Communist Amerika

Although the United States passionately feared a communist takeover, there is surprisingly little science fiction that imagines what the United States would be like under communism. During the Cold War, there were a lot of movies about communist spies and communist agents and communist invasions, but few stories tried to grapple with what the United States would look like in a long-term communist scenario. The propaganda movie Red Nightmare from 1962, with its grim portrait of small town commie USA, gestured at this idea a little bit. But it wasn't really until the 1980s with the miniseries Amerika that we saw a fully-fledged communist USA. The miniseries imagines what the United States would be like 10 years after the Soviets invade in the late 1980s. Hint: It's evil and must be stopped.

Two books from the 1990s offer slightly more plausible scenarios. In Maureen Mchugh's China Mountain Zhang, the United States suffers an economic collapse in the 21st century, followed by a revolution led by Chinese communists. China has become an economic superpower, while America founders through its own cultural revolution. And in the British short story collection Back In The USSA, Theodore Roosevelt is reelected as a progressive candidate in 1912, thus setting in motion a series of events that lead to a people's revolution in the United States in 1917. Russia, however, remains Czarist. It's a fun thought experiment for people who like to geek out about early 20th century American progressive politics.

Could it happen?
It's telling that Back In The USSA has to reach so far back in history to make its scenario plausible. And McHugh posits a future disaster. The point is that this scenario is an extreme deviation from the country's current trajectory. Sure, anything could happen – there are always black swans. But this possibility feels more like a thought experiment than a genuine possibility.

Fascist Fragments

Americans have feared a fascist takeover perhaps as much as they have feared communism in the past. In fact, the two are often lumped together in political polemics. But in science fiction, Philip K Dick's early 1960s novel The Man In The High Castle set the standard for fantasies of a fascist takeover. In Dick's vision, FDR is assassinated early in his presidency, which results in a weak government that fails to pull the country out of the Depression. So the United States doesn't have the economic or industrial capacity to aid the Allies, Germany conquers Europe, Japan conquers the Pacific, and the United States is broken up and divided among its conquerors. Parts of the nation remain free, parts go to Germany, and most of the West Coast goes to Japan.

Other fantasies about a fascist United States also imagine the country as having broken up. Even the recent television show Jericho depicts (at one point in the series) a post-nuclear apocalypse in the U.S. resulting in its fragmentation into small, authoritarian regions. Obviously there are some alternate histories that imagine a unified United States going fascist, but the idea of a fragmented country falling prey to authoritarians is a common one.

Could it happen?
The United States has sometimes flirted with authoritarianism. Presidents like FDR and Richard Nixon consolidated so much power that many historians would call them proto-fascist. The fact that the United States does not have a parliamentary democracy often makes it appear to resemble nations whose leadership is confined to a small cadre. However, the country also has a history of correcting itself when power is too closely tied to one group. Term limits were set for presidents after FDR died, and the Watergate scandal destroyed Nixon's regime. The question is, would this self-correcting mechanism remain healthy if the country fragmented into smaller pieces? The Man In The High Castle, even after all these years, still makes a persuasive case that a divided America could become fascist.

Corporate Feudalism

Many cyberpunk stories are predicated on the idea that in the near future the United States will be ruled by corporations who are more powerful than governments. This is the premise in William Gibson's classic Neuromancer, Marge Piercy's post-cyberpunk He, She, and It, and is even an important idea in the TV show Fringe. Although a shell of the U.S. Government might remain intact in these scenarios, true power is held by multinationals. Neal Stephenson does a terrific job showing what this would be like in his novel The Diamond Age. Corporations create enclaves with their own cultural norms that function as city-states. (One such enclave adopts Victorian social values and fashions, for example.)

This situation leads to a scenario like feudalism because the corporations become like kingdoms, with an executive class serving as aristocrats and workers as serfs. The world is fragmented economically and culturally, but in many versions of this story the governments remain the same. Still, these governments are more ceremonial than anything else. The world is run by capitalists, not politicians.

