Dead Drop: August 12

HBO TAKES ON ISIS: Deadline Hollywood reports that HBO is working on a mini-series based on Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick’s Pulitzer prize winning book, “Black Flags – The Rise of ISIS.” Actor Bradley Cooper is running the project.  No word on whether the star of “American Sniper” and the forthcoming “War Dogs” plans to act in the mini-series or just produce.

HEAVY SNOWDEN: The usually unreliable Sunday Express newspaper in the UK had a story this past week that raised some eyebrows.  The story asked the rhetorical question: Has Edward Snowden been executed? The paper’s rationale for the questionable question was two mysterious tweets from Snowden in Russia.  The first said: “Did you work with me? Have we talked since 2013? Please recontact me securely. It’s time.”  The second was a string of letters and numbers: ffdae96f8dd292374a988ec8b57d9cc680ce1d23cb7072c522efe32a1a7e34b0.

The Sunday Express speculates that the string is code signaling that Snowden has been done in by his Russian hosts.  The Dead Drop speculates that it means he got a cat who tiptoed across his keyboard.  Both Snowden tweets have since been deleted.  And that leads the Sunday Express to conclude that perhaps Snowden has been deleted too.  As of this writing… Snowden has not sent out a tweet since August 5.  So… ya never know.  Ed Snowden: phone home! 

PREDATOR BOMBINGS PLAYBOOK: Various media, including the LA Times, over the weekend reported that the White House had quietly released (in response to ACLU FOIA requests) a redacted version of their 2013 “playbook” on how to decide who to kill or capture in the war on terror.  The 18-page document (with a fair number of redactions) didn’t satisfy some critics, who complained that it didn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know from public statements by administration figures.  A close reading of the actual document, however, does tell you how heavily bureaucratized the process has become to “nominate” candidates, not just for possible drone strikes, but also to be captured and detained. The process seems so convoluted that it is no wonder that hardly any senior terrorists (whether al Qaeda or ISIS) seem to get captured these days.  The paperwork is just too hard.

DOWN GOES THE OLD MILLEY STREAM: Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley sent out a tweet Tuesday morning inviting followers to watch him live at 9AM at an event sponsored by the Army Training and Doctrine Command called the “Mad Scientist Initiative.” The event looked at future technology developments and threats in 2025 and beyond. But the peek into Milley’s crystal ball went dark when the live streaming was suddenly cut. The Washington Examiner says Milley could be heard asking for the plug to be pulled. What happened?  The Army won’t say beyond that they regret the inconvenience.  If Milley really authorized the tweet inviting viewers and then changed his mind – you have to wonder about the Army’s ability to predict threats a decade from now when they can’t anticipate one 30 minutes ahead.

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