VENICE BRINGS THE DYNAMITE – Spies tell us that Oscar-winning Hollywood director Kathryn Bigelow is on her way to the Venice International Film Festival to premiere her new upcoming movie on Netflix, A House of Dynamite. Anticipation is high after Bigelow’s earlier projects including The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. The setup this time? Picture the White House in full freak-out mode as missiles head for U.S. soil. Cue the power players: Played by Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, plus a few others who look great yelling over maps. Noah Oppenheim (yes, the ex–NBC News guy turned screenwriter) wrote the script, so expect boardroom tension dialed up to DEFCON 1. The movie is premiering at Venice September 2 before blasting onto Netflix October 24. The trailer? Still MIA. The plot? Almost certainly not based on real events—unless you’re reading this from a bunker, in which case: awkward. In short: It sounds like if Zero Dark Thirty and K-19 had a Netflix baby during a missile scare, A House of Dynamite would be it.
WILDFIRE RESPONSE GETS A NEW THREAT LEVEL -- Federal officials – eager to boot every undocumented person out of the country – under all circumstances - apparently decided that a good place for a raid was on the sidelines of a wildfire. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. According to The Seattle Times, Border Patrol agents swooped in on the Bear Gulch fire response teams who were fighting the blaze in Washington state, grilled the firefighting crews for hours, and then hauled away two firefighters in what looked an awful lot like an immigration raid. “You risked your life to save the community,” one firefighter said. “This is how they treat us.” The kicker? Crews were told not to record the encounter — because nothing says “we’ve got nothing to hide” like banning cameras. The move breaks with previous DHS policy – and basic common sense - which used to recognize that disaster zones weren’t ideal places for immigration raids. In short: America’s wildfire response just added a new threat level — blaze, smoke, and Border Patrol.
LIVING UP TO A LEGEND – We don’t do a lot of hero worship around here cause it’s way more gratifying to poke fun at people, but we did sound a collective “awwwwww” when INSA (the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, for those not-so-much in the know) dropped a pic on LinkedIn of Cipher Brief expert and legendary Intelligence leader Charlie Allen having lunch with their team. We’re pretty sure that Charlie hasn’t stopped working - ever. In government, he served as a CIA Officer, the National Intelligence Manager for Warning, the National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism and Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Collection. Some of those titles may have changed over the years but Charlie’s enthusiasm for helping others in the IC has not. Even at the age of 90, he’s still getting out there, sharing insights and advice with everyone from interns to those in the IC who are making mid-career job changes (we hear there are a lot of those lately). Charlie has always been generous with his time and advice, so we were glad to also see that INSA is naming an award after him. Whoever receives it will have to prove they can live up to the legend.
The Dead Drop is now updating DAILY, using our own sources and methods to bring you the latest national security gossip. Got something to share? Hit us up at thedeaddrop@thecipherbrief.com. Need something binge-worthy? Check out our archive of Dead Drop gossip.... or the rest of the good stuff we've reported on just this week alone (below).
THERE’S NO VACCINE FOR THIS – The CDC just burned through another director faster than a box of COVID tests. Susan Monarez, confirmed into the role just last month, was shoved out on Wednesday after refusing to rubber-stamp a push to roll back coronavirus vaccine approvals. The Washington Post reports that Monarez, a career scientist, told Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. that she’d need to consult advisers before signing off on dismantling vaccine policy. That hesitation apparently earned her the boot, according to the Post, which reports that three senior CDC officials resigned in solidarity. All of this brings back haunting images of what the CDC campus in Atlanta looked like during the fictional Walking Dead series. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get that bad.
OOPS…I…DID…IT…AGAIN -- Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard ordered the revocation of security clearances for 37 people who she said had either: participated in politicized weaponization of intelligence, failed to safeguard classified info, failed to adhere to professional tradecraft standards and/or otherwise acted in ways detrimental to trust and confidence (with zero examples provided).Among the publicly named individuals was, according to some accounts, at least one currently serving person who was undercover (super inconvenient). Now, a member of the Gang of 37 says ‘Oops, you may have made a mistake’. Yael Eisenstat posted on X and LinkedIn that even though her name is on the list, she hasn’t actually held a clearance or worked for the U.S. government (either as an employee or contractor) since 2013. Seems like whoever put this list together for DNI Gabbard “failed to adhere to professional tradecraft standards” since they should have known who had a clearance – before making a show of taking it away. At least one other person on the list told the Dead Drop a similar story, highlighting that maybe government systems aren’t super efficient, huh? Maybe we just need a Government Efficiency Department to clean all this up. Wait….
INNOVATION DISRUPTION -- The Defense Innovation Unit is suddenly leaderless — well, almost. Doug Beck is out as DIU director effective yesterday, with the Pentagon offering zero details on whether he walked, was pushed, or just vaporized into a cloud of “no comment.” Into the vacuum steps Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s CTO and undersecretary for research and engineering, who now gets to add “acting DIU director” to his already overstuffed business card. Michael (who is better known in Silicon Valley as Uber’s former dealmaker-in-chief) will be juggling DIU’s “bridge between the Pentagon and the tech world” gig on top of advising the secretary of defense and wrangling the department’s science projects. Alongside him, Michael Dodd is serving as acting deputy while waiting on his own Senate confirmation.
