Hollywood Takes On The Islamic State

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Wendy Day, 4th Combat Camera, March Air Reserve Base, films the operations of the Integrated Training Exercise on May 18, 2015, at the Integrated Training Exercise 3-15 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Steven A. Orti

Asawin Suebsaeng, Daily Beast: U.S. Turns to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Writer for Anti-ISIS Propaganda

The State Department says it’s losing the information war to ISIS—and is tapping HBO, Snapchat, and a screenwriter with deep CIA connections to help turn things around.

The Obama administration is turning to HBO, Snapchat, and a controversial, Oscar-winning screenwriter to help them fight ISIS.

Earlier this year, the State Department convened a group of friends in the U.S. film industry, social media, and premium cable TV to brainstorm ways to counter jihadist propaganda.

In June, State Department officials and counterterrorism advisors traveled to Sunnylands (nicknamed the “Camp David of the West,” due to its history of being a super-exclusive vacation spot for celebrities and politicians) in Rancho Mirage, California, for a summit on how to effectively fight a propaganda and media war against extremist networks abroad. ISIS, for instance, has already mastered the art of ripping off Hollywood techniques to make recruiting and propaganda films, and basically has its own Twitter army. The June meetings were essentially a sequel to a three-day summit convened by the White House in February on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) through community-based strategies.

WNU Editor: Will this impact the war against the Islamic State .... we shall see.