IN THIS WEEK’S COLLECTION: The head of Australia’s Security Intelligence Organization gets specific about foreign intelligence agencies that are stealing information to the tune of “billions” of dollars, Ukrainian troops keep finding incredibly creative ways to use drones to get them out of the stickiest of situations and the Dead Drop has some summer travel advice for those who want a little more relaxation and a little less risk of being arrested and charged with spying.
A BILLION HERE, A BILLION THERE. PRETTY SOON YOU’RE TALKING REAL MONEY: Mike Burgess, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country’s domestic intelligence agency, said in a recent speech that foreign governments stealing information from Australia are costing the country about $8 billion (USD) a year. Crikey. The Record, quotes him as saying that foreign intelligence services were stealing valuable secrets both by “convincing, coercing or seducing insiders to impart sensitive information — and through technology, most commonly by hacking,” He said that all is not lost – and that “24 significant espionage and foreign interference operations” had been disrupted over the past three years. We were impressed (and a bit skeptical) that a dollar amount could accurately be determined as to the value of the secrets lost. We looked up the annual topline budget for ASIO…and found that (according to public figures) it is about a half billion U.S. dollars – which may be Burgess’s point. Increase my budget and maybe we can cut down on the $8 billion losses.
SUMMER TRAVEL DESTINATIONS TO AVOID: Newsweek quotes Israeli state media as saying that two American citizens have been detained in Iran following the recent 12-day-war on suspicion of spying for Israel. One of the two, a Jewish American from Los Angeles with Iranian roots, has subsequently been released on bail, but the other, a New Yorker, is still in jail. Both were reportedly visiting relatives in Iran when they were swept up in Tehran’s efforts to root out Israeli spies. With varying degrees of emphasis, the U.S. State Department has been warning Americans to avoid travel to Iran since about 1979. But it seems like a particularly good time to make plans to go elsewhere for a while. Iranian authorities announced having arrested around 700 people in an espionage crackdown in early July and at least six were quickly executed.
BIKE TO THE FUTURE. DRONE DROP TURNS TIDE FOR TRAPPED TROOP: In the latest MacGyver-esque success story from Ukraine, a Ukrainian soldier who goes by the call sign “Tankist” reportedly found himself trapped and wounded behind Russian lines near Siversk for about five days. According to press reports, his unit hatched a daring rescue scheme to drop an electric bike weighing about 88 pounds from a drone to help him extricate himself. The first drone with a bike payload was shot down, the second crashed, but the third worked. Tankist hopped onboard and pedaled off roughly 400 meters – and then hit a landmine. But he managed to limp to his buddies and safety. There is video of the whole event. New battlefield uses for drones seem to pop up (or drop down) on a daily basis.
SPEED KILLS: Roskomnadzor, the Russian agency in charge of overseeing and regulating communications in that country, recently blocked access to Speedtest, the internet download and upload speed testing website built by the U.S. firm Ookla. The reason, they said, was fear that Speedtest collects too much information that might expose users to cyberattacks and post a national security threat to Russia. Reuters says that Speedtest, which until recently apparently has been widely used in Russia, is now off limits. They quote officials as saying “Roskomnadzor recommends using trusted Russian services” which seems like an oxymoron to us.
WHO SPEAKS FOR THE SOLDIERS? Going back a long, long time – the chief spokesperson for the U.S. Army has always been a soldier. The Army’s first press officer was a major by the name of Douglas MacArthur in 1916. Maybe you’ve heard of him? More recently, the top spokesman job has been held by general officers. Brigadier General Amanda Azubuike assumed the role as the 38th Chief of Public Affairs for the Army in June 2024. In addition to being a trained public affairs officer, she is a former helicopter pilot and intelligence officer. But Military.com says she was “mostly sidelined after the November election” and “was effectively removed from office after a brief one-year tenure.” In her place, Rebecca Hodson, a civilian who is described as a “veteran of Republican campaign finance in North Carolina” will take over the leadership of Army public communication. To be sure, there will still be plenty of experienced Army communicators backing Hodson up – but the message of placing a civilian political operative in the post is significant. We’re hearing that the Navy too, many be in for some sea change. The Navy’s top spokesman, Rear Admiral Ryan Perry, has been in the gig since July, 2022. It appeared that another public affairs specialist, Captain Jereal Dorsey was Perry’s likely successor when he was selected for flag rank late last year. Dorsey, had been spokesman for the now-fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General C.Q. Brown. But signals changed and Dorsey is now headed to a Navy staff job – but not the public affairs gig.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
DEBUNKING HONEY POT POSTS: Admittedly, we don’t really follow FBI director Kash Patel’s dating life – but we were surprised to see stories last week that he has been dating a 26-year-old country singer by the name of Alexis Wilkins, and that some “MAGA influencers” on social media claim she is an Israeli “honeypot” planted to compromise him. Why some conspiracy theorists came up with that conspiracy is a bit convoluted. Apparently, Wilkins was once associated with a conservative nonprofit called PragerU and the CEO of that outfit, Marissa Streit, had once served in the Israeli Army. Based on that thin reed – people started making up stories. Megyn Kelly had Wilkins on her podcast and asked her if she was a spy. Wilkins said: “Definitely not, that is a firm no on that front.”
IF YOU SPY ANY GOOD NEWS ITEMS, CAN YOU LET THE DEAD DROP KNOW? SEND THEM TO: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com
