact from fancy in this genre where the real and unreal meld as “friction.” This friction is a defining characteristic of the faultlines of our collective societal values, which films mirror back to us. But the mirroring can be as spurious as forged documentation. They reveal our collective identity crisis.

Do we find self-justification in such cathartic experiences? Does it make us receptive to new policies? It is not simple viewing – SPY SEE -- but also is “in-forming,” making something of us we would not be otherwise. For example, the Oliver Stone film "JFK" caused most people born after the event to consider Stone’s version (based on Jim Marrs's books) the historical summary of the assassination.

DYSTOPIAN THEMES: In this context, we are most interested in those serious films that deal either with real issues or actual events or depict untold history from behind the scenes. These are the most politically relevant and potentially explosive despite the success of more fanciful stories with superheroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Tom Cruise. Charlie Wilson's War depicts a moment of seeming triumph on the world stage later followed by the blowback of 9/11 when the same players bit the hand that fed them. But here all we see is the big "Win."

Depending on the political climate, each decade has its own style of narrative, often based on a best-seller book. They range from cloak and dagger to exposes to virtual science fiction, varying with the market or trends they seek to tap. Topical issues now include “terrorism,” “ghost detainees” and torture. Lions for Lambs showed recruiting techniques used in universities to tap talent and carried a strong political message. Movie portrayals of covert operations have to an extent mirrored events in the real world, including the hottest new technologies and the power-driven sins of the military-industrial complex.

Benchmark CIA Films

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962 - 2004), THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965), DAY OF THE JACKEL (1973), THE CONVERSATION (1974),THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), TELEFON (1977), HOPSCOTCH (1980), THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND (1983), THE INSIDE MAN (1984), THE FALCON & THE SNOWMAN (1985), NO WAY OUT (1987), THE RUSSIA HOUSE (1990), AIR AMERICA (1990), JACOB’S LADDER (1990), JACK RYAN SERIES· The Hunt for Red October(1990) – Alec Baldwin· Patriot Games (1992) – Harrison Ford· Clear and Present Danger (1994) – Harrison Ford· The Sum of All Fears (2002) – Ben Affleck· Without Remorse (TBD) – Ryan Gosling, SNEAKERS (1992), MOTHER NIGHT (1996), THE ASSIGNMENT (1997), ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998), RONIN (1998), RAINBOW SIX (1998), ALDRICH AMES: Traitor Within (1998)

THE OPERATIVE (2000), SPY GAME (2001), THE TAILOR OF PANAMA (2001), THE BOURNE TRILOGY (2002-2004-2007), CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (2002) questionable “memoir,” THE RECRUIT (2003), SECOND NATURE (2003), TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY (2004), ICON (2005), SYRIANA (2005), MUNICH (2005), THE GOOD SHEPHERD (2006) CIA inner workings; James Jesus Angelton, RENDITION (2007), LIONS FOR LAMBS (2007), BREACH (2007) FBI traitor to the Russians, CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR (2007) Soviet/Afghan War, BURN AFTER READING (2008) Spoof, BODY OF LIES (2008) Iraq/Jordan hunt for terrorists, EAGLE EYE (2008) Spy-fi domestic super-surveillance by AI, TAKEN (2008),  QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008) Bond, Traitor (2008), DUPLICITY (2009) MI6 marries CIA - mayhem ensues, Men Who Stare At Goats (2009) true life psi-fi of First Earth Battalion psi guy resurrection for Iraq War.

DEVELOPMENT PHASE

The synopsis (above) was shopped at NAPTE, 2010 where it was determined suited to feature film development. It has been extensively researched with core content and characters identified. A recontextualization has generated publication interest. Online versions of the story have drawn positive response from interested publishers.

The backstory is summarized at

An un-narrated illustrated video sketch is viewable at

DISTRIBUTION

Upon securing first monies through private financing, the THE OSBORNE EFFECT: BLACK MAN IN THE CIA Company will seek out pre-sold distribution or negative pickup with a letter of agreement or letter of credit from interested distributors to assist in putting together the total budget for the picture. At present, all rights (including theatrical, cable, broadcast, pay-per-view, home-video, and international) are available.

In a sellers’ market, every distributor wants to outmaneuver their competitors and acquire the few commercial independent films available at any given time. Given the scarcity of exceptional, excellent, or even quality ones, we anticipate a lot of competition for all our films, especially, THE OSBORNE EFFECT: BLACK MAN IN THE CIA which has the potential to ignite a rather fierce bidding war.

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FINANCIAL SUMMARY

Almost all film markets are expanding, and because of new technologies such as HD-DVDs, are also growing in number. So although a U.S. theatrical release is still the initial target, this now accounts for only about 11% of a film´s revenues. Home video, rentals, cable, pay-per-view, and other ancillary domestic markets constitute another 38%. Foreign markets now comprise 51% or more of a film´s revenues and are steadily increasing. So even if a film doesn’t do well at the box office here, it can still be very profitable. In fact, there are many companies producing moneymaking films that aren´t even intended for U.S. theaters. The number of film releases has remained relatively steady while the number of movie screens has increased dramatically.

Outstanding funding required for completion: $XX Million.

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THE OSBORNE EFFECT: BLACK MAN IN THE CIA