Coast Guard Solicits Hollywood to Help with Movie Plot Threats
Trying to avoid a failure of imagination in its uncharted new role, the agency has even called in screenwriters from Hollywood to help sketch terrorism situations.
“The biggest change is that the Coast Guard has gone from being an organization that ran when the bell went off to being a cop on the beat at all times,” said Capt. Peter V. Neffenger, who recently gave up command of the port here for a position in Washington and who consulted with the screenwriters.
Anyone who’s watched Hollywood’s output in recent years knows that screenwriters aren’t the most creative bunch of people on the planet. And anyway, they can have all of these ideas for free.
Justin Wienckowski • May 22, 2006 8:44 AM
For Bruce and other readers: What is your opinion of the effectiveness of this strategy?
I’ve noticed one of the major ongoing critiques of US security policy is that agencies are so focused on trying to prevent terrorist events, which are relatively rare, that they have failed to implement security systems that handle events effectively and fail gracefully.
Is this just another example of that?