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Dead Drop

The Dead Drop logo: red on white background.

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: 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 recently, as murky as the 8,000 feet of Mediterranean water now covering it. A just published CNN investigation has filled in some of the blanks. The ship's official paperwork claimed it was carrying industrial equipment and two manhole covers. According to CNN, Spanish authorities learned, however, from the ship's captain that the vessel may have been carrying components for two nuclear submarine reactors - possibly destined for North Korea. The [...] Read 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

Dead Drop: April 26 - May 2

SOFT PEDAL POWER: As President Trump gets ready to head to Beijing for a May 14-15 summit, the Wall Street Journal is recalling a warmer era. In [...] More

Dead Drop Archive

Dead Drop: April 19 - 25

WITCH WAY TO THE QUARTERDECK? Don’t you hate when things you say just keep coming back to haunt you? Well, the U.S. Navy has a new acting secretary, [...] More

Dead Drop: April 12 - 18

A NEW FOCUS FOR SEB? Sebastian Gorka is rumored to be making a quiet play for one of the most powerful counterterrorism jobs in Washington and it’s [...] More

Dead Drop: April 5 - 11

RUMOR HAS IT — According to an Axios report, President Trump was ready to fire Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard over her failure to [...] More

Dead Drop: March 29 - April 4

DIA - UNCONFIRMED – We’re hearing from the rumor mill that DIA Deputy Director Christine Bordine’s last day in that role was today (Wednesday) and [...] More

Dead Drop: March 22 - 28

YOUR PRIVACY TOOL IS WATCHING YOU: The whole point of a VPN (virtual private network) is to hide who you are and where you are. Turns out, that may [...] More

Dead Drop: March 15 - 21

THE BUZZ AT BARKSDALE: Earlier this month, a swarm of unidentified drones repeatedly buzzed Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, home to [...] More

Dead Drop: March 8-14

CLAWS FOR CONCERN: While the administration has spent a lot of time talking about waste, a government watchdog outfit called “Open the Books” quietly [...] More

Dead Drop: March 1-7

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND JOB INSECURITY: In a move that came as a surprise to almost no one (including apparently, the prediction markets) President [...] More

Dead Drop: February 22-28

WHAT’S THE STRATEGY HERE? ABC News was the first to report this week that Madhu Gottumukkala, who has been serving as acting director of the [...] More

Dead Drop: February 15 - 21

FROM A BUNKER IN UKRAINE: TWO FORMER CIA OFFICERS SHARE INTEL — In this week’s State Secrets podcast, former CIA Chiefs of Station Ralph Goff and [...] More

Dead Drop: February 8-14

BLANKET COVERAGE: Turns out the turbulence at the Department of Homeland Security isn’t just contained to the border or even in the briefing room. A [...] More

Dead Drop: February 1-7

OUT WITH THE FACTS — After first being launched in 1962, the CIA’s World Factbook is no more. As the agency described on its website, the World [...] More