Your Trusted Source for National Security News & Analysis

December 7th, 2024 | 8:35 PM ET

The Dead Drop

noun

  1. A location to secretly pass information without a face-to-face meeting.

Each week we hope to give our readers tidbits of gossip from the world of national security and intelligence. The Dead Drop is a source of fun or intriguing news you can’t get anywhere else.

Got a tip for us? Email us at [email protected] and share the scoop. We promise to protect our sources and methods.

Below is our recent intelligence collection:

Dead Drop: December 6

WAR-A-THON: The latest in a long string of things we have learned from watching video clips posted by Russian Media Monitor Julia Davis is that Putin’s State TV buddies are running tele-a-thons to help crowd fund the war in Ukraine. Host Vladimir Solovyov recently had on as a guest Jackson Hinkle an American “influencer” to chat about how wonderful people like Mike Flynn and Tulsi Gabbard are and to express his hope that Russia defeats Ukraine. In the background a tote board was adding up the rubles pouring in to help buy “scopes, communications devices and everything [...] More

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Dead Drop November 29

PROSPECT 2025: Much was said during the recent presidential election about the Heritage Foundation publication “Project 2025.” The 920 page document called Mandate, published in April 2023, had […] More

Dead Drop: November 22

BUOYS WILL BE BUOYS:  China’s Ministry of State Security is worried that foreign intelligence agencies may be trying to spy on their country’s submarine fleet. […] More

Dead Drop Archive

Dead Drop: November 15

STAYING OUT OF THE LINE OF FIRE: The Dead Drop generally tries to steer clear of politics for oh so many reasons. Actually, just one really […] More

Dead Drop: November 8

WHAT WOULD THE EXPERTS SAY:  Just after the U.S. presidential election, there was much speculation about how the next Trump administration will impact U.S. national […] More

Dead Drop: November 1

THEY’RE COMING FOR YOUR BRAIN: (well, sort of…)It got our attention this week when former senior CIA officers Dave Pitts and J.D. Maddox made a […] More

Dead Drop: October 25

A RECYCLED RUNWAY PROGRAM: While China seems determined to create new military bases in the Pacific – by making its own islands in the South China […] More

Dead Drop: October 18

GETTING BUZZED FOR 17 DAYS STRAIGHT:  No, this is not a story about a former CIA station chief…. though it is about Langley.  Not the one […] More

Dead Drop: October 11

WHAT HAPPENED TO VLAD: CIA Director Bill Burns turned up last week for The Cipher Brief Threat Conference in Sea Island, GA.  As you may […] More

Dead Drop: October 4

THERE IS NOTHING CERTAIN EXCEPT DEATH AND TAXES:  So said (allegedly), Ben Franklin. But you know who would agree with him?  Americans who are held hostage […] More

Dead Drop: September 27

SHAMELESS (Self-Promotion): A look behind-the-scenes at life at The Cipher Brief Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher […] More

Dead Drop: September 20

RT AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD MONTH: The Russian propaganda arm RT (formerly known as Russia Today) is not having a very good […] More

Dead Drop: September 13

GOOD OLD USA: It’s exhausting following all the detail in various U.S. Department of Justice releases recently regarding Russian efforts to interfere in the 2023 U.S. […] More

Dead Drop: September 6

NOC IS CON SPELLED BACKWARDS: There was a long, convoluted, and confusing story in the Wall Street Journal recently titled, “A Fake Spy, Russian Oil and $1 Million […] More

Dead Drop: August 30

GETTING AHEAD OF THE DEEP SECRETS STORY:  Journalist Zach Dorfman, who has written for a variety of publications ranging from Politico to Rolling Stone, posted on […] More

Dead Drop: August 23

DON’T GO RUSSIAN TO JUDGMENT:  Last we heard, no charges had been filed – but folks in Rappahannock County, Virginia took notice when a large number of FBI […] More

Dead Drop August 16

IT’S A HARD NOC LIFE: By its nature, the work of the Central Intelligence Agency is often shrouded in the cloak of secrecy.  And few secrets […] More

Dead Drop: August 9

MORE THAN STARS ON A WALL:  Fifty years ago, The Central Intelligence Agency first dedicated a memorial wall in their Langley, Virginia headquarters with 31 stars […] More

Dead Drop: August 2

THE SICK (SPY) MAN OF EUROPE:  Here is an odd one.  The Times newspaper from the UK reports that the German intelligence service, BND, is having a hard […] More

Dead Drop: July 26

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT?  No, not that one. We missed this with all of the focus around events in Butler, PA, but various media […] More

Dead Drop: July 19

NOT SO ‘SPOOKY’ NEIGHBORS: The CBS Saturday Morning show recently featured video of a home in northern Virginia that was purchased by Margaret Scattergood and Florence Thomas in […] More

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