Dead Drop: December 14-20

BEIJING’S SMALLEST SPOKESPERSON (AN A CAUTIONARY HOLIDAY SHOPPING TALE): Talk about soft power. Some AI-powered children’s toys sold in the U.S. appear to be moonlighting as interns for the Chinese Communist Party. NBC News reports that consumer watchdogs tested several AI-enhanced toys - plush stuffed figures for kids - to see just how much fun they can be. They found that at least one, a China-made interactive robot that a child can chat with, spits out Beijing-approved talking points when asked about politically sensitive topics. For example, If you ask it whether Taiwan is a country, the toy blurts out Beijing’s official line: that Taiwan is an “inalienable part of China.” Ask it about Chinese President Xi Jinping bearing resemblance to the cartoon character Winnie the Pooh (as a child might do) and the robot doll chastises the questioner, saying: “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.” Manufacturers insist the responses are just quirks of AI training data and safety filters. But critics note that the “quirks” happen to perfectly align with Chinese Communist Party narratives and observe that these products are being marketed directly to American families, with minimal transparency about what AI models they use or how the content is filtered. Take that as a shopping lesson this holiday season. Oh, and some of the toys can also tell kids how to light matches and sharpen knives. What could possibly go wrong?

NON-SECURE SOURCE: Veteran journalist Shane Harris has a fascinating and complex tale titled “They Killed My Source” in The Atlantic sharing how he was contacted in 2016 by a man who claimed to be an Iranian intelligence officer responsible for major cyber operations and a former CIA asset. Turns out, Tajik appears to have been the real deal. Harris writes that he later learned the man’s name was Mohammad Hossein Tajik. Tajik’s stated goal was to pass information to journalists both to punish the Iranian regime and to force the CIA to re-establish contact with him. Was he a double agent? A triple agent? What comes after that? Tajik had reportedly been arrested several years earlier and brutally tortured in an Iranian prison. He was eventually bailed out by his father (who was a high-ranking Iranian intelligence officer). Harris’ reporting suggests that the father eventually learned that his son had not given up his anti-regime ways and dangled the possibility that the father may have played a role in his son’s demise.