CIA Points Out Errors in Katherine Heigl's 'State of Affairs'
It's common for a new show to have a few hiccups especially during its first season. Katherine Heigl is experiencing this right now with her new drama, "State of Affairs," which aired its third episode this Monday. Heigl plays Charleston "Charlie" Tucker, a briefer who supplies the President of the United States with her daily briefing. And while the briefing is an actual thing, the CIA's Twitter handle pointed out several inaccuracies in the show. The agency has been using its Twitter account on Mondays to correct or clarify the show's portrayal of their inner workings.
During the show's pilot, the CIA's Twitter schooled everyone that the briefing, which it refers to as #PDB, has been around for a long time. The account posted a picture of papers stamped "confidential" and captioned it, "President Truman received the first #PDB, though it was known then as the Daily Summary, on Feb. 15, 1946."
On the second episode of "State of Affairs" where Charlie meets her CIA handlers, the real-life CIA blasted the careless move of Heigl's character on the show.
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"The most dangerous type of communication between agents and their handlers: direct, face-to-face contact. One solution: use a #deaddrop," wrote the CIA on Twitter. The agency then described what a dead drop was, explaining that it "allows secure communication at a prearranged location. One person leaves material & the other person picks it up."
On last Monday's episode, Charlie was briefing the President while she read a stack of papers. The CIA once again took to Twitter and posted a picture of President Barack Obama and captioned it, "President Obama and other security policymakers now receive the #PDB in a tablet format."
Though the show is based on fictional events, one of the producers of "State of Affairs" is Rodney Faraon, who used to be a member of the President's briefing team.
"State of Affairs" airs on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.
