AT THE TOP OF THE GOSSIP LIST: A closer look at what the CIA’s venture capital arm is doing with its money, the Secretary of the Navy is shuffling some seats on deck and not everybody loves the Blue Angels.
FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD (IDEA): A recent story in Fortune drills down on the CIA-backed venture capital firm In-Q-Tel. The article starts by mentioning the “Molar Mic,” a device that fits over a user’s back tooth and transmits audio signals to those wearing it by vibrating the nerve of their inner ear. The device is manufactured by a company called Integrated Tactical Technologies, known as “iT2.” Company CEO, Peter Hadrovic, sheepishly won’t say who he is selling the device to – but does say it wouldn’t exist without In-Q-Tel. The CIA’s innovative investment outfit has been around for more than a quarter century and counts among its most successful financial investments Palantir, Anduril and Google Earth. Fortune figures In-Q-Tel sits on about $1 billion in assets. Former senior intelligence officer Sue Gordon, one of those involved in launching the pioneering venture capital fund, still has a napkin from the Off The Record bar located at the Hay Adams hotel near the White House, where she and others present at the creation of the venture firm noodled possible names for the organization. She says she insisted that the title contain “Q” – to leverage the coolest part of the James Bond franchise. (Insider tip: In-Q-Tel’s former CEO Chris Darby was honored at this year’s Cipher Brief HONORS Dinner.)
FUTURE WARS FEATURE BUGS: Since we’re all business-minded about national security, we thought it was interesting that Reuters recently published a story featuring Gundbert Scher, the co-founder of the booming German defense startup, Helsing. According to Scherf, monumental change is afoot in Europe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Germany and other European nations have been inspired to amp up their defense game. Among the projects under development that are cited in piece: work on cyborg cockroaches that can be equipped with specialized miniature backpacks that enable real-time data collection via cameras.” We just wonder though, can cyber exterminators be far behind?
INTRAMURAL WARFIGHTING IN THE PENTAGON: There is a long tradition of various uniformed services in the Department of Defense fighting with each other – but we spotted a recent report about some single-service jousting that’s new to us. According to Politico, Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, is making some moves before his yet-to-be-confirmed Under Secretary – Hung Cao is onboard. Phelan and his chief of staff have reportedly reassigned people who would normally be expected to help a new Under Secretary get his sea legs. Sources told Politico that things are being re-wired so that decisions that were once made by the Navy Department’s #2 – now must go to the #1. Why? Not sure. The Secretary’s spokesman denies the moves are being made in order to undercut the authority of the Under Secretary’s position, calling that notion “completely untrue.” We’ll see how this one plays out.
MIGHT JAG GET A RE-TRIAL? Put us down for doubtful – but David James Elliott, who played Navy lawyer Harmon Rabb in the TV series JAG years ago, recently hinted that there might be a revival of the show. Elliot starred in the series for ten years – but it went off the air in 2005. He got a question at Comic-Con (the self-described premier event for all things comics and popular art) last week about whether the show might return. To our ears, his answer lacked conviction. “I mean, there’s always a chance,” he said. Adding that showrunner Don Bellisario “is still alive. I mean, it’s his 90th birthday coming up.” While JAG has been off the air for twenty years – it’s spinoff: NCIS – in all its various forms continues to proliferate across a variety of network schedules.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
SAY WHAT? The folks at Military Times provided a helpful explainer this week on the how and why of some guttural sayings within the uniformed services. Army personnel often shout “hooah” – which some sources think is short for (or meant to convey): “Heard, Understood, Acknowledged.” The Marines, on the other hand, sometimes exclaim “Oorah” which may (or may not) have grown from Marine recon personnel mimicking submarine dive klaxons that kind of sound like “Aarugha.” (We’re not entirely buying that one.) Then there is “Hooyah” which (according to Military Times) some Navy SEALS, divers and EOD teams say to their signal commitment. All of which has us wondering. How come the Air Force and the Space Force don’t have equivalents? Or maybe they do – but if you shout into the void of space – no one hears. Let us know if you have any ideas on that.
CLOSE TIES: When you are a senior military official, everyone has their eyes on you. Just as Chief Master Sargeant of the Air Force David Flosi who issued a public apology recently, after a photo of him presenting an airman with a commemorative coin went viral for the wrong reason. You see, Flosi was wearing his service dress blue uniform and a lot of people got their shorts in a knot because his necktie stopped an inch or two above his belt. Air Force regulation requires that ties “must cover a portion of the belt buckle but cannot extend below the bottom of the belt buckle.” Fortunately, Air Force uniform regs do not extend to the Commander in Chief who favors near floor length ties. In his case, Flosi was not flustered and apologized in a post saying: “I’ll do better as I know…STANDARDS MATTER!!”
CAT GET YOUR TONGUE? A Seattle woman has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels claiming they have violated her right of free speech. The issue at hand was Lauren Ann Lombardi’s pet cat, Layla. It seems that in 2023 and again in 2024 the Blue Angels conducted flight demonstrations in Seattle - the noise of which Lombardi says terrorized her feline friend who she looked on as her “daughter.” In her lawsuit, Lombardi said the cat was subjected to “auditory carpet bombing” which proved too much for the cat’s heart, eventually leading to Layla’s death. Ms. Lombardi took to social media telling the Navy “Nobody gives a (expletive) about your stupid little planes.” After a series of posts – some launching a petition calling for the Blue Angels to be banned from flying over Seattle – someone handling the Blue Angel’s Instagram account allegedly blocked Lombardi – and she sued.
IT WOULD BE A CAT-ASTROPHE IF WE RAN OUT OF GOOD GOSSIP. SEND YOUR NEWS TIPS TO: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com
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