In Episode 103, Ali uses a computer game to communicate with the rest of his terror cell in Syria from his hideout in Paris. This plot point is realistic, given that gaming communications are known to have been on the intelligence community's radar. In 2015, shortly after the November 13, terror attacks in Paris, France, Belgian authorities asserted that Sony's PlayStation 4 game console might have been used by members of terrorist group ISIS to plan the attack. Two years prior to this claim, documents leaked to the press by former CIA officer Edward Snowden disclosed that NSA, CIA and British intelligence operatives had insinuated themselves into the online communities of popular games World of Warcraft and Second Life as a means of mining user data and communications for intelligence.
The names of the couple who introduce themselves to Victor at 13:18, Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois, are taken from Tennessee Williams' classic play, "A Streetcar Named Desire."
Though both the US Department of Defense and the CIA are known to have conducted drone strikes, the CIA's drone program has traditionally been covert, which means it remains publicly unacknowledged by the agency.
The depiction of workplace realities for drone pilots and operators in 'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' is very similar to the conditions described in a 2015 article in the Los Angeles Times. According to the report, US military air bases (Creech Air Force Base included) employed approximately 1,066 drone pilots in 2015. Those pilots were estimated to work up to 12 hours per day from the confines of dark, temperature-controlled trailers in the desert.
The sentiment Sandrine tries to convey to Jack, when she says, "In France, there are no hyphenates," is that French societal norms often work to disenfranchise immigrants and individuals with diverse backgrounds living in France. This notion was well publicized in America after France's 2018 World Cup victory sparked a heated debate between late-night TV show host Trevor Noah and French Ambassador to the U.S. Gérard Araud.