CANOE SEE ME NOW? The Pentagon's newest border sentry is 11 feet long, weighs 340 pounds, runs on sunshine and has never once asked for overtime. Reuters is reporting that the Defense Department may expand a pilot program that has kept autonomous surveillance boats on the Rio Grande since at least, well, January. The canoe-sized Lightfish vessels cost about $240,000 each, can be launched from a boat ramp or the bed of a pickup truck, and can stay on station for months at a time. Their cameras, infrared and sonar sensors feed tracking data into Palantir's Maven Smart System and Anduril's Fortress platform, which then alert Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard when they sense something awry. The Pentagon says the 10-boat test fleet averages 452 detections, 350 apprehensions and 100 turnbacks a month. (A turnback is when a group spots the drone and calls off the crossing. We learned something today.) Officials reportedly want up to 50 more boats, possibly stretching a sensor line from Texas to Key West. Nearly a quarter million dollars for a canoe sounds pricey – but hey, at least there's no crew to complain about the length of the deployments or the food.
COMANDO UNLEASHED: We couldn't resist this one. Mexico's National Guard has a new recruit, and he stands about 8 inches tall. Comando is a 13-month-old Chihuahua who trains for search-and-rescue work in a miniature tactical vest, helmet, goggles and head-mounted camera, according to Reuters. He also weighs 15 pounds, so the chow line is clearly treating him well. He’s now the smallest member of a canine unit of more than 300 dogs, mostly German shepherds and Labradors. Officers say his size could help him reach tight spaces that rescuers can't access. For now though, his résumé is mostly full of school visits, community events and his biggest mission to date: Mexico's Independence Day parade.
CHECKMATE POSTPONED: As previously mentioned in the Dead Drop, the Justice Department last month unsealed an indictment against five people who they believe are tied to a Russian intelligence network that is accused of paying recruits to surveil and potentially kill Kremlin critics in the U.S. and Lithuania. Prosecutors never named the targets. But now, one of the likely names has spoken up. Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov wrote on Substack this week that U.S. and Lithuanian security services warned him that his life was in danger and told him to take precautions, according to Reuters. Moscow, which lists Kasparov as both a foreign agent and a terrorist, says there's nothing to comment on without credible evidence. Kasparov's reply: "I will not stop and I will not hide." In this case, the chess master may have seen the move coming.
THE SPY WHO EMAILED ME: Chinese hackers apparently decided the best way to learn what American AI experts were thinking was to pose as other American AI experts. According to Reuters, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint says a China-aligned group it calls TA419 has been phishing AI policy specialists at U.S. think tanks, universities and law firms. The hackers allegedly impersonated prominent figures, including Lynne Parker, a former deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, sending friendly invitations to join AI policy projects. Responders were then allegedly steered to a fake Microsoft OneDrive login page built to harvest credentials. One target, Alex Engler, a former White House official who now runs the Penn Center on Media, Technology and Democracy, was suspicious. The email "felt slightly, nebulously off," he said. The Chinese embassy did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Maybe they weren’t sure who was really asking.
MAYBE IT’S A LOVE-HATE KINDA THING: President Trump has had some harsh words for Canada's contribution to the defense of North America. "They spend less money on military than practically any nation in the world," he told NBC's Meet the Press in May 2025, just days before hosting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. (CNN's fact-checkers disagreed.) Trump’s son may see more promise in the Canadian defense industry, though. According to Reuters, Unusual Machines, a U.S. drone-parts maker that counts Donald Trump Jr. on its advisory board, is investing $5 million in Draganfly, a drone company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. An unnamed U.S. asset manager is reportedly putting in $5 million. Draganfly builds drones and software for defense, public-safety and other customers and has supplied drones to Ukraine for mapping and humanitarian missions. Reuters notes the Trump family's defense investments have drawn conflict-of-interest scrutiny. Trump Jr. and his brother Eric have also backed Israeli drone maker XTEND.
THE GRANT THAT CAME IN FROM THE COLD: Britain's MI5 has some advice for academics taking research money - find out who is actually writing the check. In an Espionage Alert issued Wednesday, the agency said more than 100 UK-based academics contributed to projects that were funded by the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI). MI5 says CGTRI has "very strong ties" to the Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing's civilian spy service. According to the alert, the institute's main job is funding research "that directly improves MSS technical capability for espionage." Reuters called the alert unprecedented. The research covered artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, covert communications and steganography, which is the craft of hiding a message inside an ordinary-looking file or image. MI5 said many of the academics likely worked in good faith with no idea who was picking up the tab. The institute also goes by the name China Academy of General Technology. China's embassy in London called the allegations both fabricated and slanderous.
WEEKEND WARRIORS: China is gearing up for “Golden Week,” the extended holiday surrounding National Day on October 1. For many Chinese workers, the break comes with a catch. They get several consecutive days off but then must work designated weekends to make up for some of them. According to Reuters, some workers are fed up with the arrangement. One discussion of the matter on Weibo (China's answer to X) has drawn 360 million views. Then came "Weekend Off Shopping," an app on the WeChat messaging platform that let users rate whether companies give employees a full two-day weekend and urged consumers to shop accordingly. It drew 150,000 contributors before authorities suspended it in September, citing unspecified regulatory violations. Search Weibo for the app's name today and you get a notice that results can't be displayed "in line with relevant laws, regulations and policies." Xiao Qiang, founder of the U.S.-based China Digital Times, told Reuters the censorship suggests authorities saw the app as a creative form of resistance with potential for "social mobilisation." But some state media outlets covering the suspension sounded sympathetic. The Qilu Evening News lamented that leaving work on time and getting a weekend off had become luxuries. No more time off until morale improves.
