[stromsfriend]

I saw an advanced screening of "The Sum of All Fears" last night and it was good and entertaining (I will be summararily shot if I give anything away I am told).

THe movie doesn't follow the book very much and that works out fine. Ben Affleck does a fine job and his girlfriend is stunning.

But what got my noodle cooking was that Clancy's "fictions" about terrorist acts in many of his books are quite close to what goes on or what has happened.

Why isn't this guy writing National Security Estimates? Although I am sure the CIA has tapped his imagination by now!

Or...more disturbing/intriguing, maybe those terrorists have a penchant for Cold War fiction...

[TopQuark]

Why isn't this guy writing National Security Estimates?

Because reality is different from fiction, and because working with people is different from typing.

[rellimpank]

--IMHO, he'd do a lot better thatn Clinton-appointee Tenet--

[maestro]

Why isn't Tom Clancy the CIA Director?

ROTFLOL

[TeleStraightShooter]

What I found interesting about what I have read on the internet about his flick is that the a domestic/arab group (CAIR?), pressured the studio (pre 9/11) to warp the original book storyline of arab terrorists, into eruo-nazi terroists. From what I understand, CAIR is on Bush's short list of stateside front groups for middle eastern terror.

The capital of Chehnya is nuked? Didn't Russia do that 2 years ago with 1000 fuel/air explosives?

[ozdragon]

I saw Clancey interviewed on "Book TV" about 2 months ago. He said that the guys at CIA & NSA were way ahead of him with their scenarios. He was asked to participate in "what if " sessions where there were blue & red teams. He said the professionals had already worked trhough anything he came up with. But, he is still a great writer and I enjoy his books.

[discostu]

Wow! Item #1 they shouldn't even use that title for the movie, the only thing that story has in common with the book is the words "terrorist" and "nuclear bomb".

Iten #2 - the reason to not nominate Tom for anything is that he writes fiction, the press would have such a field day with that it would make the Murphy Brown flap look like nothing. While I agree that Clancy is a very bright guy who has (unfortunately) shown a fair ability to predict the future, and among intelligent circles he's a highly respected speaker. Unfortunately the press ISN'T intelligent circles and would spend months mocking Bush for not knowing the difference between reality and make believe saying he was nominating Jack Ryan. It would be terrible. In the end the nomination would probably be withdrawn.

[Rebelbase]

If the CIA paid a Bazillion dollars for his ideas, I bet Clancy would be glad to submit them.

[fogarty]

Here's a question for you:

Why did Tom Clancy authorize the movie screenwriter and producer to change the terrorists from being Islamic to being white-neo-nazi skinhead types? In the book the terrorists are MUSLIMS, with strong Palestinian ties.

[Liberty Tree Surgeon]

Why isn't Tom Clancy the CIA Director?

Because to placate the PC crowd, he'd have the wholse CIA guarding against European neo-nazis, rather that the islamist threat that really exists.

The words "sell out" come to mind, and this movie will not get my dollars. Now that I've burst a friend's bubble regarding the PC treatment, that's four tickets that won't be bought.

LTS

[CDHart]

I heard a while back that someone had written a book prior to 9/11 that detailed an attack similar to the WTC one. Do you know if that was Tom Clancy?

Carolyn