THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS A REALLY AWKWARD CHOICE: The U.S. and Israel reportedly went into their war on Iran with a regime-change plan that could charitably be described as creative: install former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the man who spent years calling for Israel's elimination, as the new leader in Tehran. The New York Times reports that the plan - developed by Israel and coordinated with Washington - quickly "went awry" after the killing of Supreme Leader Khamenei. An Israeli airstrike intended to free Ahmadinejad from house arrest hit him instead. Apparently, Ahmadinejad was in on the plan originally – but seems to have cooled on it – which is understandable (especially if he got bombed in the process). His current whereabouts are unknown as are details about how this all may end.
FOX TROTS - MOM’S THE WORD: The Washington Post scooped this week that Amaryllis Fox Kennedy is giving up two of her three jobs. Heretofore, only Marco Rubio has been known to rival the daughter-in-law of HHS Secretary RFK Jr. for simultaneously holding so many jobs in the Trump administration at the same time. The positions she is giving up are as a deputy to DNI Tulsi Gabbard – and as an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget - overseeing intelligence budgets (which could - in another world - seem a bit like insider trading.) Kennedy reportedly hopes to keep her gig as a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, known to insiders as simply the PIAB. Why is she leaving? We wondered, too. The Post quotes a recent email from Kennedy that seems to hang the decision on wanting to spend more time on her role as a mom – though the paper also cites unnamed sources saying her departure is “at least in part” tied to her unhappiness with the Trump administration’s “excursion” into Iran.
ESSAY QUESTION: Unfortunately, this opportunity just closed but there was an interesting job announcement that had been posted on the USAJOBS.GOV website for about 8 days recently. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was looking for someone to work in their Office of Legislative Affairs which serves as “the principal interface” between ODNI and Congress. In order to get the GS-13 gig, one would have had to meet certain strict requirements and answer “four short, free response essay questions.” Among them, in 200 words or less, applicants had to answer the question: “How would you help advance the President's Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you and explain how you would help implement them if hired.” The same essay requirement seems to exist for all other DNI job posts such as Chief of Security, Identity Intelligence Analyst, and Special Events Planner. ODNI has not yet posted Ms. Fox Kennedy’s old job(s). Essay questions pending.
NOT EXACTLY ETERNAL JOY: The ping-pong defense didn't work. On May 3rd when Dead Drop last checked in on Lu Jianwang, AKA: "Harry Lu," he was on trial in Brooklyn federal court. His attorney was arguing that the six-story Chinatown building he ran was just a spot for Chinese diaspora members to renew their driver's licenses and play mahjong and table tennis. But a jury decided otherwise and convicted him of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. They also convicted him of obstruction of justice for deleting WeChat messages that prosecutors said contained orders from Beijing to silence and harass pro-democracy dissidents. Lu was acquitted on a conspiracy count, which his attorney described as a partial vindication and which prosecutors described as beside the point. Lu’s outfit was called: “The America ChangLe Association” which translates to "eternal joy." He is out on bail awaiting sentencing which could land him in prison for up to 30 years. Not “eternal” but nothing to be joyous about if you are Mr. Lu.
THE FAMILY BUSINESS: The CIA director flew to Havana a free days ago to deliver a message from President Trump - and found the Castro dynasty still very much in the room. John Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, a one-time presidential bodyguard, and former head of Cuba's equivalent of the Secret Service, along with Cuba's interior minister and the head of Cuban intelligence. Rodríguez Castro has never held a formal government post. Ratcliffe reportedly urged the Cubans to take the January operation that ousted Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela as a lesson. The Cuban side reportedly insisted the island poses no threat to U.S. security and really shouldn't still be on the state sponsors of terrorism list. The last time the CIA had serious designs on the island, the plan involved an amphibious landing. So it’s kind of notable that some sixty-five years after the Bay of Pigs, the CIA was back - this time with an appointment.
WITT’S END RUN: The FBI announced a $200,000 reward last Thursday for a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran in 2013 — a case the bureau is suddenly eager to revisit, given that the United States has been at war with Iran since February. Monica Witt served in the Air Force from 1997 to 2008, was trained in Farsi, ran classified counterintelligence missions in the Middle East, and later worked as a Defense Department contractor. She defected after attending conferences in Tehran that the Justice Department described as promoting anti-Western propaganda. Before she left, the FBI warned her not to share sensitive information if she returned to Iran. She went anyway. A 2019 federal indictment charged her with transmitting national defense information to the Iranian government, including the true names of undercover U.S. intelligence personnel — information the bureau says benefited the IRGC. Witt remains at large, is believed to be in Iran, and has adopted at least one alias. The FBI's Washington Field Office framed the new reward with notable precision: "The FBI believes that during this critical moment in Iran's history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts." There is no extradition treaty between the United States and Iran (duh). There is also, at the moment, a war going on. So the $200,000 is presumably for a tip, not a delivery.
BOX SCORE – ULTRA CONFUSING: A CIA “whistleblower” told a Senate committee recently that the agency had secretly reclaimed 40 boxes of JFK assassination and MKUltra files that DNI Tulsi Gabbard had been preparing for declassification. Almost as quickly as the news broke, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna had gone on NewsNation to demand the boxes be returned. The event was described as a CIA “raid” on Gabbard's office, which seems, well, weird. Jesse Watters declared on Fox News that the CIA had "Just raided Tulsi Gabbard’s Office." Former CIA officer (and convicted felon) John Kiriakou appeared on Fox apparently to confirm the whole thing, noting that "real life isn't supposed to work this way." But with all the hoopla, Gabbard's press secretary simply said,"This is false." Luna then “clarified” that it wasn't actually a ‘raid’. So much for letting details ruin a good media frenzy.
POLLARD POSITION: With the stalemate in the Gulf, purported CIA whistleblowers testifying before Congress and allegations of covert assassinations in Mexico, it's been a busy period in American intelligence. So busy, you may not have noticed reports that Jonathan Pollard announced he is running for a parliament seat in Israel. Pollard, the former U.S. Navy analyst who spent 30 years in federal prison in the U.S. for selling classified secrets to Israel, is now asking Israeli voters for his next job. The odds may not be in his favor. Israeli intelligence analyst Yossi Melman, who literally wrote the book on the Mossad, offered the assessment that if Pollard had decided to run for Pope, his chances of success would be about the same. We’ll keep an eye out for white smoke over the Knesset.
Got news to share? Drop us a note: Editor@thecipherbrief.comRead more expert-driven national security insights exclusively in www.thecipherbrief.com.
