Some say the greatest threat to America.

These drug cartels represent a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.

Comes from other nations.

Some say the greatest threat to America.

The course of action I'd suggest is a course of action I can't suggest.

Comes from within.

Paramount Pictures presents this summer's most electrifying motion picture.

Clear and present danger. Welcome to episode three of unclear and present danger, a podcast about the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade.

I'm Jamel Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section.

I'm John Gans. I'm a columnist for Gawker, and I'm also working on a book about American

politics in the early 90s.

Today, obviously, we are talking about our namesake, the movie Clear and Present Danger from 1994,

directed by Philip Noyce, who directed Patriot Games, the previous movie in the Jack Ryan franchise,

and who will go on to direct other movies that we will cover on this podcast.

In the last episode, I said I wasn't too familiar with Philip Noyce's

career, but as I looked into it, ahead of this episode, I realized that I've actually

seen a bunch of his movies, and he, it's very much a 90s, you know, thriller director. So

we'll dive into more of this stuff later. But before we get to the conversation about noise or about this

movie, let's talk about what happened on the day this movie was released. This movie came out

on August 3rd, 1994. We both have a copy of the New York Times from that day in the headlines, I think are actually

kind of relevant to the movie.

John, how about you take it?

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