Pentagon officials dispute the accuracy of Netflix’s “A House of Dynamite,” which shows missile defense systems failing to stop a nuclear attack on Chicago.
In an Oct. 16 memo, Missile Defence Agency officials wrote that “the fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,” but the real-world results “tell a vastly different story.”
Whereas the movie depicts interceptors having a 50% chance of stopping the nuke, Pentagon officials asserted that in real-life testing, the interceptors succeeded 100% of the time, according to Bloomberg News.
Director Kathryn Bigelow, who also directed 2012’s “Zero Dark Thirty,” didn’t consult with the Pentagon for the film, which came out in the U.S. this month.
“I felt that we needed to be more independent. But that being said, we had multiple tech advisers who have worked in the Pentagon. They were with me every day we shot,” Ms. Bigelow told CBS News.
A “well-positioned,” unnamed military official reiterated the Missile Defense Agency’s claims and told Deadline that, regarding the interceptors, “The numbers tell us what is occurring and we need to know. The results are very, very good, with the program scheduled to grow over the next decade.”
Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim told MSNBC that he and others involved in the movie talked to missile defense experts about what could happen if the events shown in “A House of Dynamite” transpired.
“We just asked them a ton of questions. ’How does it work? What are the processes? What are the procedures?’ So what you see on screen is hopefully a fairly accurate portrait of the reality that exists. Unfortunately, our missile defense system is highly imperfect. If the Pentagon wants to have a conversation about improving it or what the next step might be in keeping all of us safer, that’s the conversation we want to have. But what we show in the movie is accurate,” Mr. Oppenheim said.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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