Could it really happen?
As we see in the TV show Fringe, corporate feudalism seems as if it has already happened. Although the show is not set in the future, the corporation Massive Dynamic clearly has as much power as the government, if not more. Wealthy companies like Google and Microsoft have more money than many nations. If Google merged with Northrop Grumman and bought Blackwater, could they take over the U.S. Government? Sounds a helluva lot more plausible than a communist revolution.

Since we still live in a democratic society, go ahead and exercise your right to vote. Take our poll and tell the world what you think is going to happen to the U.S. Government.

Estimate of the Situation (1948)
Prepared by: The United States Air Force’s Project Sign
Contents: During its single year of existence, Sign investigated reports of UFO phenomena. Estimate of the Situation stated that, while the existence of alien saucers could be neither confirmed or denied, most Sign personnel believed that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was the most likely explanation for the phenomena. Since the technology reported by UFO observers was not currently available on Earth, it was likely of extraterrestrial origin, a possibility many in intelligence circles were willing to accept.
Proof of Alien Life? Critics of the Estimate note that the report does not cite any physical evidence of extraplanetary technology (although some claim that the report of physical evidence was censored). But the Air Force was worried enough about the Estimate that it was long suppressed, with officials denying that such a report ever existed. And when members of Sign continued to stand by their extraterrestrial hypothesis, the project was dissolved and its members assigned to other projects.

The Project Magnet Report (1952)
Prepared by: The Canadian Department of Transportation
Contents: The Department of Transportation set up Project Magnet to determine whether extraterrestrial vehicles could be exploiting the Earth’s magnetic field as a method of propulsion. The 1952 Project Magnet report rejected the idea that UFO sightings could be explained as balloons, conventional aircraft, or optical illusions. Given the apparent size and technological capabilities of the crafts, the report concluded:

It appears then, that we are faced with a substantial probability of the real existence of extra-terrestrial vehicles, regardless of whether or not they fit into our scheme of things. Such vehicles of necessity must use a technology considerably in advance of what we have. It is therefore submitted that the next step in this investigation should be a substantial effort towards the acquisition of this technology, which would without doubt be of great value to us.

Proof of Alien Life? Two days after Project Magnet’s observational facility recorded what it believed to be gravimetric variation consistent with an alien vehicle, the Canadian Department of Transportation abruptly ended the program in light of unwanted publicity. The DOT claimed it was because the research was turning up nothing new, but it could be because its secret project wasn’t so secret anymore.

Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 (1954)
Prepared by: The US Air Force’s Project Blue Book
Contents: After the dissolution of Project Sign and its UFO-debunking successor Project Grudge, Project Blue Book was tasked with the Air Force’s investigation into UFO phenomena. Special Report No. 14 classified various UFO phenomena and described the characteristics between known phenomena – which Blue Book could explain – and “unknown” phenomena, which it could not. Most significantly, the report explains that the reports in unknown phenomena are, in fact, highly detailed and tend to feature an unusually large number of witnesses who are especially competent to report on such phenomena (such as airline pilots and military personnel), as well as corroborating evidence, such as photographs and radar contact. The report indicated that 22% of the cases were unknown.
Proof of Alien Life? The Air Force tried to downplay the percentage of unknowns, and even claimed the report proved that UFOs were not extraterrestrial in origin. But some critics found the high number of well-reported unknowns alarming. Project Blue Book would continue investigating reports of UFOs until 1969, when the Air Force ended its research into UFO phenomena.

UFO Hypothesis and Survival Questions (1968)
Prepared by: The US National Security Agency
Contents: This document explores and rejects the hypotheses that all UFO sightings can be explained as either hoaxes, hallucinations, natural phenomena, or secret Earth projects. It goes on to discuss the implications of extraterrestrial life forms visiting Earth, noting that if UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin, these close encounters could herald humanity’s eventual conquest. It even goes so far as to list how a technologically inferior species could survive and maintain its identity in the face of an alien conqueror. The bottom line is that not knowing the origin of these phenomena presents a risk to national (and perhaps global) security, and that the US should treat the investigation into UFO phenomena with the same urgency that one would treat a cry of “rattlesnake”:

Investigation would become an intensive emergency action to isolate the threat and to determine it’s precise nature – It would be geared to developing adequate defensive measures in a minimum amount of time. It would seem a little more of this survival attitude is called for in dealing with the UFO problem.

