“The Spymasters” is narrated by Mandy Patinkin, known for his role as tortured CIA officer Saul Berenson on the network’s hit spy drama “Homeland,” but the film features interviews with CIA operatives who make their fictional counterparts seem almost bland by comparison. “That’s a pretty sobering thought,” said Jules Naudet. Michael Hayden, are more critical of drone strikes, which he claims “feed the jihadi recruitment video” and the perception that “Americans are heartless killers.”ĭespite the dissent among the directors, there is consensus on two subjects: the United States cannot “kill its way out” of the war on terror, and the fight will continue for generations to come. ![]() “I think it’s poor for our reputation in the world.” In contrast, Tenet refuses to call the methods torture and says they helped uncover vital evidence - contradicting a report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. ![]() “I just think it’s beneath our dignity,” he says. Take 91-year-old Stansfield Turner, director of Central Intelligence under President Jimmy Carter, who condemns enhanced interrogation - which he characterizes as torture - in the starkest terms. I think he came to try to right his place in history.” You can see how difficult it is for him still. “Tenet is a brilliant, fascinating, complicated guy and charismatic character, but he’s also a tortured soul. “Imagine that on your watch as CIA director you have 9/11, an enhanced interrogation program that a lot of people call torture, and you have weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,” said Whipple, a veteran news producer who began his career at “60 Minutes,” explaining Tenet’s reluctance. The most stubborn holdout was George Tenet, director of Central Intelligence from 1997 to 2004, who hadn’t given an interview in eight years. Of course, there are few institutions in American life with more closed doors than the CIA, which makes it impressive that Whipple and the Naudets were able to get all 12 living directors to participate in “The Spymasters.” But the filmmakers found that many were, if anything, eager for a chance to explain - and in some cases, unburden - themselves.
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