NOT SO FAST, MUIR: In the last Dead Drop, we explained why it was a good idea to bring in an experienced hand, Morgan Muir, to deliver the President’s Daily Brief to an experienced intelligence consumer, President Joe Biden. The next day, BuzzFeed posted a story quoting Daniel Jones, lead author of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s controversial 2014 report in CIA interrogation practices, as saying Muir should not be trusted because he previously criticized Jones’ work. CIA spokesperson Tim Barrett was cited in the story, defending Muir as “an exemplary career intelligence officer whose strength of character is unquestionable.” However, in Washington, it seems the only thing you are not allowed to question is Daniel Jones’s report. By nightfall, The New York Times was reporting that administration officials were saying that Muir was no longer slated to brief Biden but would coordinate the efforts of younger analysts who would. (By the way, if Daniel Jones’ name sounds familiar, it could be because of the 2019 movie “The Report” which featured actor Adam Driver portraying Jones as he heroically produced the report against great odds and mean people at the CIA. Turns out, the movie was (like the report itself) misleading and flawed. The Lawfare Blog pointed out many of the inconsistencies between the movie and real life. Former CIA Director John Brennan wrote in his memoir Undaunted, that: “In mid-2014, while the SSCI study was still underway, Dan Jones told colleagues that he intended to make a movie about the SSCI investigation and the interactions between the committee and the CIA.” The implication was that Jones had one eye on burnishing his own reputation while working on the SSCI report. If they make a sequel to “The Report,” Jones can add a scene about how he derailed Morgan Muir.) The New York Times report quoted two intelligence officials as insisting that the buzz from BuzzFeed had nothing to do with Muir no longer getting POTUS facetime. Color us unconvinced.
DETAINING THE MAURITANIAN: While we are talking about movies about interrogation, here’s another one coming soon. “The Mauritanian” is set to hit “select theaters” on February 12th. Tahar Rahim portrays Mohamedou Ould Slahi in a movie based on Slahi’s memoir “Guantanamo Diary” describing his stay at GITMO while being suspected of helping organize the 9/11 attacks. Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch also star in the movie. The trailer starts with the words “This is a true story” which omits the usual phrase “based on” — and just asserts the flick is factual. Rahim told Salon about the lengths he was prepared to go to get the story right saying “I wanted to be waterboarded for real…” That seems like quite a commitment – especially since Slahi was not one of the three Al Qa’ida detainees who were subjected to that technique.
FLYGIRL: Somewhere about hour-five of the pregame festivities ahead of last Sunday’s Super Bowl, there was a three-bomber flyover of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The formation was led by Captain Sarah Kociuba. Flanking her B-2 Spirit was a B-1B Lancer and a B-52 Stratofortress. It was not a super long flight, so the B-52 probably was not equipped with one of those toilet curtains mentioned in last week’s Dead Drop. One observer looking at the unique silhouettes of the bombers noted (tongue in cheek, we think) that it was a shame they couldn’t find three planes of the same type.
OUR BAD: Your Dead Drop team would like to formally apologize to the U.S. Space Force for suggesting in the past that their newly adopted name to describe their members – as “Guardians” was – well, dumb. To us, it sounded more like a name for mall cops rather than intergalactic warriors. But then Politico reported that, prior to picking “Guardians” the Air Force had solicited suggestions from the public. Some 400 ideas were floated and many of them were other worldly. Among them were “FloatyBois” and “Astrogators.” The complete list also had obvious but offensive names like “Space Cadets” and “Spacies” and even dumber ones like “Custodians,” “Cosmonauts” and “Stargeants.” Based on that – Guardians is starting to grow on us.
RED WIDOW RISING: Fox Television is reportedly developing a one-hour CIA thriller TV series based on Alma Katsu’s forthcoming book, Red Widow. Katsu is a former NSA and CIA analyst. According to Deadline.com, the book tells of two female CIA officers who “become intertwined around an internal threat to the Agency’s Russia Division as they navigate the mostly male world of intelligence.” “Red Widow” hits bookstores on March 23rd. We first mentioned it last June. Look for a review in The Cipher’s Brief’s Undercover book section around that date. Note: a TV network “developing” a series generally means they are having a script prepared and may shoot a pilot – it does not necessarily mean the series is guaranteed to make air.
OVERNIGHT SUCCESS: Alma Katsu’s good fortune of having her yet-to-be-published novel developed for a TV series is particularly impressive when you consider this next item. The FX network has ordered a pilot for a drama based on Sam Greenlee’s 1969 novel “The Spook Who Sat by the Door.” The fictional story was about a Black man recruited by the CIA in the late 1960s as part of a token “racial equality” program. Lee Daniels, co-creator of the TV series Empire, has signed on to executive produce the potential series. In truth, it didn’t take half a century for Greenlee to win success in Hollywood. The novel was turned into a movie by the same title in 1973. But this is the first time it has a chance of becoming a series.
SLOW SEAL: Even well-known novelists can take a long time to have their books make it to the silver screen (can you still call it the “silver screen” if a motion picture only streams online?) In any case – Tom Clancy’s 1993 book Without Remorse is being made into a movie with Michael B. Jackson portraying Navy SEAL John Clark. A trailer for the flick which debuts on Amazon Prime on April 30, 2021 has been posted. A piece on Task&Purpose.com (by Marine veteran James Clark) seems to suggest there have been too many SEAL movies.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
AFTER A BAD PATCH: Stars and Stripes reports that there has been a rash of unofficial military patches, coins and other paraphernalia being sold near U.S. bases in South Korea with phrases like “I Survived COVID-19.” Military regs say you can’t wear the items on your uniforms but can on your off-duty duds. Here at The Dead Drop, we are in favor of funny patches, and the like. But we must admit we were a bit confused by the story. After all – if you see someone walking around – isn’t it pretty clear than they survived COVID-19 (at least so far) and don’t need a patch to confirm that?
TOOTING SUPERMAN’S HORN: Philip K. Johnson is disguised as a mild-mannered trumpet player for a major metropolitan Army Field Band – but in truth he has been identified as the person selected to be the writer behind a new series of Superman comics. DC Comics says Johnson is a Sergeant First Class with the U.S. Army Field Band. Johnson has written for DC Comics before. Without spoiling it –we can tell you that in the forthcoming episode Superman’s son, Jonathan, comes back from the 31st century to fight cosmic threats alongside his father. (Being several centuries behind – we did not know Superman had a son.)
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