CODENAME 'INTELACCESS': For the first time ever in its decade of publishing national security insights from insiders, The Cipher Brief is offering a Black Friday Sale for subscribers who are looking to 'gift' national security knowledge to friends and colleagues. We know, it sounds much more fun to brave crowded shopping malls for gift ideas - only to end up - after hours of fighting crowds and finding picked over deals - settling on yet another questionably attractive sweater, going home and pouring a stiff drink. Here are two good reasons why gifting a Cipher Brief subscription is a great idea this year: 1) You can customize the subscription level based on how much you like the recipient. Someone you really want to impress? Then the annual subscription (codename/coupon code: INTELACCESS) will make a lasting impression. 2) Like the person a little less, but still want to appear to be the smartest gift giver they know? Gift a monthly subscription (codename/coupon code: INTELMONTH). The upside for both options is that the risk of your friends 're-gifting' this holiday present is incredibly low - which is more than we can say for that ugly sweater.
YOU’VE GOTTA HAND IT TO THOSE FAKE NEWS FOLKS: President Trump is fond of calling stories he doesn’t like “fake news!” In one recent case – it truly was. Nigeria’s social-media rumor mill got a workout after a slick video appeared to show Trump verbally trashing Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. The clip racked up a lot of shares until AFP Fact Check took a closer look and found typical AI fingerprints: warped lighting, mismatched mouth movements, and a voice track that didn’t quite stick the landing. In other words, the entire diplomatic “incident” never happened. One clue that jumped out: a man on Trump’s TV screen appears to have three hands. In the bogus video, Trump had just finished watching Tinubu on TV after which he supposedly launched into this public condemnation saying: “I’m tired of listening to this man; he is not making any sense. Honestly, I am so disappointed in Nigerians for voting such a clueless man as president.” The episode is a reminder of how cheaply manufactured viral videos can be problematic. One convincing-ish deepfake, a few thousand retweets, and suddenly whole governments are fielding questions about conversations that never took place.
BIRD BRAINS: While most Americans were chowing down on turkey this Thanksgiving, the British tabloid The Sun floated a questionable story alleging that Russian scientists have launched a program involving a squadron of pigeons that have been fitted with brain implants. Among the flock of reasons we’re skeptical: The Sun said the “bird-biodrones” are codenamed PJN-1 (get it? Pigeons.) The article claims the birds can be directed to “fly 310 miles a day or more than 1,500 miles in a week on spy missions” and says that bigger birds like seagulls and albatrosses may be enlisted for weaponized missions. The story is unclear about exactly what the Kremlin would direct their feathered friends to do.
LAME ACCUSATION: A federal security-officer who was named in government and media reports as being a possible suspect in the case of pipe bombs that were placed outside DNC and RNC offices on January 5, 2021, has been cleared according to CBS News. Allegedly, a draft memo circulated within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), pointed to the woman as the bomber – in part because of analysis of her “gait.” She reportedly limps a bit, and someone thought her manner of walking matched that of the person who placed the bombs seen in surveillance video. But now, the FBI reportedly has ruled her out after she provided an airtight alibi — video showing that she was playing with her puppies at the time the bombs were placed. CBS elected not to name the woman – or her current place of employment - but both had been widely circulated in some conservative media circles. The case underscores the doggone dangers when raw or unverified intelligence leaks or “gait-analysis” claims are treated as fact. Even within government channels, the allegations created the false impression that the bomb plot was solved.
WARNING: IF TAMPERING LASTS MORE THAN FOUR HOURS, CONTACT YOUR LAWYER AND DOCTOR: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hauled before a judge on Sunday after police detected that he had been tampering with his ankle monitor. (You may recall Bolsonaro was under house arrest awaiting going to jail following a conviction for plotting a coup and trying to prevent his successor from taking office. He faces 27 years in prison.) Bolsonaro said an adverse reaction to medicine that was prescribed for his chronic hiccups, caused hallucinations which led to his taking a soldering iron to his ankle monitor. No word on whether the experience (and the meds) caused his hiccups to stop.
ALBM ROCK: The South China Morning Post is out with a piece on China’s new JL-1 hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) — that Beijing apparently hopes will round out its nuclear triad. The headline touts how the JL-1 “beats U.S. rivals,” but the fine print quietly notes a snag: the missile can only be launched by the H-6N bomber, a Cold War antique based on the Soviet Badger bomber which went into service in 1954. The range of the JL-1 (whose name translates to “Shocking Thunder-1”) launched from an H-6N means (according to the SCMP citing a Chinese military magazine) that it could pose a nuclear threat to Alaska and “potentially” the rest of the U.S. It is interesting that this narrative is coming via the SCMP, sometimes described by the snarkiest of critics as Beijing’s preferred outlet for “strategic leaks.” When China wants to brag about new toys, this is often where the show-and-tell begins. The JL-1 first appeared at China’s military parade in September marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
NEED NOT APPLY – Last week, we mentioned the Dead Drop told you that MI-5 was warning Members of Parliament and other senior UK officials that China’s intelligence service has been soliciting “non-public and insider insights” by using women who were portraying themselves as headhunters on LinkedIn (something the U.S. has been warning about for years). After a few days, the Chinese embassy in the UK responded saying that such talk was “malicious slander” which they “strongly condemned. “ Still, we’re filing this under the “need not apply” category.
‘PARDON ME’ TOUR: Darryl Strawberry, former right fielder for the New York Mets, thanked both Jesus and Donald Trump over the weekend for his presidential pardon, granted by the president earlier this month. Strawberry pled guilty to charges of tax evasion in 1995. The list of people that the president has pardoned since taking office for a second time is long and sometimes, it’s not always clear as to how the pardoned folks get on that list. One person who’s still trying is former CIA officer and convicted felon John Kiriakou, who has been appearing on lots of podcasts recently making his case for a pardon by President Trump after his conviction in 2013 for reveaing the names of undercover officers to the media. At the time, Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced him to 30 months in prison in 2013 (he ended up serving less than two years) saying that he had violated “a solemn trust” by revealing the names of undercover CIA officers. Kiriakou’s strategy for getting his name on the pardon list seems pretty solid - by going public and relentlessly attacking anyone widely believed to be on Trump’s enemies’ list. Kiraikou’s pardon push continued last week with a fistful of additional appearances when he said that he has deep support in the Trump administration. And now, in a recent podcast he appears to have jumped on the POTUS Nobel Peace Prize wagon saying his “insider sources” tell him that Trump stopped World War III – by bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities in June - saying that Trump decided to bomb Iran because Israel told the President that if the U.S. didn’t attack Iran, they would do so themselves using nuclear weapons. Maybe his “insider sources” can get him on the list. If not, maybe someone on LinkedIn can help.The Dead Drop is now updating throughout the week. There's just too much good gossip in the national security world for a once-a-week drop.
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