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Dead Drop

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NOUN

  1. A location to secretly pass information without a face-to-face meeting.

Each week we hope to give our readers tidbits of gossip from the world of national security and intelligence. The Dead Drop is a source of fun or intriguing news you can’t get anywhere else.

Got a tip for us? Email us at  thedeaddrop@thecipherbrief.com  and share the scoop. We promise to protect our sources and methods.

Below is our recent intelligence collection:

Dead Drop: October 18 - 24

NOC NOC, WHO’S THERE? The Washington Post, citing half a dozen people familiar with the plan, reports that the Defense Department is building its own program of nonofficial cover officers, or NOCs. These are spies often posing as businesspeople with no visible government ties. Their target reportedly is China’s economy. The Post says Tom Rakusan, a 39-year CIA veteran who rose to head the agency’s clandestine service, is running the effort. The Pentagon, however, says the program doesn’t exist. “This query appears to be built on information that is simply not true,” a spokesman said. The CIA [...] Read More

Dead Drop: October 11 - 17

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW, BEIJING? We were interested to learn that the Pentagon uses more than 568,000 wireless phone lines that are covered by a $2.67 [...] More

Dead Drop: October 4 - 10

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR BEIJING? When we told you a few weeks ago about the F-35 parts that took a wrong turn to Hong Kong, nobody could say how it [...] More

Dead Drop Archive

Dead Drop: Sept 27 - October 3

CANOE SEE ME NOW? The Pentagon's newest border sentry is 11 feet long, weighs 340 pounds, runs on sunshine and has never once asked for overtime. [...] More

Dead Drop: September 20 - 26

WHO’S YOUR DADDY? According to the Justice Department, Lee Reiber, 55, CEO of Virginia-based Oxygen Forensics, was arrested in Idaho on a federal [...] More

Dead Drop: September 13 - 19

GOLDEN IWO JIMA: We’ve never heard anyone suggest that the Iwo Jima Memorial needs a little more bling. But that didn’t stop President Trump from [...] More

Dead Drop: September 6-12

RUSSIA PRACTICES CABLE-CUTTING, GETS CAUGHT MID-REHEARSAL: Russia's GUGI, a secretive Russian military unit whose entire job is apparently finding [...] More

Dead Drop: August 30 - September 5

AD-VERSARY DENIED: Per Reuters, the Air Force has disabled advertising identifiers on military computers and mobile phones, while U.S. Special [...] More

Dead Drop: August 23 - 29

A NOT-SO-SECRET REUNION -- The NSA is reportedly calling some of its former top hackers back to Fort Meade tomorrow — both a reunion and recruiting [...] More

Dead Drop: August 16 - 22

PRINCE OF THE AIR — Blackwater founder Erik Prince has reportedly launched an air defense company offering both hardware and operational management [...] More

Dead Drop: August 9 - 15

THIS DOESN'T REALLY WORK BOTH WAYS -- The Washington Post includes excerpts from reporter Joby Warrick’s new book about Carlos the Jackal, the [...] More

Dead Drop: August 2 - 8

UNCLE SAM'S EMPTY QUIVER, FULL PRISONS? According to the Washington Post, President Trump's patience "boiled over" at Camp David last Friday when he [...] More

Dead Drop: July 26 - August 1

DON’T YOU HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS? It used to be that embarrassing mistakes that popped up during public presentations just kinda got forgotten about, [...] More

Dead Drop: July 19 - 25

DIRTY LAUNDRY BEAR: The Russians have apparently discovered a new way to air other people's dirty laundry. The NSA, FBI, CISA and a long roster of [...] More

Dead Drop: July 12 - 18

FOR BETTER OR WORSE – According to reporting from MS NOW, (not the president’s favorite network) two Atlanta-based FBI intelligence analysts were [...] More