'UNDER SIEGE' TERRORISM IN D.C.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807570038-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: February 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807570038-7
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COYER STORY
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WASHINGTON POST
9 February 1986
`Under Siege
Terrorism in D.C.
By Mlcha&l I. Hill
Way =*= Pat stiff wrier
For months now-years, really-the
question has been eating its way into
the public consciousness:
How would Americans feel, and what
would the government do, if the terrorism
we read about in the Middle East and
Western Europe were to explode onto
American soil?
The question is raised at 8 tonight when
NBC presents "Under Siege," a drama in
which the U.S. government has to respond
to terrorism on the home front. It is a
Washington-based movie-which ironically
could not be filmed here-that seems
keyed to recent headlines.
The producer of the film, Karen
Danaher, acknowledged the timeliness of
the production, but said the creative germ
of the movie was actually planted in
Moscow six years ago.
That's when her boss, Don Ohlmeyer, a
longtime television sports producer and
director who now has his own production
company, was in Russia during
preparations for the Olympic Games.
Ohlmeyer observed how the Russians
went about rounding up all the usual
suspects, anyone who might create a
disturbance of any kind during the Games.
And he wondered how the United States
would handle things four years later.
Ohlmeyer and Danaher talked about
what he'd seen in the Soviet Union, and
they had another thought: How would a
country that protects the civil liberties of
good guys and bad guys alike cope with
acts of terrorism? "About that time," said
Danaher, "a Washington Post series on
terrorism written by Bob Woodward, Chris
Williams and Dick Harwood appeared.
Ohlmeyer went to talk to Woodward."
"Under Siege" was born. It was agreed
that the Post writers would do the script.
"We thought it would lend authenticity to
have them do it rather than a Hollywood
writer," said Danaher. Their script went
through 10 drafts. "That's a lot," said
Danaher. What emerged, she said, was an
original story, written with constant
concern for responsibility. The story was
not pegged to headlines, she said,
acknowledging that events of the past year
or so overtook their story.
"It centers on Peter Strauss as the hea
of the FBI," said Danaher. "It's his job to
find out who's behind the terrorism." At
first it is assumed that the Ayatollah is
responsible. It becomes a race against time
for Strauss to determine who, if not the
Iranian, is responsible before there are
unwarranted counterattacks on his
country.
The cast includes Hal Holbrook as
President Maxwell Monroe, Paul Winfield
as the secretary of defense, E.G. Marshall
as secretary of state. Stan Shaw is Strauss'
right-hand man, Fritz Weaver plays the
head of the CIA and Mason Adams is a
presidential adviser. Lew Ayres plays a
retired newscaster, and George Grizzard is
the editor of a fictitious Washington
newspaper. Victoria Tennant gives the
show a softer side as Strauss' wife.
Danaher wanted'to film "Siege" in
Washington. But when the Hollywood
producer with a hot topic met with the
Washington bureaucracy, things got
"interesting"
"There were oeople from the Capitol
police D.C. police, the CIA, Secret
Service, the Park Police-there were 25
people in the room,' s e recalled. "Half of
them, I didn't know who they were
representing. They were very concerned,
basically, because of the nature of the
project. It was an issue that frightened
them. They were afraid that we would
raise a red flag. They couldn't stop us from
making the film, but there was great
resistance to cooperating. That was clear."
Flying to Washington for a third appeal,
Danaher met a former colleague who told
her that the capitol in Arkansas was
modeled after the one in Washington. After
her meeting, she called Arkansas.
The film was shot last summer in Little
Rock. "They let us do special effects on
their capitol," said Danaher. (At one point
in the film, the U.S. Capitol comes under
missile attack.)
"And we built an oval office, to scale, in
an abandoned Safeway store," she said.
The show that resulted isn't perfect, said
Danaher. But "what I'm pleased with is
that at the end of the movie you're left
thinking about issues that are important,"
said Danaher, an issue-oriented producer
whose credits include "The Burning Bed."
"The question is, how far would you go to
fight terrorism? How far without
compromising civil liberties?"
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807570038-7