Information Warfare: Communist Takeover of U.S. Entertainment Industry

A one-time commander in China’s Communist Red Army has launched information warfare with an aggressive plan to invest billions in all six major Hollywood studios, a show business trade publication reports, describing the foreign deal as an unprecedented push into the U.S. entertainment sector. The former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regimental commander, Wang Jianlin, is China’s richest man and he’s aggressively pursuing a big chunk of one of the world’s most influential industries.

A few years ago, Wang doled out $2.6 billion to buy the nation’s largest theater chain, AMC Entertainment, and now he’s taking it a huge step further with the studio deals that will have a huge impact on production. Chinese money has been shaping the movie industry for years, mainstream news reports have revealed, and one major newspaper reported earlier this year that China is expected to become the world’s biggest box office by the end of 2017. “This has changed how Hollywood behaves in big ways—like the flood of money coming in to co-finance blockbusters, or sequels that get the green light simply because they performed well in China,” the article states. An industry expert cited in the article says that very few foreign companies have ever successfully cracked the Hollywood code in a big way, but Chinese buyers are getting closer to that goal.

This may cause Americans to wonder what the U.S. government is doing to counter the information warfare. Specifically, a division of the U.S. Treasury, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), is responsible for reviewing transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by foreigners. Judicial Watch is investigating what this agency is doing to scrutinize the Chinese Communist takeover and is drafting public records requests for the CFIUS and other pertinent agencies. After all, among the CFIUS’s duties is to determine the national security impact that the foreign takeover of an American industry could have on the U.S. Congress has expressed concern and has asked its investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to probe the national security issues associated with the Chinese acquisitions of American entertainment companies.

These disturbing revelations come on the heels of an equally alarming Hollywood story Judicial Watch reported illustrating the Obama administration’s hands off policy when it comes to illegal activities in the powerful entertainment industry. It involves a big-screen movie about traitor Edward Snowden, who has been criminally charged by the U.S. government under the Espionage Act. The National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor leaked top secret information and his illegal disclosures have helped terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and led to the death of innocent people. Last year Snowden began openly engaging with ISIS and Al Qaeda members and supporters via social media. Nevertheless, Academy award-winning Director Oliver Stone considers Snowden, who fled to Moscow to avoid prosecution after betraying his country, a “hero” so he made a movie about the fugitive.

National security experts have determined that Snowden has done incalculable damage to the NSA and American national security. A former member of the Counsel to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board has confirmed that people have already lost their lives thanks to Snowden and “countless more are likely to lose theirs now that our enemies know our most closely guarded sources and methods of communications intelligence collection.” Snowden has caused devastation, security experts say, and he may very well be the most injurious traitor in American history. That would make it illegal to profit from his crimes and the Department of Justice (DOJ) should confiscate all money made by the violators. This includes Stone, who in 2006 was fined by the Treasury Department for violating U.S. law during the filming of a controversial documentary praising Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro. Stone is an admirer of the communist dictator’s revolution and refers to Castro as “one of the wisest men ever, a survivor” and a solitary fighter comparable to Don Quixote.

Stone’s Snowden flick has since been released and, not surprisingly, the feds have taken no action. Keep in mind that Snowden violated his secrecy agreement, which means he and his conspirators can’t materially profit from his fugitive status, violation of law, aiding and abetting of a crime and providing material support to terrorism. It’s bad enough that people are profiting from Snowden’s treason, but adding salt to the wound, the Obama administration is doing nothing about it. Immediately after reporting the story in early August, Judicial Watch launched an investigation, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain records. True whistleblowers and law-abiding intelligence officers such as Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, FBI Special Agent Robert G. Wright and Valerie Plame got release authority in accordance with their secrecy agreement and did not seek money or flee to Russia. A federal appellate court has ruled that government employees, such as Snowden, who signed privacy agreements can’t profit from disclosing information without first obtaining agency approval.