PUTIN NEEDS A COSTCO AISLE OF STICKS – Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be having a lot of success by stonewalling and at times, just flat out ignoring the U.S. administration’s efforts to negotiate an end to Moscow’s deadly war in Ukraine. Many of the Russia experts at The Cipher Brief (‘experts’ being defined as national security professionals with significant government experience working the Putin problem) have told us that flattery doesn’t work on the Russian leader. Putin needs pressure. That’s the case made in Bloomberg by former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Cipher Brief Expert Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.), who offers a 10-point “to-do list” for forcing Putin back to the table, ranging from annoying to apocalyptic. Think: flood Ukraine with more F-16s, quadruple missile deliveries and seize Russia’s billions sitting in Western banks. If that doesn’t sting enough, add oil sanctions with teeth, NATO-style guarantees and maybe even a no-fly zone. Oh, and as the “nuclear option”? Just invite Ukraine into NATO already. The gist: Putin’s only coming back to negotiate if the West cranks up the pain. Carrots exist, sure - like dangling sanctions relief someday - but Stavridis’ shopping list is basically a Costco aisle of sticks.
WAR TALK: Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, President Trump said that a decision to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War” is likely “going to be made over the next week or so.” He just likes the ring of it, apparently, saying "I'm talking to the people. Everybody likes that. We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense. The Washington Post says that most likely a name change would require an act of Congress but that the Department of Defense “could not be immediately reached for comment.” One thing is certain, if the rebranding is ordered it is going to be expensive. Military Times reported in 2023 that the renaming of just nine Army bases that had been named for Confederate soldiers – would cost $39 million. (We haven’t seen a price tag yet on what it will cost to undo that name change.) Now imagine the cost of replacing the signage at military installations, offices, and vehicles. Oh, and there will be need to update email addresses, websites, and publications. The cost will easily run into the hundreds of millions.
MORE THAN JUST A NAME CHANGE: DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced last week that she is continuing her mission to overhaul the ODNI in ways that cut much deeper than just a name change, estimating that staff cuts and consolidations could save taxpayers $700m a year. While many in the national security community agree that the organization that was founded in 2005 to ensure better communication after 9/11 has gotten too bloated, lawmakers are not surprisingly, divided over how to do it. Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump Administration Sue Gordon is taking aim in the latest edition of her new podcast, Understandable Insights: Information to Intelligence, arguing that “In general, ‘more with less’ is a lie – you’re going to do less with less” said Gordon, putting some of the blame on Congress for not articulating a clear path forward. “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re unlikely to get there,” said Gordon. Gabbard says she plans to cut personnel and costs across all 18 of the agencies that make up the Intelligence Community (IC) which could save as much as $1.3 billion a year. Maybe they can use some of that money to help pay for a name change at DoD, eh?
FIGHTING WORDS: Everyone seems to be adopting bellicose language these days. We noticed a story about a recent change of command ceremony in which Marine Corps Major General David Bligh took over as Judge Advocate General of the Navy. The event was notable since Bligh is the first Marine to be the top uniformed lawyer for the Navy since 1878. In his remarks at the assumption of command event according to a Navy press release Bligh said, “We are officers and enlisted men and women in the naval service, who serve with and for our fellow warriors,” adding, “That reality requires us to carry ourselves not just as legal experts, but as warfighters.” Killer lawyers. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN – Former NSA Director General Tim Haugh (Ret.) has announced that he is joining Ballistic Ventures as a Strategic Advisor in a move that demonstrates the mostly cyber-focused venture firm is playing for keeps. The VC firm claims that capital isn’t enough to win - you need expertise too. (Thank goodness someone gets it). We know who doesn’t get it though – a social media influencer who bragged earlier this year about her role in getting Haugh fired from his job leading both the NSA and Cyber Command (only two of the most important organizations in the world when it comes to ensuring future U.S. national security for all Americans – regardless of their politics). Why didn’t she like him? Because she didn’t think he was ‘loyal enough’ to the president. (Seriously…we’re having flashbacks of the fifth grade right now.) Haugh’s latest move proves that real expertise may be more heavily concentrated than ever in the private sector. Among Ballistic’s list of other impressive advisors: General Paul Nakasone (Ret.), Chris Inglis, Kevin Mandia, Phil Venables and Ted Schlein. Haugh says one of his goals in his new private sector mission is to “work closely with people I trust to solve hard cybersecurity challenges, particularly those issues facing our nation’s critical infrastructure.” Finally, something worth posting about.
