Dead Drop: August 9 - 15

MOSSAD'S "BRING BACK AHMADINEJAD" PLAN GETS THE AXE — SO DO ITS ARCHITECTS: Regime change is easier to propose than to pull off. According to the Times of Israel, citing Israel's Channel 12, Mossad Director Roman Gofman has removed the chiefs of the agency's Intelligence Directorate and Iran Division. According to the reporting, the officials were believed to be the architects of a plan to topple the regime in Tehran by arming Kurdish factions under Israeli/U.S. air cover and installing former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new man in charge. Yes, that Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-denying one. Netanyahu reportedly used the plan to help talk President Trump into February's war. It didn't survive contact with reality, and neither did the two officials' job titles — though both are said to be staying on in Mossad in quieter roles. Their removal is a fate The National suggests is really about insulating Netanyahu from blowback.

ARE THERE ALIENS IN THE PAPERWOK? The Department of War is apparently not ready to phone home just yet. On Friday, the Pentagon announced the fifth release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena files, as part of something called the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters or “PURSUE.” (Because apparently even UFO disclosure needs an acronym.) The latest batch is now posted on the Pentagon’s UFO website, with the department promising that more files will be released on a “rolling basis.” The Pentagon offered few details about what’s actually in this latest installment, so this is a see for yourself kind of operation.