NATIONAL SECURITY SHOUT OUT: Outfits like the Pentagon and NASA like to brag about products the public loves – that were first developed for government use. Microwave ovens, mammograms, and mini-batteries are examples. Now we have another candidate. Slate tells us that authorities have found new uses for unmanned aerial vehicles (AKA: drones). Authorities in Italy, Spain, and the United States are using drones to shout at people. In this era of social distancing, instead of sending law enforcement officials to tell folks to quit hanging around each other in public – drones are being used to yell: “Hey, you! Get off the beach!” Police in New Jersey are also reportedly using drones to sing “Happy Birthday” to socially distanced kids.
LIVE! FROM THE LIVING ROOM: One of the many changes brought about by the COVID-19 crisis is that television networks have been unable to bring the usual assortment of commentators and experts into their studios to do interviews. So, they have resorted to asking their sources to do interviews from home using Skype, Facetime, Cisco Webex and other video services. This has resulted in interesting glimpses into the homelife of the “talking heads.” That, in turn, has created a new phenomenon – a Twitter account called @ratemyskyperoom. Started just this month, the proprietor (who calls himself Room Rater) had over 75K followers in less than three weeks. Room Rater offers sometimes snarky comments on the décor of interviewees. Given The Cipher Brief’s focus on national security – we singled out a few national security-related people @ratemyskyperoom has rated to bring to your attention. For example, reporter Sasha Ingber of Newsy earned an 8/10 rating for the “beachy vibe” of her living room as she talked about “new challenges for intelligence officers.” Former Secretary of State John Kerry also earned an 8 – but Room Rater oddly changed to a scale of 1 to 20 for him. CNN commentator Samantha Vinograd also got an 8 – but Room Rater thought she needed a few more books for her shelves. NBC’s national security correspondent Ken Dilanian managed only a 6 and earned an admonition that he should add a little art to his life. MSNBC consultant and former CIA and Pentagon chief of staff Jeremy Bash bombed with a 2 out of 10. He was described as “Smart guy but with bad art and a few obligatory books.” Canadian astronaut CDR Chris Hadfield on the other hand, aced the test with a 10 out of 10 and General Stanley McChrystal also earned highest honors. The general’s room was described as “Elegant, tasteful, and one you’d expect a war hero to have.” We wonder how many authors are secretly zooming in on the photos to look for their past works on interviewees’ bookshelves.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND: Governor Brian Kemp’s decision to open bowling alleys, massage salons and tattoo parlors in Georgia has received somewhat sketchy reviews. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank said that the state now “leads the race to become America’s no. 1 death destination.” Sadly, that motto is too long to fit on a license plate. Milbank added that “Public health experts fear coronavirus will burn through Georgia like nothing has since William Tecumseh Sherman.” Those kinds of opinions are normally beyond our scope in the Dead Drop. But Kemp managed to make the cut for Dead Drop observation by holding an outdoor press conference to announce his decision – and using a uniformed (presumably National Guard) captain as a human sign tripod – as can be seen in this photo. We knew there was a nationwide shortage of PPE – but easels?
TIME ON YOUR HANDS? NEED A LAUGH? Since so many folks are racking up a lot of time on streaming services, we thought we would share a list from “ScreenRant” with the so-called 10 best comedy spy films (at least according to IMDB.) Frankly, we think the Russians may have manipulated the polling. Their Top Five are: #5: “Top Secret!,” #4 ”True Lies,” #3 “The Man from U.N.C.L.E,” #2: “Despicable Me,” and #1: “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” The biggest laugh may be from their list.
MORE TIME ON YOUR HANDS? SERIOUSLY? An India-based online publication we have never heard of called “Scoop Woop” published their “secret list of 10 of the best spy shows you should watch during lockdown.” No comedies here. Their picks range from the obvious and familiar (like “The Americans” and “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”) to more obscure like “The Night Manager” about a hotel worker recruited to infiltrate an arm’s dealer’s inner circle.
STILL GOT TIME ON YOUR HANDS? LIKE DIPLOMACY? We stumbled across an audio diversion called “The American Diplomat Podcast.” Former Ambassador Pete Romero and writer/videographer Laura Bennett host a weekly chat with current and former U.S. diplomats. We think that diplomats and diplomacy don’t get enough love. If you agree, you might give them a listen.
HONEY DO’S AND DON’TS: Publishing sources tell us that Henry Schlesinger, one of the co-authors of The Spy Sites of New York City (which was reviewed recently in The Cipher Brief), has landed a new book deal. Rare Bird Books is said to have purchased rights to “Honey Trapped: Sex, Betrayal and Weaponized Love,” to be published in 2021. The book is said to examine some of the most famous honey traps, from Mata Hari to Anna Chapman – and will also look at “Romeo spies.”
THE SILENT SERVICE: The U.S. Navy has been in the headlines a lot lately – and not in a good way. So, it is reasonable to ask: who is in charge there? The answer, increasingly, seems to be: “none of your business.” Senator Elizabeth Warren recently wrote a letter to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, asking why the Navy is ignoring the law which requires public announcements be made when admirals are promoted or receive new postings. Section 510A of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act requires all services to announce promotions of top officers. According to Breaking Defense, last month the U.S. Naval Institute reported that 30 flag officers had been confirmed by the Senate – but their names and assignments were shielded from the public. Our sources tell us that the Navy has taken to heart guidance from former Secretary of Defense James Mattis to keep flag officer assignments under wraps due to some concern that admirals and generals are especially vulnerable to cyberattack. Seems to us if the Navy can’t protect the cyber security of their senior officers – they need to fire the person in charge of information security. We’d tell you who that is – but apparently it is a secret.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
HOW DARE THEY! Count on the “World Socialist Web Site” to find something done by American intelligence over which to be outraged. This week they are in high dudgeon concerning reports that U.S. intelligence services spied on Julian Assange when he was hiding out in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for several years. Last week, Stella Morris, a 37-year-old lawyer, admitted that she regularly consulted with Assange in the Embassy – and those consultations produced, among other things, two babies. Morris and her supporters claim that a private Spanish security firm, “perhaps” working for the CIA, struggled to get the babies’ DNA to try to confirm their parentage. Unnamed sources quoted in “WSWS” darkly hint that “given the sordid history of the CIA” the possibility cannot be excluded that the Agency intended to harm the babies. Yeah, right.
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