HOLD MY BEER (IN CYBER) — Imagine the nightmare scenario of a cyberattack depriving you of your favorite beer. That may soon be the sobering reality in Japan, which is set to run out of Asahi Super Dry, one of the country’s most popular beers. A devastating cyberattack hit the beer maker this week, shutting down the ordering and delivery systems of most of the brewery’s factories in Japan. Convenience stores and izakaya pubs are now telling customers that their go-to drink may be unavailable in the next couple of days. Cybersecurity experts say Japanese companies are a favorite target of cyber threat actors due to their poor defenses and propensity to pay ransoms. Gloria Glaubman, who served as Senior Cyber Advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, told The Cipher Brief that the U.S. and Japan must strengthen cyber cooperation to help both better counter digital threats.” Cheers to that!
VIDEO WARS: President Trump reposted (or re-Truthed or whatever you call it) a minute-long gag video based on the rock band Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 hit “The Reaper.” It features a cowl-clad Trump beating time on a cowbell while OMB chief Russ Vought, aka “The Reaper” comes after sombrero wearing Democrat politicians with the lyrics reading “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Interestingly, the official title of the original song is “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” Here’s something for Friday night trivia: “Fear the Reaper” has had quite a life. It was central to one of the most well-known Saturday Night Live sketches ever called “More Cowbell.” And in other entertainment news: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week said, “We heard that JD Vance loves a good-natured, funny meme, so we made one just for him!” The result was an NSFW image of the VP, with a sombrero getting uh - friendly - with a couch. It’s anyone’s guess where this goes from here.
DON'T RANT, DON'T TELL: Less than 48 hours after The Daily Mail quoted two unnamed Pentagon insiders saying that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had been “erupting in tirades, raging at staffers and obsessing about matters related to his security” the Washington Post reported that all employees within the Office of the Secretary of Defense would be required to sign non-disclosure agreements and would be subjected to random polygraph tests in an effort to stamp out leakers. Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called that report “untrue and irresponsible” which, by his standards, is a pretty mild denial.
IS IT THE CALL OF THE SEA? The U.S. Navy is proudly welcoming the largest group of new recruits since 2002, when American military services ranks were awash in a tsunami of patriotism in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. According to Military Times, Rear Adm. James Waters, head of Navy recruiting command, told reporters this week that the Navy had scored surpluses in every recruiting category, with enough in the Delayed Entry Program to make up about one-fourth of the recruiting goal for FY 2026. The Navy signed up 44,096 future sailors in FY 2025, nearly 3,500 beyond than the target of 40,600. Waters (which is such a great name for a Navy guy) attributed the sudden burst of interest in the service to more recruiters and less bureaucracy. But we think the answer might be ‘written’ elsewhere. In a string of logic based on no real data (cause that seems to be a trend these days), the Navy recently relaxed its rules for tattoos - permitting recruits to sport tattoos - just not on the head, face and scalp, (sorry Justin Bieber, you’re out) and any tattoos that could be deemed “prejudicial to good order, discipline, and morale - or are of a nature to bring discredit upon the naval service.” Notably, Waters said the Navy had slashed the time to approve prospective enlistees’ tattoos from 30 days to 2.7 days. “Young people today are much more inked than they were even a few years ago,” he observed.
EXPRESS YOURSELF (BUT MY WAY): No word on whether the Navy’s dramatically accelerated tattoo approval process has anything to do with the Pentagon’s most influential body art enthusiast – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who sports major ink. But who also told America’s top generals and admirals gathered at Quantico this week that the new grooming policy was, “No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression.” We’re not exactly sure what that last one means, but some have suggested that Hegseth’s own tattoos look a little bit like superficial individual expression. According to the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and other media, the works of art include a large Jerusalem cross dating from the Crusades, the Latin phrase, “Deus Vult,” “God wills it,” a Crusades-era battle cry, and the Arabic-root word kafir, which means non-Muslim or non-believer. Kafir and infidel were popular tattoos among some troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan but were discouraged by military leaders as insulting to the host nations. Hegseth wrote in his book, The War on Warriors that he resigned from the National Guard because he wasn’t allowed to serve on a security detail at President Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration, after fellow Guard members reported him as a possible extremist on account of his tattoos. (During Hegseth’s confirmation hearings, his fellow Guardsmen told reporters that they had suspected him because the Deus Vult motto had been adopted by white extremists, including some active military members.) If you’re confused, join the club. We’re still not actually sure whether the SecWar’s tattoos constitute ‘real’ individual expression - as opposed to the artificial kind that he is banning.
