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NatSecEDGE Special Report
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Dead Drop

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: January 25 - 31

A REASON TO TOAST – The Cipher Brief is hitting the treadmill this week to make sure they can fit into their black-tie evening attire by March 13, when they're rolling out a series of awards recognizing leading national security professionals who have made the greatest impact in a range of areas including; Cyber, Intelligence, Investment, Journalism and Alliances among others. We already know that former NSA Director General Paul Nakasone (Ret.) will be recognized with the Impact in Cyber Award and former senior CIA Officer Janet Braun will be recognized with this year’s Impact in [...] Read More

Dead Drop: January 18 - 24

HEAD GAMES ON THE USS FORD - Fresh from supporting U.S. operations off the coast of Venezuela, the USS Gerald R. Ford appears locked in a stubborn [...] More

Dead Drop: January 11 - 17

LICENSE TO EXPEL — DIPLOMACY GETS THE BOOT: Russia has ordered an unnamed British diplomat to leave Moscow within two weeks, accusing the official of [...] More

Dead Drop Archive

Dead Drop: January 4 - 10

NSA ENDS DEPUTY DIRECTOR DROUGHT: After a notably long stretch without a permanent senior civilian at Fort Meade, the National Security Agency has [...] More

Dead Drop: December 28 - January 4

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE DEAD DROP: If 2026 is anything like 2025, there will be no shortage of headlines full of absurdities, oddities and just plain [...] More

Dead Drop: December 21-27

YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP – If you are among those who spent the holidays dreaming of big beautiful battleships on the near horizon like the one [...] More

Dead Drop: December 14-20

COAST GUARD BACKS AWAY FROM “SWASTIKAS ARE JUST DIVISIVE” POLICY. SENATE BREATHES AGAIN -- After a week of self-inflicted chaos, the Coast Guard [...] More

Dead Drop: Week of December 7

THERE’S SOME WHACKY SH*T GOING ON AT NSA: It’s like leadership roulette at the National Security Agency (NSA), now with 100% more chaos. According to [...] More

The best national security gossip

THE MISSING ADMIRAL: There’s been a lot of media attention over the past few days about Frank “Mitch” Bradley – who back on September 2nd was a [...] More

Dead Drop: November 24

CODENAME 'INTELACCESS': For the first time ever in its decade of publishing national security insights from insiders, The Cipher Brief is offering a [...] More

Dead Drop: November 16

WHAT ABOUT THE SCULL AND CROSSBONES? The Washington Post reported recently that the U.S. Coast Guard had modified its stance on whether swastikas and [...] More

Dead Drop: Week of November 9

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: We assume the Trump administration elected to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War to send a [...] More

Dead Drop: Week of November 2

RECKLESS PEACEMAKER: MILEAGE MAY VARY – The Institute for Global Affairs — a think tank that measures global risk and public mood — just dropped a [...] More

Dead Drop: Week of October 26

RIGHT AND WONG: To say that there is a little sniping going on between federal government spokespeople and the media – might be underselling it just [...] More

Dead Drop: Week of October 19

WRECKING BALLROOM: There has been a ton of discussion over the past few days about the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make space [...] More