Of Drones and Movies

David Axe of Danger Room writes today that the Pentagon allowed D.J. Caruso, director of the new thriller Eagle Eye, to use the Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper aerial drone. What did the Defense Department get in return? The same thing it always does: free publicity. And not only that, publicity that it likes.

As far back as 1997, we were reporting in Government Executive about how the Pentagon offers access to hardware in exchange for input into how the military services are portrayed onscreen -- and how Defense officials refuse to cooperate with films they don't like.