Theme music for waterboarding?

As you may know, I'm in the film and video business.

A composer who creates music for some of our shows called today and told me about a phone conference he had with an ad agency who represents the CIA. Seems the CIA needed some music for a project they were working on, and they wanted an estimate from the composer. The composer had a lot of the usual questions: what was the piece about; what kind of tempo; what style of music; how contemporary?

The CIA rep would not reveal the subject of the video which would accompany the music. He said, "I can't really tell you anything about the piece. Just that we'll know the right music when we hear it."

The composer begged for a crumb of information that would serve to inspire or inform him about what the music should sound like. The CIA rep was adamant that he couldn't reveal that information.

So, in the hopes of using humor to pry some info, the composer said: "What is this theme music for waterboarding or something?"

The CIA representative said: "Just send us an estimate," and hung up.

In a later conversation with the ad rep, the composer asked, "So do you think I messed up my chances of getting that job?"

The ad rep said: "You just better hope you don' t get waterboarded."