STILL REELING FROM THIS CATCH: Turkish fishermen working off the southeastern shore of the Black Sea earlier this week, spotted what looked like a small fiberglass boat drifting about 800 meters from the Yoroz Port in the Carsibasi district of Trabzon. Why are we telling you this, you ask? “When we lifted it with our crane, we realized it was a military unmanned vessel,” Turkish fisherman Halil Ibrahim Bozok told reporters, according to Türkiye Today and Turkey’s Andalou news agency. “We thought there might be something inside, but since nothing exploded while lifting it, we brought it ashore hanging on the side of our boat.” It turns out, the sleek thing banging off that fishing boat was a Ukrainian Magura kamikaze drone boat, that had veered off course. Oh, and it was loaded with about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of explosives. This realization was a huge ‘yikes’ moment. Trabzon governor Aziz Yildirim knew who it belonged to right away. “"We easily can say it belongs to Ukraine. It's even written on it." Yildirim warned Turkish fishermen and boaters, the next time they see something floating that looks like a device, don’t touch it, and notify authorities.
The Dead Drop is now updating throughout the week. Why? Because there's just too much good gossip in the national security world these days for a once-a-week collection.
MISSED THEIR CALLING? Something caught our eye about a recent story in The Daily Mail that claimed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is a bit touchy about his personal security these days citing unnamed Pentagon officials saying the Secretary is “crawling out of his skin”. Seems a bit of an odd description to us but the part of the story that really caught our eye was the response that The Daily Beast got when they asked about it. DoD apparently directed the publication to another statement given to the Daily Mail that wasn’t quoted in its entirety in the original story: ”[We] receive all kinds outrageous and untrue requests, but this might be the stupidest request we have received to date. You may be the least informed ‘journalist’ to ever report on the Pentagon. Your entire story is completely false.” Ouch. The statement reflects a kind of unfiltered, off-the-cuff, raw emotion that one wouldn’t expect from the DoD (until of course, Hegseth’s “Fat Generals” comments this week.) Anyway, we just think if this whole press spokesperson gig doesn’t work out - whoever wrote that response might just have a future as a Dead Drop writer.DUCK AND COVERAGE: Lost in all the coverage of the Pentagon’s gathering of most of their flag and general officers in Quantico on Tuesday – was the status of DOD/DOW’s batsh*t crazy new rules on press coverage. The new policy was supposed to go into effect October 1 – but has been met with near universal disdain amongst the media. No, make that universal. Oliver Darcy’s STATUS newsletter reported Tuesday night that not a single news organization had agreed to new requirements that they pledge not to report anything (even unclassified information) unless and until the Pentagon said they could. (Maybe the Pentagon official who wrote these new rules has never read the Constitution?) Late Tuesday, the Pentagon told media outlets – hang on – we’re making a few modifications to the rules and they generously offered “seven days of additional time for reporters and their respective news outlets to review the clarifications (after DOD/DOW gets around to telling them what the changes are).
DOD’S GREAT LOGISTICS EXERCISE: There remains a lot of mystery about Tuesday’s event at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia where very large numbers of generals, admirals, and their senior enlisted advisors will gather. The War Department is being very defensive (see what we did there?) about exactly how many people are coming but it is expected to be in the hundreds. The Washington Post reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s plan was to address the multitude and give them his views on “the warrior ethos.” After initial reporting suggesting that Hegseth hadn’t informed the White house that he was doing this, President Trump is now expected to attend as well. (You don’t upstage the boss on something like this, right?) The logistics are still a bit baffling. Like, where the organizers plan to put up hundreds of high-ranking visitors on such short notice and maybe more importantly, who will get the coveted on base flag officer parking spaces? We checked Booking.com and found there are still a few rooms left at Holiday Inn Express and Motel Six…but if you need a room, you better move fast. There seem to be quite a few rooms still available at a resort just a few miles away in nearby Dumfries, VA., so inbound GOFOs might want to roll the dice and book a room there – that is if counterintelligence officers from well – all over the world - haven’t booked them already.
