LEAD THE NAVY, SEE THE WORLD: On July 31, 2015 – the very first edition of The Dead Drop was published. Among the items that day was a piece about the then-Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, who made it his mission to travel around the United States throwing out the first pitch at as many Major League baseball stadiums as possible. So, it seems entirely appropriate, in this, our 300th edition of The Dead Drop, to report how far the Navy has gone. No, they are not still focused on first pitches, but the most recent Navy Secretary, Kenneth Braithwaite, is in the news for aggressively building up frequent flyer miles during his brief time in office at the end of the Trump administration. USA Today was first to report that Braithwaite spent about $2.4 million on travel to 22 destinations during his eight months in office, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Navy secretary outdistanced every other senior Pentagon official during that period. Among his excursions was a $24,000 field trip to the Army/Navy game in December 2020 and a $232,000 jaunt to Wake Island in the South Pacific in January when Braithwaite had just days left in office. What is odd – is that the Navy says there are no sailors or Marines stationed on Wake. Braithwaite told USA Today that “…it’s impossible to lead men and women deployed around the world from behind a desk in Washington.” How much leading you can do when you are on your way out of office and there are no sailors or Marines around is unclear. But Braithwaite has certainly left quite a record in his Wake.
THE SPY MASTER’S SPOKESPERSON: CIA Director Bill Burns has sent a message by bringing onboard a new top spokesperson. This week the CIA announced that Burns has brought in Tammy Kupperman Thorp to be Director of the agency’s Office of Public Affairs. Thorp, who is highly regarded by intelligence and media types with whom we checked, brings a remarkable resume that reflects several distinct past careers. Most recently, she was Director of Media Relations for BAE Systems. Before that she served in senior positions with the National Counterterrorism Center and the Office of Naval Intelligence. But those IC jobs were bracketed with long tenured jobs as a producer for NBC News and CNN. Much of that media time was spent covering the Pentagon, Intelligence Community, State Department and White House. So, Thorp knows the challenge communicating a national security message from both sides of the equation. She is also no stranger to The Cipher Brief. Last September she penned a book review for us – critiquing Chris Whipple’s The Spy Masters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future. Little did she (or we) know then, that nine months later, Thorp would be helping a new CIA director shape history. Congratulations, Tammy.
FRESH OUT OF ENERGY: Veteran defense reporter Mark Thompson has gotten wind of a new Pentagon request for proposals from contractors who think they can design a method of studying the breath of individuals to see if they are tired. Perhaps in the future, battlefield commanders will - instead of looking into the eyes of their troops - will just sniff their breath to see if they are fit for battle.
YACHT’S A BIG BOAT: Amazon skipper Jeff Bezos is buying a boat. A big one. According to CNN Business, Bezos is having a 417-foot long “superyacht” built. And because he is into conservation, no doubt, in addition to engines, the yacht will have three giant masts so Bezos can get around by sail when the spirit and the winds move him. The anticipated price is $500 million. Those pesky masts, however, prevent Bezos from putting a helipad on the yacht. So, he is also buying his yacht — a yacht – which can trail along and will be able to handle chopper traffic. Trying to picture how big a 417-foot yacht might be? That is just three feet shorter than the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Independence, for example. The Independence cost only $360 million to build and can handle helicopters. We suspect the living quarters on Independence are not quite as plush as where Bezos will bunk, however.
TWO FOR THE BOOKS: MSNBC counterterrorism analyst Malcolm Nance, a retired Navy senior chief petty officer, has landed a two-book deal with St. Martin’s Press. John le Carré seems to have inspired the title for the first book which will be called: “Thinker, Sailor, Blackman, Spy: The Declassified Memoirs of an American Intelligence Warrior.” Nance’s book is said to be about his 30-year career in naval intelligence. According to his publisher it will provide his perspective as an African American foreign language expert, code breaker and interrogator “who risked his life to defend his nation from foreign warlords, terrorists, and dictators in numerous top-secret operations, all while chronicling the experience of being a Black man in America.” “Thinker, Sailor…” is due out in the fall of 2022. No word on what the second book will be about.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
BADGES? WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING BADGES! A recent traffic incident in Brook Park, Ohio reminded us of a classic clip from the Treasure of Sierra Madre. A guy by the name of Gregory Candea allegedly made an illegal left turn – and just prior to doing so, activated some blue police lights on his Ford pickup truck. This caught the attention of some actual police officers who pulled him over and asked him for some ID. According to the complaint, Candea said he was a “Central Intelligence Agency agent (sic) working undercover.” The cover wasn’t too deep since he was wearing a t-shirt at the time with a CIA emblem on the breast. Then, instead of providing CIA credentials, police say Candea pulled out a badge identifying him as working for the FBI. Cops found handcuffs, a stun gun and a DEA badge in the vehicle. Candea told police that he also works for the U.S. Treasury Department. You will be shocked to learn he does not work for any of those organizations. Local news organizations captured some of the exchanges from police bodycams.
YA GOTTA HAND IT TO THEM: We’d like to salute the senior Uzbekistan military officers featured in this video made during their “Victory Day” celebrations marking the end of World War II in Europe. In the video, as what we presume is the Uzbek national anthem plays, four uniformed officers go through various gymnastics trying to figure out whether they should match a senior civilian-clad official who is holding his hand over his heart or render, you know, a military salute. It is kind of hard to explain – but do yourself a favor and watch the video.
YA GOTTA HAND IT TO US: We have survived 300 editions of The Dead Drop. The best way for readers to salute our stick-to-it-tiveness is to reward us with tips about Drop-worthy items. Send us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com. Knowing that your tip made it into The Dead Drop is like a badge of honor.
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