Dead Drop: April 16

SOUNDS FAMILIAR: The White House announced on April 12^th that the President will nominate Christine S. Abizaid to be the director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC.) If confirmed by the Senate, Abizaid will be the first woman to hold the job full-time.  She previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration and has served on the National Security Council staff. DNI Avril Haines lauded Abizaid’s lengthy resume including her “command of counterterrorism issues, leadership acumen and enterprising approach.” If the name sounds familiar, she is also the daughter of General John Abizaid who (among other things) was head of U.S. Central Command and oversaw military efforts in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Proving that “irony” is dead, following the announcement, the former Acting DNI Ric Grenell tweeted: “Biden snubs multiple female career experts to run NCTC – and instead selects a politically connected partisan with a famous father. This is how DC works…sadly.” Let’s unpack that a little. Way back in 2020, President Trump picked Grenell (a political appointee ambassador with minimal intelligence experience) to temporarily be Acting DNI after firing the previous acting DNI who was installed after the administration ousted the highly-qualified female career intelligence expert, Principal Deputy DNI (Sue Gordon). Oh, and Christy Abizaid’s “famous father?”  He was serving as Trump’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia at the time.

THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE UNCONVINCED: CNN reported recently that nearly 40% of U.S. Marines have declined COVID-19 shots. The other U.S. military services have so far not provided participation statistics, although the Army Surgeon General says 80 percent of active duty soldiers will be vaccinated by July 4th.  A Marine spokesperson told CNN that some of those turning down the jab may have done so because they generously were allowing others to get it first.  Right.  Maybe they were waiting for this: the (satirical) website Duffel Blog recently suggested that the FDA has authorized the Crayola vaccine for Marine Corps use, writing “Crayons have been a favorite of Marines throughout history, so Crayola is a natural fit as a vaccine maker.”  But in the real world, the military cannot currently require troops to take the shot – since the various vaccinations have only been granted “emergency use authorization” by the FDA. Meanwhile, conservative media outlet, The Blaze, reported that some folks recently noticed that the U.S. Navy added a face mask to their bald eagle logo. They quoted social media users as saying things like: “China, Iran, and Russia are laughing at us.” The Navy subsequently pointed out that the mask was added about a year ago. We think China, Iran and Russia might be laughing about the fact that the U.S. gives its troops a vote on whether to take the vaccine at all.