I got responses from both Steven Johnson and Doug Saunders, which was a bit surprising. My previous experience of writers actually replying to letters critical of them was previously limited to a flustered dismissal from some editor at Shift who had managed to ignore all of the points I made in the letter.

But both more or less agreed. Saunders responded to my letter, saying that he had already written an article about the Pentagon's relationship with Hollywood, and that he was taking a different tack this week.

Johnson also seemed to be fairly forthcoming to my points, though in this case I can't even call myself an amateur, so "points" might be a bit strong.