THE MISSING ADMIRAL: There’s been a lot of media attention over the past few days about Frank “Mitch” Bradley – who back on September 2nd was a 3-star Navy admiral leading the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Today he may be holding the bag on the “double-tap” operation. (Note: on October 3rd he was promoted to four stars and took over the U.S. Special Operations Command, a move that had been in the works for months.) Military operations south of the U.S. border are the responsibility of U.S. Southern Command. Though JSOC appears to have been subordinated to them to conduct at least some of the drug boat strikes. On October 16, another boat strike occurred, the sixth overall. (That was the one where two survivors were picked up and quickly returned to their home countries). That same day, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on X that Admiral Alvin Holsey was going to retire at the end of the year – less than one year into what is normally a three-year assignment. Rumors were that he was unhappy with the questions around the legality of the drug boat missions but he has never publicly confirmed nor denied that. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night that Holsey had been asked to step down by Hegseth. This week, Southern Command announced (to little fanfare) that Holsey would relinquish his duties to his current deputy, Air Force Lt. Gen. Evan Pettus in a ceremony in Miami on December 12. So, while Admiral Bradley is being brought in to testify to Congress behind closed doors today (Thursday) we were wondering – are the Armed Services Committees playing on hauling Holsey in to testify too? Seems like he might have some interesting views.
YEAH WE THOUGHT IT WAS PHOTO SHOPPED TOO: But no, it was real. At today’s White House cabinet meeting, photos of the placard in front of Pete Hegseth identified him as “SSECRETARY of War” with two S’s. If you are a graphics designer and looking for work – there may be an opening at the White House.
SPEAKING OF JOB OFFERS: If you are a soldier or a civilian employee of the Army and get any job offers or invitations to participate in academic research projects, you're now required to report that to Army counterintelligence special agents. Why? Because of the uptick in the number of bad guys who are trying to collect information via enticing government employees who are looking for supplemental income to establish relationships. Stars and Stripes says troops have just 24 hours to report such contact.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVES: It sounds like a story out of Hollywood. According to a recent piece by Reuters, there was a raid on a secret CIA archival facility in the national Capital region. The invading force – showing up in mini-vans, were not Russian operatives but instead a team dispatched by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The mission that day back in April, was reportedly to get their hands on highly classified CIA files relating to the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, Jr. We know what you’re wondering. Why was a DNI team arriving unannounced at a partner organization’s warehouse full of secrets? Reuters cites unnamed sources as saying that DNI Gabbard was unhappy at the speed at which the CIA was turning over records that the new administration had vowed to declassify and release. To make matters more personal, the news agency reports that among the search crew was Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, daughter-in-law of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Fox is herself, a CIA veteran and holds at least three jobs in the Trump administration - working for the DNI, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and is a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB). But that morning, Fox reportedly did not have the proper badge to access the secret storehouse – but sources told Reuters that officials waved her in anyway. Reuters doesn’t say exactly when the search started – but says they have been told it lasted until 2 a.m. the next day when “a massive trove of documents was eventually transferred to the National Archives.” ODNI and CIA gave Reuters a joint statement asserting that they "have and will continue working hand-in-hand to release and declassify documents of public interest and execute President Trump’s mission of restoring trust in the intelligence community." We’d love to know what they found.
THE WHITE HOUSE MAKES ITS OWN ‘NAUGHTY’ LIST: The White House launched a new page on the official White House website on Friday, calling out what it describes as media “offenders” - both by outlet and by the name of the reporter(s) - that they say have gotten the details around stories wrong. In addition to highlighting an “Offender of the Week”, they also offer an “Offender Hall of Shame” and an animated “Leaderboard” of declared offenders. If that’s not enough to scare the boots off of Santa, avid readers can also sign up for “Offender” email alerts. Who does the White House list atop the ‘Leadersboard’? Here’s a clue: It looks like Amazon founder and owner of The Washington Post Jeff Bezos might be getting a stocking full of coal from the White House Santa this year. While President Trump has not been shy about calling out reporters for asking questions he doesn’t like, this takes it to a whole new level.
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 (that runs through Cyber Monday) 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 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. 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.
GOT NEWS TO SHARE? DROP US A LINE @ thedeaddrop@thecipherbrief.com
AND CATCH UP ON EARLIER DROPS HERE.