Proof of Alien Life? The NSA has stated that this document should not be taken as evidence of the NSA’s belief in alien life, but it does indicate that it does suggest that at least some at the NSA were open to the possibility and believed were deeply disturbed that these potentially dangerous phenomena were left unexplained.

Tehran Incident Documents (1976-1978)
Prepared by: The US Department of Defense and Captain Henry S. Shields, HQ USAFE/INOMP
Contents: The article provides and account of the 1976 Tehran UFO incident, when two F-4 Phantom jet fighters were sent to investigate reports of a UFO spotted over Tehran. Each F-4 lost instrument and communication capability as it approached the object, only to find them restored once they retreated. One F-4 attempted to fire on the object, but its weapons systems malfunctioned. The object did not appear on any surveillance instruments, although several visual sightings did occur. In a classified article for MIJI Quarterly on the incident, Captain Shields writes:

No additional information or explanation of the strange events has been forthcoming; the story will be filed away and probably forgotten, but it makes interesting, and possibly disturbing, reading.

Proof of Alien Life? One of the pilots certainly thought so. Parviz Jafari of the Imperial Iranian Air Force has publicly demanded a worldwide investigation into UFO phenomena as a result of his encounter. The Iranian Air Force Deputy Commander, Lieutenant General Abdollah Azarbarzin reported the incident to the US Military Assistance Advisory Group in Tehran, stating that the UFO outperformed any known human aircraft. This is just one of many reported encounters that the US government has not been able to explain.

CIA Officials Conducting “Unofficial” Research (1976)
Prepared by: Individuals within the US CIA’s Domestic Collection Division
Contents: In response to a request for information on CIA UFO research, someone within the CIA wrote that some within the agency monitor and investigate UFO phenomena, albeit on an unofficial basis:

It does not seem that the government has any formal program in progress for the identification/solution of the UFO phenomena. Dr [censored] feel that the efforts of independent researchers, [censored], are vital for further progress in this area. At the present time, there are offices and personnel within the Agency who are monitoring the UFO phenomena, but again, this is not currently on an official basis. Dr [censored] feels that the best approach would be to keep in touch with and in fact develop reporting channels in this area to keep the Agency/community informed of any new developments. In particular, any information which might indicate a threat potential would be of interest, as would specific indications of foreign developments or applications of UFO related research.

A second letter confirms that the DCD was, in fact, collecting UFO-related information:

At a recent meeting to evaluate some material from [censored] you mentioned a personal interest in the UFO phenomenon. As you may recall, I mentioned my own interest in the subject as well as the fact that DCD had been receiving UFO related material from many of our S&T sources who are presently conducting related research. These scientists include some who have been associated with the Agency for years and who credentials remove them from the “nut variety.”

Proof of Alien Life? Any information related to UFO phenomena in these documents is censored, but it indicates that many CIA employees and contractors were working to better understand the UFO phenomena, even if their work wasn’t officially on the books.

The CIA’s Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90 (2002)
Prepared by: Gerald Haines, official CIA historian
Content: In an article for Studies in Intelligence, Haines outlines the CIA’s involvement in UFO research. The CIA admits that it had conducted UFO research independent of the Air Force’s research, that it continued this research after the dissolution of Project Blue Book (which the CIA had a hand in), and that the Agency had deliberately concealed its interest in UFO phenomena from the public.
Proof of Alien Life? The article claims that the Agency maintained only a “low-key interest” in UFOs, which largely waned after the Cold War. It did admit, however, that some individuals within the CIA did take an active interest in the “parapsychology and psychic phenomena associated with UFO sightings.”

Comprehensive Catalog of 1,500 Project Blue Book UFO Unknowns (2003)
Prepared by: Fund for UFO Research (FUROR), based on Blue Book catalog
Content: Although not itself a government document, this document lists the 1,500 declassified UFO reports that Project Blue Book was unable to explain, as well as notes from Blue Book members (it is worth noting that FUROR and Project Blue Book use different criteria, and that Blue Book itself reported only 701 unknowns by its dissolution).
Proof of Alien Life? As with many Blue Book reports, the catalog provides no actual evidence of extraterrestrial life, but only suggests that some incidents require further investigation.