DIVULGING SOURCES & METHODS -- NPR is about to drop a new nat-sec podcast, and it’s not your average “two dudes in a basement with a mic” situation. Sources & Methods launching on August 28, is hosted by Mary Louise Kelly, who has spent the past 25 years chasing spooks, grilling generals, and reporting from actual war zones (not just Twitter). The format: think newsroom bull session, but with Pulitzer-level correspondents swapping intel instead of random hot takes. Kelly and her crew are promising to unpack the world’s biggest messes from wars, coups, cyberattacks to rising authoritarianism and climate-driven chaos and will try to answer the big questions: What do we know? How do we know it? And what’s the weirdest thing lurking in our reporters’ notebooks? The pitch from NPR brass: as everyone else cuts foreign coverage, why not double down with Kelly steering the ship because she actually knows what she’s talking about. Our translation: Sources & Methods is NPR flexing its serious-foreign-policy-muscle in podcast form. Episodes drop on Thursdays, so you can sound terrifyingly well-informed during Friday happy hour.
SKWERL AND CHEESE (SERIOUSLY) -- No, not a bad fast-food combo, “Skwerl” and “Cheese” are two down-on-their-luck veterans who decide the obvious career pivot after war is, naturally, stealing a private jet. Sheepdogs, the latest novel by Elliot Ackerman plays like Lethal Weapon if Mel Gibson had a dominatrix girlfriend and Danny Glover was a gas-station cashier with a pregnant wife. Ackerman, a decorated Marine turned novelist, leans into the gallows of humor that vets use to survive both firefights and civilian life. Everyone in this world has at least four nicknames - half assigned by drunk Marines, the other half spat out by a lazy CIA computer. Thus, “Big Cheese” the Afghan ace pilot and “Skwerl” the ex-CIA paramilitary guy (whose spelling skills are as questionable as his post-service career choices) survive gunfights, hostage crises and bad pseudonyms as the novel tackles the weightier questions: What happens to heroes once the war is over? When does necessity make crime feel noble? Ackerman’s literary résumé is stacked with serious war novels (Dark at the Crossing, Green on Blue, and his dystopian trilogy series with Admiral Jim Stavridis, 2034, 2054 and the future-release, 2084), so don’t mistake Sheepdogs for just slapstick with silencers. Behind the absurd nicknames is a darker truth: soldiers outlast their wars, but not always their demons. And yes, Apple TV and Tom Hanks are turning it into a series—because who wouldn’t want to binge-watch Skwerl & Cheese: International Jet Thieves?
UKRAINE HAS ITS VERY OWN DEEP STATE –When rumors swirled that Russia had broken through Ukraine’s defenses on a recent hot summer night, it wasn’t generals who confirmed the news but rather two guys with laptops. The New York Times describes how Ruslan Mykula and Roman Pohorilyi, co-founders of DeepState, an online war map showed Russian forces pushing nearly 10 miles forward. The update, which looked like a pair of rabbit ears on the screen, went viral and Kyiv’s military scrambled elite troops to plug the gap. DeepState has become Ukraine’s unofficial war dashboard, racking up nearly a million views a day. Civilians use it to decide when to flee, mayors mark it up like a football playbook, and even soldiers rely on it when the official army maps prove a little… selective. For all its influence, DeepState walks a tightrope according to the Times: commanders hate seeing bad news go public, propagandists nitpick, and every update risks political fallout. But when the country’s top general admits your hobby-turned-map is sometimes more reliable than the army’s, you’ve clearly redrawn the front lines of trust.
THE RECRUIT DISCHARGED: Somehow, we missed the news that the Netflix series “The Recruit,” about a young CIA lawyer who keeps getting into wild scrapes, had been cancelled after two seasons. The first season, starring Noah Centineo, started streaming in late 2022. It got decent Rotten Tomatoes ratings when it first came out and improved in season two which came online in 2025. However, when season one first streamed, The Dead Drop quoted a couple Cipher Brief experts as calling it “one of the dumbest things I’ve seen on TV” and suggesting that real CIA lawyers would be “mortified” by it. But while the public seemed to like it, the decision was announced not to go for an anticipated season 3 – without official explanation. Speculation was that the show was too costly to produce. Not enough buck for the bang, perhaps. Some scenes in the second season appeared to have been shot at CIA headquarters – suggesting that real CIA peeps were not so mortified about the show featuring a junior attorney engaging in gun battles, car chases and frequent fisticuffs.
(PUT YOUR) BOMBS AWAY: With the explosion of the use of artificial intelligence, it’s good to see that some are erecting guardrails intended to protect national security. Anthropic recently announced that they have created tools that can help determine whether someone asking questions of their Claude AI search platform is just having “benign nuclear-related conversations” or if they might be asking questions that could help bad actors actually develop nuclear weapons. Anthropic says it’s been working with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Department of Energy and that they are sharing their work on this with competitors as well. We asked ChatGPT if OpenAI had similar safeguards in place to filter incoming questions and to either refuse or redirect unsafe queries and we were told “yes.” ChatGPT offered to explain how AI distinguishes between legitimate scientific inquiries (e.g. learning about nuclear history or policy) and stuff like weapons design – but we passed. Sounded too much like rocket science to us.
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