A GOLD MEDAL SPORT: Remember those senior members of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s staff who were summarily fired for – well, it was never entirely clear why – but reports said they were suspected of leaking to the media. And remember the subsequent threats of prosecution? And then an investigation - led in part by the Secretary’s personal attorney (part-time Navy commander) Tim Parlatore – was launched to find out who did what. It seemed a little odd to fire people and THEN investigate what they did – but who are we to judge? Now comes word, via The Guardian, that there may need to be an investigation into Parlatore’s investigation. Some unnamed officials told the paper that Parlatore claimed to have gotten the goods on the ex-staffers through the use of warrantless NSA wiretaps which may be – what’s the word? Illegal. Parlatore says he never claimed there was such a wiretap – only that other unnamed people suggested that was the case. If finger pointing were an Olympic sport, the Pentagon would be a cinch for the gold.
PODIUM OF TRANSPARENCY IS QUIET: Accredited Pentagon correspondents have been allowed to wander around large portions of the five-sided military headquarters building since 1943. That was, until Secretary of Defense Hegseth issued new orders requiring journalists to be escorted through much of the building and only allowed access to some areas if they have an appointment. Among the places now verboten is the area around the Secretary’s office – and the Pentagon Athletic Center (because who knows what might leak when senior officials are lifting weights). The Pentagon Press Association, a membership organization representing press outlets that cover the U.S. military, said the new rules seem to be a "direct attack on the freedom of the press”. (We can’t imagine how much nmore strongly worded that statement might be if journalists were denied access to the onsite Dunkin Donuts.) Hegseth said in his announcement that the Department “remains committed to transparency”. Kind funny though that so far, Hegseth has not held a single press briefing in the Pentagon (a traditional podium of some transparency) and his designated spokesperson has held just one. In promoting his new policy, Hegseth said it was done in the interest of national security. Going forward, in order to get information, we guess the ousted media will just have to sit in their downtown offices and hope that someone in the administration accidentally adds them to their SIGNAL group chat.
REARRANGING THE DECK AT NSC: Back when it was announced that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was stepping aside from his White House gig – there was speculation that whoever came in next would re-arrange the org chart because – well, that’s what you do when you come into a new role. Sure enough, Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio has begun rearranging the chairs. CNN reports that “more than 100 officials” at the NSC have been placed on administrative leave – and more defenestrations are expected. CNN reports that an email went out at 4:20 PM on a Friday giving the nearly departed 30 minutes to clean out their desks. If they were on detail from other government agencies, they were ordered to return to their home office. This may not be as big a deal though (unless you’re on the receiving end of that email) because the size of the NSC staff fluctuates a lot. So, whether the downsizing lasts or not is anyone’s guess.
BIG CLAIM: Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event last week, the acting Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Kilby, said that the USS Harry S. Truman had launched “the largest airstrike in the history of the world” in Somalia this past February. (Seeing that the Dead Drop has a lot of Navy readers, we can’t help but dig into stuff like this.) According to the numbers, 16 F/A-18 Super Hornets dropped about 125,000 pounds of ammunition killing 14 people. If you were one of those 14 folks – there’s no doubt that 60 tons of bombs would seem like a lot. But as The Intercept noted, the attack on Hiroshima in 1945, (in which 70,000 to 120,000 people likely died after a single bomb - carrying the force of 15,000 tons of explosives - might have been just a bit bigger. Unnamed Navy officials said Kilby was just speaking “off the cuff.” Spitballing, eh?
BIG GAP: We’re cutting Kilby some slack though – after all, he’s been doing two big jobs for about 100 days now. Ever since February 21, when Admiral Lise Franchetti was fired for – leading while female or something – Kilby has been doing both her job and his own as Vice CNO. BreakingDefense says this is the longest amount of time the Navy has gone in its history without having a confirmed Chief of Naval Operations. Last we checked, no one has been nominated to fill the position.
ANGER AWEIGH: North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un was reportedly quite displeased when he showed up at the Chongjin shipyard last week to celebrate the launch of a new 5,000-ton destroyer only to see it just roll over and partially submerge. Kim called the incident a “criminal act” and a few days later, at least three shipyard officials were arrested. Newsweek reported on Monday that according to analysts, North Korea was using balloons to try to right the ship. Some wags suggested that Kim might have seen the Pixar movie “Up” in which a house is lifted by balloons. But we have an alternative theory. He may have seen the Jack Lemon and James Stewart disaster movie “Airport ‘77” – in which the U.S. Navy raises a sunken 747 aircraft using inflation devices. In any case, the failure to launch was sure to get a rise out of Kim.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
ADMIRING THE MAGIC OF NATIONAL SECURITY: Former Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin has a reputation for being a well-respected voice on matters of national security but it turns out that he has some extra strong powers of deception… or ‘magic’ as some people call it. It’s not exactly a secret that McLaughlin, who is also a Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, highlights as a magician. Like the real magic kind. If you have an extra $74.41 laying around, we highly suggest you make it disappear by buying a ticket to his next show May 31 at Washington Magic. The four magician show is happening at the 215-year-old Arts Club of Washington, which is also the former home of President James Monroe.
SUIT YOURSELF: The State Department’s Director of Policy Planning, Michael Anton, is known to be someone harboring strong views. (If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Anton served on the National Security Council Staff in the first Trump administration and wrote controversial essays under a pseudonym declaring the 2016 presidential election “The Flight 93” election). His name has been floated as a possible eventual National Security Advisor if Marco Rubio decides to give up one of his hats. But here is another thing that makes him stand out. Anton is reportedly really big into men’s fashion. According to Politico, he was one of the most prolific contributors to an online site called StyleForum where (again under a pseudonym) published 41,000 posts over a 14 year period on things like the importance of: “Neapolitan jackets, English tweeds and Austro-Hungarian shoes.” Politico claims that In 2006, Anton even wrote a book called The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men’s Style under the name “Nicholas Antongiavanni.” Whoever is doing the writing seems to look down his nose at bright red neckties like those favored by President Trump, once posting: “trump-don’t.”
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