Speaker 1: 0:33

Welcome again to the Voice of Righteousness broadcast. Today I want to talk about the film Deep State Gangsters. The movie was released on 19 November last week, Tuesday, on Salem Now. Salem Now is streaming it video on demand on their local channel and on their website. You can look for it by just simply going to Salem Now and looking for Deep State Gangsters Now. This is a limited release only on Salem Now. We're still working for an expanded distribution. More news to come as that happens.

Speaker 1: 1:12

Now the film is making great progress in the film festival circuit. It has already won finalist for the Around the World Film Festival, Berlin. The film has also been selected by a few other film festivals LA Film and Documentary Award, New York Film and Mayo Actor Award, Los Angeles Movie and Music Video Awards and the London Liftoff Festival and I almost forgot also one in Paris. Therefore, the goal is to make this film a long-term success rather than just a one-time wonder that goes out like a rocket and falls flat. We're looking to make this film a long-term success with a sustained campaign through film festivals to get it in front of people's eyes so that we can get the message out. And that brings me to the purpose of this film. This film is a documentary first and foremost. It's not an entertainment film. The background to this film is very simple.

Speaker 1: 2:11

A filmmaker, Frank X Panico from X in the Sky Films. He's done about a dozen movies. He knows what he's doing. He's a professional cinematographer, producer, editor, script writer, storyteller. He approached me about doing a movie about my book, the Broken Whistle, A Deep State Run Amok, and I immediately thought about well, let's just not make it about my own story, let's expand this and let's bring on other whistleblowers. I believe there's strength in unity and in numbers and, at the same time, helping others who need help to be given a voice. Therefore, we brought in John Kiriakou, CIA whistleblower. That makes two CIA whistleblowers, John and I. Rather than just concentrate on CIA, I decided that you know, let's bring on FBI whistleblowers and therefore we brought in Garrett O'Boyle and Nate Cain. What we endeavor to do here is very simple Rather than see one case of reprisals against the whistleblowers as an anomaly, by bringing in three other whistleblowers, four total whistleblowers two FBI, two CIA.

Speaker 1: 3:27

There is a common theme, a common thread with our four stories, and it's basically the weaponization of government power against those who speak up. Speak truth to power, dissent, bring truth to the light, the abuse of that government power to destroy us, to silence us, to silence the truth tellers. So the film is devoid of all conspiratorial nonsense. The term deep state again is used in the context of the national security bureaucracy, predominantly FBI, CIA, intelligence community and related entities. We use the term deep state because it's the most commonly known term for it, but it's also known as the administrative state, the bureaucratic state, the national security bureaucracy, the military industrial complex and so forth. And we use the term gangsters because that's exactly what defines them as far as the abuses of power, Criminal-like, mafia-like, gangster-type tactics to destroy us whistleblowers.

Speaker 1: 4:37

Now to me, the star of the film is John Kiriakou, the CIA counterterrorism officer who went public with the CIA torture program and he suffered greatly as a result of what he publicly disclosed, which actually the Department of Justice investigated, as you will hear in his story, and determined that he did not disclose any secrets, that he did not disclose any secrets. However, eventually John Brennan, the former director of the CIA, who at the time was working at the White House, decided to have John Kiriakou charged, and I cannot tell you the story or else I will spoil it, but you'll have to hear it and the point is that you will hear from each of us in this film our first-hand stories as far as what we witnessed and what happened to us when we spoke up. And that is the point of this film, so that you can get a first-hand perspective of what, John Kiriakou, I, experienced with the CIA and what Garrett O'Boyle and what Nate Cain experienced through their acts of blowing the whistle as far as in their field, the FBI. Now, there's an important dimension here. Our stories individually, without adding some context to it, some commentary, may not mean anything as far as bringing in that common thread and that theme.

Speaker 1: 6:09

We have two color commentators J Michael Waller, a policy analyst, a former Reagan administration official, who's very familiar with intelligence issues and he wrote a book, the Big Intel. He brings in quite a bit of historical context on the FBI, the CIA and its transformation in our modern day. Similarly, a veteran journalist, Lee Smith, who has written books, many articles and he's done other movies, been in other movies. He brings a lot of expert commentary on the weaponization of government power to silence dissent. Without these two color commentators we really wouldn't have much of a film and we thank them for their willingness to step up and speak on our behalf, the whistleblowers.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Now, the film is a little long 119 minutes but the reality is that it has to be that length because there's quite a bit of storytelling and background and also what we witnessed firsthand, the four of us and that color commentary. So it it needs to be that length. It cannot be shortened. Another thing is we really can't separate this and turn it into four different parts of each of us individually telling our stories, Because the film is designed in a way that it goes back and forth between each and among all of the whistleblowers, between the CIA, between the FBI and among us. Now, Frank did a marvelous job of putting this together so that it flows and it continues to build up until the climax.

Speaker 1: 7:55

And on that note, now the film has basically what you can consider a prologue at the very beginning and it does have an epilogue. I can't tell you what those are because I will spoil it. You'll have to see it and right from the get-go, with that prologue, you'll get the tone of exactly what this film is about. And more importantly is, what does it mean? I mean, again, destroying dissent to preserve power. The tagline and the title Deep State Gangsters that tells you where this is going, as far as what it means, and it's that weaponization of government power that has become a national security problem of epic proportions to our constitutional republic. And therefore there is a need to bring awareness of this issue, and we do so with our first-hand experiences and the expert color commentary and then, ultimately, as an activation, to activate the listeners to begin to become active in the political arena in any form that they can. Voting is one example, but other than that, holding the political personas accountable is another, and so forth.

Speaker 1: 9:11

Like I said, I wanted to keep this short. I don't need to go on and on and on. The Bottom Line is a very professional film. It is extremely well done. We have tested it with people. Recently, there was a group of six individuals who saw the film and not a single person spoke. They literally had their eyes glued on the TV, watching this film from beginning to end 119 minutes.

Speaker 1: 9:36

The film does have an IMDb entry, so I ask you please, if you do watch the film, please do go to IMDb. You can look up IMDb films. Look for Deep State Gangsters. Go in there and give the movie a rating. We would really appreciate that. Now I plan to bring further updates as they develop, but for now this is a soft launch, Limited release. We're still working the film festivals hard. I hope to have a really hard launch, A broader launch of the film festivals hard. I hope to have a really a hard launch, a broader launch of the film sometime early next year. We're looking to have a wide distribution, not just nationally but internationally. For now, we're grateful Salem Now has released the film and we ask you to please go to the Salem Now website and watch the film and pass the word to all your family members, colleagues, friends, whoever can help by watching the film and again leaving a rating in IMDB. Thank you so much for listening to this message.