OPINION:
A guy named Ari Chivukula works at the Pentagon as a digital services expert.
His employment wouldn’t be an eye-opener in the least except that while serving in this Department of Defense capacity, Chivukula also maintains his position as co-founder of “Queer Church,” a title that puts him, as his LinkedIn page described, right smack in the pits of the porn industry.
“Queer Church, Sep 2016 — Present,” reads Chivukula’s LinkedIn account. “A queer porn production house; I write/direct/star in films.”
Hmm. One question, if you please: Do taxpayers know about this?
A call to DOD’s public affairs office resulted in a recommendation to email the specific questions about Chivukula to Navy Commander Patrick L. Evans, with Defense Press Operations. Evans acknowledged receipt and will soon respond with information.
Word is Chivukula is up for a new position at the Pentagon, one in which he will provide cloud security for at least a portion of the department. That’s not yet confirmed. Word is, too, that Chivukula’s employment is largely under the radar of top chiefs like Defense Secretary James Mattis. That’s not entirely confirmed yet, either.
Neither is the amount of money taxpayers are currently providing for his digital services.
What is available for all to see, however, is his personal website, complete with self-description, which reads: “I live at the intersection of art, law, and tech. I’m a Digital Service Expert at the Pentagon focused on modernizing cyber warfare tactics and training. I’m a law student shaping the future of internet policy. I’m a co-Founder of the porn production company Queer Church where I write, direct, and act.”
Scroll down a bit and his Queer Church notables include an August 2017 writing, directing and acting gig for “Pizza Roles,” a film “inspired by my experience in the corporate diversity cult of glossy marketing photographs; recently accepted into Dan Savage’s HUMP film festival;” a September 2016 executive producing and acting role in “You’ve Got Tail,” which was an “erotic short [that was] touring internationally, most recently at Frameline (largest queer film festival in the world); and a September 2016-Present position as co-founder and chief operating officer of the Queer Church, alongside Danny Tayara.
Chivukula also currently serves on the board of directors — as the director, since January 2017, and as a member of the screening committee, from January 2016 to January 2017 — for Three Dollar Bill Cinema, where he helps “support and develop Seattle’s preeminent queer film organization” and “evaluate films for the TWIST and Translations film festivals.”
He’s also a pretty smart guy.
Chivukula is currently wrapping up law studies at Berkeley Law School, with a focus on cyber security warfare policy, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Michigan with a degree in computer science in 2013.
But it’s hard to get past his porn past — his porn present — to see the sense of his DOD employment. His hiring has all the makings of a Barack Obama holdover trying to score special interest points.
One of the questions to Evans was who hired Chivuluka. Hopefully, answers will soon come.
Cheryl Chumley may be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter @ckchumley.
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