DEPLOYED TO THE MEAN STREETS OF PORTLAND -- We don't know what the AirBnB situation is in Portland, but they may want to get ready. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a Saturday Truth Social blast from President Trump describing the city of Portland, Oregon as “war-ravaged” and ordering War Secretary Pete Hegseth to send troops to protect ICE facilities that the president believes are “under siege from antifa.” We’re not really sure about the president’s definition of “under siege” but we have been following headlines about protests outside of ICE facilities that have been going on for about 100 days now. Meanwhile, the president is authorizing the use of “Full Force,” which is apparently the new Pentagon term for “weapons, if it comes to that.” The fine print? Nobody’s sure if Trump means National Guard or active-duty soldiers, but either way it’s yet another round of “what counts as legal domestic troop use” in U.S. cities. He’s already deployed Guard units to L.A., D.C., and the border. Now Portland. As you can imagine, local leaders aren’t buying it. Oregon’s governor Tina Kotek flatly told Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that there’s no insurrection, no national security crisis, and no need to roll tanks down Burnside Street.
NOT WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR? Troops heading into Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune are getting a roadside reality check: “Did you go to Airborne just to pull security for ICE?” As Task & Purpose reports, that’s the message plastered on billboards outside two of the military’s largest bases, courtesy of About Face: Veterans Against The War and Win Without War. Translation: if you signed up for Ranger school but wound up scanning ICE spreadsheets, you might want to revisit the fine print on your enlistment papers. The billboards don’t just throw shade—they direct service members to a site called “Not What You Signed Up For,” offering encrypted messaging and connections to military lawyers. We’re interested to see how this mission turns out.
STAN MCCHRYSTAL’S NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE – Retired four-star general Stan McChrystal – who commanded the U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan has gone and done something he said he never wanted to do. In a LinkedIn post announcing the general’s new Masterclass series on leadership, the former Joint Special Operations Commander says “standing in front of a camera—while a twenty-something photographer tells me what to do with my arms and what expression to wear - is about as close to a nightmare as I can imagine.” While all the glam that comes with packaging leadership lessons into a class may not have been his “mental image of a career soldier”, McChrystal seems to be doing pretty well since retiring – advising boards and companies across the country on the secrets to managing turbulent times. It turns out that the military isn’t the only place where building stronger teams to face uncertainty with confidence is in high demand these days.
THE MOTHERSHIP HAS LANDED -- Task & Purpose confirms that the U.S. military’s favorite “nothing-to-see-here” spy ship has popped up in the Caribbean, and everyone’s pretending not to notice. The MV Ocean Trader - a cargo ship turned special ops Airbnb - was confirmed by Military Sealift Command to be in the region. Mission? Well, Special Operations Command declined to comment, which in Pentagon-speak usually means: “Yep, it’s doing exactly what you think it’s doing.” The ship has a colorful résumé. Once just another roll-on/roll-off cargo hauler named MV Cragside, it was quietly transformed into a floating barracks, command post, and covert launchpad for special forces. It can house 159 operators plus crew, loiter for 45 days, and launch zodiacs to chase cartel drug boats—exactly the kind of work the U.S. has been busy doing since August, blowing up three smuggling vessels and killing 17 traffickers. Not bad for a ship that’s supposed to blend in with merchant traffic like some undercover cop in a Hawaiian shirt. Open-source sleuths have already spotted the ship near St. Kitts and St. Croix—satellite imagery, Reddit posts, the whole OSINT circus. Meanwhile, naval analysts note that disguising warships as commercial vessels isn’t new; it goes back to WWII and got plenty of play during the Global War on Terror.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: IT’S COMPLICATED: Israeli authorities say they’ve nabbed an American-Israeli dual citizen, who allegedly thought moonlighting as an amateur spy for Tehran would be a smart life choice. According to Shin Bet and Israeli police, Yaakov Perl wasn’t just posting cranky anti-Zionist takes online—he was also allegedly feeding Iran info about Israeli officials (including former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and firebrand minister Itamar Ben Gvir) and filming random streets like some kind of budget TikTok operative. Israel says Perl was motivated by ideology, not cash, though Israelis say crypto deposits were made. Perl hasn’t yet publicly said whether he’s guilty of all of these charges or not. The U.S. State Department is dutifully repeating its “safety of U.S. citizens is our top priority” boilerplate language, while declining to say much else. For context, Perl is hardly alone—since October 7th, Israeli police have opened more than 25 Iran-linked spy cases and hauled in about 46 suspects. Translation: Iran seems to be running a clearance sale on espionage schemes.
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