[Blue Book Archive]
[The Black Vault]
[UFOs Are Real: Extraterrestrial Encounters Documented by the U.S. Government]

Officials speaking to the Washington Post said this new policy was crucial in preventing terrorism.

According to the Post: Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy." In a statement submitted to [Senator Russell] Feingold for a June hearing on the issue, he noted that the executive branch has long had "plenary authority to conduct routine searches and seizures at the border without probable cause or a warrant" to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the country.

What I find bizarre about this whole thing, aside from the idea that anybody's computer can be commandeered at the border, is the idea that these laptops are being "detained," as if they were sentient entities who were being interrogated. Pretty soon, robots are going to be detained too, and that may be the issue that gives us robot civil rights 100 years from now.

Laptops May Be Detained [MSNBC republishing Washington Post]

• Show creator Chris Carter hadn't had much success in television writing, having written mostly comedies and worked for The Disney Channel, before he was offered a chance to create shows for Fox.
• Carter was inspired to delve into the mysterious world of The X-Files by both the Watergate scandal, the old television show Kolchack: The Night Stalker, and a report that was circulating around 1992 that said 3.7 Americans "may have been abducted by aliens."
• Originally, Fox executives wanted someone blonder with big boobs instead of Gillian Anderson. Thankfully they didn't win that fight.
• The company Carter formed to run the production was called Ten Thirteen Productions, after his October 13th birthday. Sound Designer Thierry Couturier's son says the "I made this" over the company logo.
• Fox left Carter and his production team alone for the most part during the first season because they were putting a lot of time and effort into The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Now, as a Bruce Campbell fan, I have to say I loved that show, and I'm glad it was able to take some heat off of The X-Files.
• The writing staff didn't want to follow Carter's all-alien abduction storylines, especially since the UFO show Sightings was airing on Fox. As a result, the show "Squeeze" with the creepy guy who ate livers, hibernated for 30 years and had Plastic Man like stretching abilities became a template for the "freak of the week" style the show eventually adopted.
• Besides the pilot episode, Carter also wrote "Space" during the first season, which was about a ghost in the Space Shuttle program. It was extremely expensive to make, and Carter calls it "one of the worst hours ever produced for the show."
• The show often fought for its life during the first season, having low ratings and a Friday night timeslot. Despite finishing 102nd out of the 118 programs in the Nielsens that year, it was picked up for a second season. This is why the season one finale "The Erlenmeyer Flask" has the X-Files being shut down, and Mulder and Scully being reassigned.
• The X-Files' opening sequence was nominated for an Emmy, and the theme song was remixed and became a hit in dance clubs in the UK, Australia, and France.
• The legendary writing team of Morgan and Wong, who were also co-executive producers, wrote many of the best episodes in the first season, although they left in season two to produce their own show Space: Above and Beyond. Sadly it tanked after one season, although Morgan and Wong didn't return to The X-Files until season four.
• The show didn't actually show an alien until the "Little Green Men" episode in season two.
• Gillian Anderson was pregnant throughout season two, and the producers decided to hide the fact by having her behind a desk or a medical exam table most of the time. It helped that she'd been transferred to Quantico to teach.
• By the end of season two, the show had climbed to 64th out of 141, although it was gaining cult status and spreading fast by word of mouth. The show had also spread beyond the U.S. borders, and was one of the most popular TV shows in the world, outside of the country.
• The show was also named the best show on TV by Entertainment Weekly that year, and also won a Golden Globe for best drama.
• However, the show was still so budget strapped that they couldn't afford location filming, and in the episode "Ascension," a rock quarry had to be painted to look like the desert of the American Southwest.
• Season three brought on a cavalcade of comedy, and a slew of guest stars including Alex Trebek, Jesse Ventura, Giovanni Ribisi, J.T. Charles Nelson Reilly, Walsh, R. Lee Ermey and Jack Black.
• Guest star Peter Boyle won an Emmy for his portrayal of a man who could predict death in the episode Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, and the show also won for best writing.