THOSE PARTY GIRLS: RAF Fairford is the British airfield used as a base for U.S. bomber operations against Iran, and it was reportedly on its highest security footing last weekend. The warning reportedly came from a farmer driving home from a party early Sunday morning. According to The Telegraph, she spotted three white vans blocking a country road near the base around 1:30 a.m. She also noticed the phone number on one of them was a digit short, so she turned her car around in time to see men in masks and balaclavas run into the trees. She called the Ministry of Defence Police but they reportedly didn’t answer, so she tried calling 101, the UK's non-emergency police line, and was put on hold. She finally got fed up and dialed 999 (the British equivalent of the US 911.) Five men were ultimately arrested, and counterterrorism police were investigating a possible Iran link. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting thanked the farmer for doing "the right thing" but told Sky News she "only has a partial picture." Later on Monday, the five men were released on bail – suggesting, perhaps, that folks may have been a little too quick to pull the opinion trigger.
IT’S TOUGH KEEPING UP WITH THAT TECH, HUH? The controversy over AI safety eclipsed the original purpose of aWhite House tech meet-up today, which was intended to tout a new website, America.com. What the heck is it? So glad you asked. According to The Wall Street Journal, Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and head of the White House’s National Design Studio, said the online portal is meant to serve as the federal government’s digital front door, that looks more like a door “you’d expect of a superpower.” According to the Associated Press though, the president might want to do some rearranging of the interior. AP says it queried the site about who won the presidency in 2020. For those not following along at home, the president has repeatedly claimed that he won, saying widespread fraud was perpetrated and the White House was “stolen” from him - even though multiple courts found otherwise. But America.com, citing government information, told the AP, “Official federal sources do not show that widespread fraud changed the 2020 presidential election outcome. Isolated election crimes did occur and have been prosecuted.” The site also still refers to the Pentagon as the “Department of Defense.” Man, it’s tough keeping up with tech these days.
LASER FOCUS: Cape Canaveral has a new answer for drones that wander where they shouldn't: lasers. According to The War Zone, the Space Force is adding a directed-energy weapon to the counter-drone defenses at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which launches rockets for SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin along with some decidedly sensitive national-security payloads. Col. Brian Chatman, commander of Space Launch Delta 45, told Florida Today that the system can do "a kinetic kill" against drones entering the area. The laser reportedly joins a radio-frequency jamming system and sensor-fusion software already being installed. Officials haven't named the laser or said when it will be switched on. But it feels like the need is real. Neighboring Port Canaveral logged 500 unauthorized drone flights last year, and just over a week ago, a Chinese tourist pleaded guilty to flying a drone over restricted airspace at Kennedy Space Center and filming the place.
CELL SERVICE: Twenty-two-year-old former Army soldier Cameron Wagenius reportedly knows his way around a phone network. While on active duty in 2024, he went by "Kiberphant0m" online, stole call and text records for more than 100 million AT&T customers, hit Verizon and other telecom companies and tried to extort them. On Friday, the Justice Department announced he'd been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $294,978 in restitution. DOJ also says he tried to sell stolen data to a foreign intelligence service, though it didn't say which one. The stranger story is how he spent his time in jail while waiting to be sentenced. Krebs on Security says the government's sentencing memo claims Wagenius borrowed other inmates' email accounts to get people on the outside to ask an AI chatbot for ready-made hacking tools, apparently while trying to find holes in the Bureau of Prisons' own computer systems. He also reportedly sought instructions for building an antenna out of commissary items to improve radio reception, and asked for research on escaping prison. He said he was just doing research for a book he was writing. Prosecutors say they have no evidence he exploited anything while in the lockup.
ONE MORE LAYER, PLEASE: The Pentagon has reportedly found a fix for too much bureaucracy: a new office. On Friday, the Department launched the Force Agility and Streamlining Team, or FAST, to hunt down duplicate programs, unnecessary administrative systems, and wasteful spending. According to The Washington Times, the team will report to Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jules Hurst. The founding memo (signed six weeks earlier) from Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg describes FAST as the foundation of "an enduring institutional mechanism." It will be run by its own Director, who reports to Hurst, and Hurst's office will provide direction, oversight, and administrative support. So, the fight against bureaucracy now has a director, an oversight chain, and administrative support. Hurst says "success will be measured by results, not by another layer of process." The department didn't say how big FAST will be or what authority it will have.
NAVAL CRIME WAVE: Back in April, the Dead Drop told you that CBS had announced yet another spinoff of their NCIS series. We had a hard time believing it – but it looks like its true. The new entry NCIS: New York debuts on October 6. This will make eight NCIS branded series…the original which debuted in 2003 – followed by a bunch more. According to our count –there have been 1,124 episodes aired – across 53 seasons of television. If you wanted to binge watch all of them and spent eight hours a day doing so, it would take you until Ground Hog Day to finish. Of course, by that time they will have aired more episodes and perhaps created more spin offs.
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