Posted: Sun., Aug. 20, 2006, 4:15pm PT
Spy docu sparks spat
Cabler, author sparring over 'Triple Cross'
The National Geographic Channel is going ahead with plans to broadcast "Triple Cross: Bin Laden's Spy in America" on Aug. 28 despite the objections of author Peter Lance, whose book was the basis of the docu.
Lance claims that it does not reflect the accusations in his book, which ReganBooks will release in September, that law-enforcement officials were negligent in tracing Ali Mohamed, an Al Qaeda agent in the U.S. for years before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"If they go to air with a documentary that dilutes the essence of my five-year investigation, they rushed to judgment to make an air date," said Lance, a former ABC News correspondent and the winner of five Emmys. "They hijacked my work."
John Ford, exec VP of programming for NGC, said he was uncomfortable with some of Lance's conclusions. "We worked closely with Peter, but it was never supposed to be based solely on (his book) 'Triple Cross.'
"It's also based on our own independent research," he said. "I think he wants this show to reflect his own personal conclusions."
In a press release last week announcing the Aug. 28 air date, NGC describes Mohamed as a "master spy" who had "convinced the CIA to hire him, worked for the FBI as an informant and even served in the U.S. Army.... But all the while, he was 'triple crossing' U.S. officials, feeding critical details to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations."
The falling out over the doc began in June, when the author was not provided transcripts of on-camera interviews with several law-enforcement figures whom his book will criticize.
Though Lance's contract said he could use any of the producers' research for his book, he said the producers acceded to the demands by the three officials -- FBI agent Jack Cloonan, former Gotham U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and NYPD Det. Tommy Corrigan -- that he not be provided with their interviews.
A flurry of combative correspondence began, and Lance ultimately received the transcripts in July. But by that time, as he wrote in a June 19 letter to Ford, he felt the doc's script "skews the documentary so much in favor of the feds that it actually distorts the factual story." FBI agent Cloonan, he wrote, "appears to be the editorial voice of the project and leaves out key story points about his own negligence in the bin Laden squad."
Now that Lance has the transcripts, the sticking points between the two sides are Lance's refusal to tape any interviews unless NGC lets him screen the current version of the doc and NGC's refusal to do so unless he first signs an agreement that bars him from publicly criticizing the show.
Ford accused Lance of "using this controversy to promote his book."
Lance denies the charge and says he is still willing to smooth things out before the doc's preem next Monday. "I'm willing to participate in the process, if they're willing to make the changes in the name of accuracy," he said.