• The show went on to win five Emmys that year, and Gillian Anderson won a Screen Actors Guild Award. By now The X-Files was here to stay.
• Season four premiered to their highest ratings ever, and Carter's new show Millenium (set in the X-Files universe) was put on Friday nights, so they moved The X-Files to Sunday night.
• By the fall of 1996, it was the most popular show on Fox, and Fox got the rights to broadcast the Superbowl. So, they decided to feature an episode right after the game, and "Leonard Betts" (about the guy who could regrow his body) received the highest ratings ever for an X-Files episode. More awards and kudos followed.
• Season Five opened to even bigger ratings, and the show was supposed to end there and become a series of feature films. However, Fox desperately wanted to keep the show, and worked out a new contract with Carter.
• Carter had been planning a feature film versin of the show ever since season two, and security was so tight that they were sending the script around on red paper, which would make it unable to be photocopied.
• They filmed the X-Files movie, X-Files: Fight the Future, inbetween seasons four and five, although it ended up pushing the start date for season five back, and as a result that season was two episode shorter, with only 20 instead of 22. It was code named "Blackwood" after Algernon Blackwood, a British writer of ghost stories.
• By season five, the two main stars were also becoming popular, and as a result many episodes featured either Scully or Mulder, and not usually both of them together. This was to allow them time to concentrate on other projects.
• Season five also featured episodes written by guest writers, including Stephen King and William Gibson.
• By the end of season five, both Anderson and Duchovny wanted the show to move from Vancouver to Los Angeles (where it was originally supposed to be shot), and so the sets were struck and production moved at the end of the season.
• X-Files: Fight the Future opened in 1998, although it wasn't a smash success. The movie grossed around $189 million worldwide, which recouped their reported $126 million dollar budget (with advertising figured in), but not by much.
• The movie takes place right inbetween seasons five and six, and season six picks up right where the movie left off.
• At the end of season five, the X-Files were once again closed, but then reopened in season six. However, new agents Spender and Fowley were assigned to them, and Mulder and Scully were given a new boss.
• Season six was seen as the "beginning of the end" for several reasons. There were several episodes which hardcore fans considered too comedic, like the gated community episode "Arcadia" or the two-part body hopping episode starring Michael McKean as Morris Fletcher. Also the move from Vancouver to L.A. seemed to alienate fans as well.
• However, the show was Fox's most popular again that year, and pulled in more awards. But, the wheels had been set in motion.
• David Duchovny left the show after season in part due to contract problems and feeling the need to "move on." Scully's role was dialed back as a result, and new agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) were introduced.
• Doggett and Reyes had some good episodes, but the show had lost a lot of it's hardcore fans and was turning into a sinking stone.
• For the season nine episode "The Truth," most of the cast returned and ended the season, and the show, on a cliffhanger. Sadly, they finished third in their timeslot, pulling in less viewers than their original pilot episode.
• In 2001 Fox introduced The Lone Gunmen spinoff show (which I must admit I am a huge fan of), although it only ran one season. The first episode had the unfortunate plot of hijackers trying to fly planes into the World Trade Centers, although it was filmed before 9/11. They were eventually (supposedly, I hope) killed off in season nine of The X-Files.
• The X-Files has a long-lasting legacy, having inspired shows like Smallville, Torchwood, and even Alias. You can buy the entire mammoth nine season set with the Fight the Future movie (but sadly, no Lone Gunmen disc) for just about $150 bucks right now. As a fan, I'll tell you up front that the packaging sucks on this set, but the contents are more than worth it.

National Defense Magazine reports that Niven offered his advice while in a public discussion with his longtime collaborator Jerry Pournelle:

Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants.

"The problem [of hospitals going broke] is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren't going to pay for anything anyway," Niven said.

"Do you know how politically incorrect you are?" Pournelle asked.

"I know it may not be possible to use this solution, but it does work," Niven replied.

Other authors in SIGMA include Greg Bear (Darwin's Radio, Eon), Sage Walker (Wild Cards), and Eric Kotani (Between the Stars).

Science Fiction Mavens Offer Far-Out Homeland Security Advice [National Defense Magazine]