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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: August 9 - 15

GERMANY’S SPIES GET PERMISSION TO SPY: The Guardian reports that the German cabinet has approved legislation dramatically expanding the powers of the country’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, and domestic security service, the BfV — including the authority to hack computer systems, disrupt foreign cyber operations and use spyware and AI to analyze data. The reforms (which must still pass parliament) would also allow German intelligence to take active measures against threats, including secretly neutralizing explosives. That provision comes amid growing concern over hybrid operations, [...] Read 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 Archive

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

Dead Drop: July 5 - 11

YOU WANT ME TO RIDE WHERE? General Tony Thomas (Ret.), former Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command doesn’t seem to have slowed down much in [...] More

Dead Drop: June 28 - July 4

PARDON ME? Word around Washington is that President Trump is thinking about whether he wants to issue 250 new presidential pardons to mark the [...] More

Dead Drop: June 21 - 27

SILENCING THE GENERALS: A bipartisan chorus in Congress is demanding to know why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out more than twenty [...] More

Dead Drop: June 14 - 20

A NEW REALITY SHOW AT ODNI? The leadership page of the ODNI website now officially reflects William J. Pulte as Acting Director. This, as CNN reports [...] More

Dead Drop: June 7 - 13

HOW INTELLIGENT WAS THAT? Just before President Trump yanked the Acting Director of National Intelligence gig from Mar-a-Lago member Bill Pulte this [...] More

Dead Drop: May 31 - June 6

A “SPECIAL (OPS)” OPENING PITCH — We have it on good authority that Saturday’s opening pitch at the Yankees vs. Red Sox game is being thrown by a [...] More

Dead Drop: May 24 - 30

GOLD RUSH: A man referred to as David Rush, a Senior Intelligence Service-level CIA officer with top secret/SCI clearance was arrested on May 19 [...] More

Dead Drop: May 17 - 23

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS A REALLY AWKWARD CHOICE: The U.S. and Israel reportedly went into their war on Iran with a regime-change plan that could [...] More

Dead Drop: May 10 - 16

MANHOLE COVER STORY: A Russian cargo ship called the Ursa Major sank off the coast of Spain in December 2024 under circumstances that were, until [...] More

Dead Drop: May 3 - 9

WORLDWIDE SHADOW POLICE: Beijing's transnational harassment apparatus had a rough week in a variety of jurisdictions. A London jury convicted two men [...] More