In the revealing 24 minutes of the PBS video documentary The Secret Government available for free viewing below, host Bill Moyers exposes the inner workings of a secret government much more vast that most people would ever imagine. Though originally broadcast in 1987, it is even more relevant today. Interviews with respected top military, intelligence, and government insiders reveal both the history and secret objectives of powerful groups in the hidden shadows of our government.
Writing
Moyers' narration—measured, furious, impossible to dismiss as hysteria.
Editing
Cold archival footage stitched into something genuinely alarming.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months after the Iran-Contra hearings concluded, this became a touchstone for left-leaning skepticism of Reagan's foreign policy—and a blueprint for how PBS once funded genuinely adversarial journalism.
Bill Moyers later said networks refused to air follow-up documentaries; the 'secret government' he exposed apparently included television executives who preferred not to discuss their own complicity.
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