Ex-CIA officer reveals what is fake in Paramount+ spy thriller 'Lioness'

Ever since Lioness debuted on Paramount+, security experts have sharply criticized several aspects of the series.

Christina Hillsberg, a former CIA intelligence officer, now talks to People to set the record straight about what she said the show got wrong.

Start with the Lioness itself.

In the series, it was depicted as a secret CIA program of elite undercover women agents.

However, in reality, Team Lioness was a project of the U.S. Army during the Iraq War, where men could not search areas where local Iraqi women were present; here, the female soldiers came in.

Importantly, the soldiers were not necessarily drawn from special forces. Instead, most were drawn from desk jobs in the military.

Hillsberg said, “To tell a story that has nothing to do with them, has nothing to do with their history, that’s where they feel wronged."

Moreover, the series shows Lionesses as skillful, but the former CIA officer revealed that, in real life, most officers do not even carry arms.

However, they do receive defense training.

“It really is a lot more soft skills than people realize. The pen is mightier than the sword,” she added.

Lioness is streaming on Paramount+.