Is the Lioness Program Real? Discover the True Story Behind ‘Lioness’

Taylor Sheridan has crafted a unique niche by merging fiction with real American experiences, and his Paramount+ series ‘Lioness’ exemplifies this trend. As viewers watch Zoe Saldaña lead a team of undercover agents, a common question arises: is the Lioness program based on reality?

The answer is nuanced, revealing a story that is as intriguing as the dramatized version presented on screen.

Originally named ‘Special Ops: Lioness,’ the series draws inspiration from an authentic U.S. military initiative that emerged in the early 2000s. The Marine Corps established teams of female Marines, known as Task Force Lioness, to engage with women who might be involved in terrorist activities. This initiative was not a CIA creation but a tactical response developed during the Iraq War.

The U.S. Marine Corps initiated Team Lioness in 2003 to address challenges faced at checkpoints in Iraq, where cultural norms made it difficult for male service members to search Iraqi women. Insurgents began exploiting this gap by using women to transport weapons and contraband, prompting the need for female Marines to fill this role.

These female Marines volunteered to work alongside combat units, enabling necessary searches to be conducted. The Army later adopted similar teams, extending the program’s reach to Afghanistan. The real Team Lioness operated from approximately 2003 to 2004 before evolving into what became known as female engagement teams.

In contrast to the espionage-heavy narrative of ‘Lioness,’ the actual program focused on ground-level checkpoint operations rather than long-term infiltration missions. The real Lionesses typically worked in small groups with infantry or combat units, conducting searches of women and children at checkpoints for weapons, money, and other illicit items.

Their roles extended beyond physical searches; they engaged with local women, gathered intelligence, and sought to build trust in communities where male troops had limited access. Some members even trained local women to perform security searches independently.

The Lioness program utilized female Marines at checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan to search women and apprehend those involved in terrorist activities, as male Marines could not interact with female civilians without breaching cultural sensitivities. The show’s writers clearly drew from this premise, albeit taking it in a more dramatic direction.

While the name Lioness originates from the Marine Corps’ Task Force, the portrayal of operatives in the series is more influenced by Female Engagement Teams, first utilized in Afghanistan. Sheridan effectively merged two related but distinct real-world programs into a single fictional unit for narrative purposes.

The divergence between the show and reality becomes most apparent here. The genuine Lioness program was not a covert CIA operation but one developed by the U.S. Marine Corps, initially involving only female Marines, with the Army later establishing its own teams.

In ‘Lioness,’ Saldaña’s character Joe is depicted as the station chief of a covert CIA operation, collaborating with Nicole Kidman’s character to execute deep-cover missions against terrorist organizations. The official Paramount+ synopsis describes the show as based on a real-life CIA program that follows Cruz Manuelos, a young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to dismantle a terrorist organization from within.

This framing is where creative liberties become evident. There is no record of the real Lioness Task Force operating under CIA supervision or in collaboration with the agency in any official capacity, although some coordination likely occurred due to its intelligence-gathering role. The show imagines a scenario where this real program is integrated into a CIA-led black ops division, complete with assassination missions and extensive undercover assignments.

Even media outlets discussing intelligence culture have highlighted the disparity between Hollywood and reality. The series heavily leans into popular misconceptions about the CIA’s role in counterterrorism, straying further from reality while providing engaging entertainment. This tension between dramatized spycraft and actual tradecraft is what critics have found both exhilarating and occasionally frustrating about the series.

The true history of the Lioness program is equally captivating, particularly regarding its eventual discontinuation. The narrative of the real women who inspired ‘Lioness’ includes the program’s phasing out as military strategies evolved. The Female Engagement Team model that emerged from Task Force Lioness became a more formalized successor, broadening its mission beyond checkpoint searches to encompass community engagement.

For fans of ‘Lioness,’ understanding this historical context enriches the appreciation of what Saldaña, Kidman, and Laysla De Oliveira portray on screen. It also clarifies why some veterans and former Lioness team members have expressed concerns about the show’s dramatic reinterpretation of their actual experiences. The real women who served as Marines and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were not conducting black ops against terrorist financiers; they were navigating a quieter yet equally perilous frontline reality.

As Season 3 delves even deeper into the fictional Lioness program’s covert operations, one wonders how much further the show can diverge from the real Task Force Lioness before it loses its grounding in reality.