Dead Drop: November 8

SHHHSH, DON’T TELL WOLF: Reliable sources tell us that former CIA and NSA Director, (and Cipher Brief Expert) General Michael V. Hayden received the William H. Webster Distinguished Service Award on Wednesday night at the International Spy Museum.  We’d like to be able to confirm that, but the event was “closed to media.”  This must have come as a surprise to the emcee for the evening, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Among those speaking (in addition to Hayden’s remarks accepting the award) were Judge William Webster, former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell, AT&T VP for National Security Jill Singer, and former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet. Our spies (and believe us we have a lot of them) say it was a “love fest” for Hayden.

OPEN RECORDS: Americans aren’t the only ones who help fill in the historical record by releasing old documents.  No, sir.  The Russians do it too.  A public exhibition in St. Petersburg, Russia recently featured a declassified six-paragraph KGB personnel evaluation from the 1980s of an up-and-coming young man, Vladimir Putin.  According to the Daily Mail, the personnel evaluation says “Comrade V.V. Putin constantly improves his ideological and political standards. He’s actively engaged in the party education network” and adds: “He constantly improves his professional skills.” We knew that boy was going to make something of himself.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

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