Dead Drop: April 25

THE CIPHER BRIEF SPEAKEASY IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS (BRIEFLY): While all the buzz was about The Cipher Brief HONORS Dinner last weekend and the amazing […] More

Dead Drop: April 18

THE BEST NATIONAL SECURITY BALL OF THEM ALL:  The Cipher Brief is hosting its annual HONORS Dinner this week in Washington, recognizing the best of […] More

Dead Drop: April 11

“LUDICROUS”: CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly made a secret trip to Dubai this week to oversee the release of U.S. Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina, […] More

Dead Drop: April 4

EXPERTS NEED NOT APPLY: The Dead Drop has learned that NSA Director General Timothy Haugh (who also serves as Commander of U.S. Cyber Command) and […] More

Dead Drop: March 28

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: With The Cipher Brief HONORS Dinner just two weeks away, we thought we’d have a little fun introducing you to […] More

Dead Drop March 21

ROGAN RUSHES TO DEFEND CANADA’S FREEDOM: Everyone agrees that Donald Trump did his candidacy a LOT of good by spending a whopping two hours and […] More

Dead Drop: March 14

THEY SAID IT WOULDN’T LAST:  Or maybe it was: “shouldn’t last.” We forget.  But in any case, welcome to the 500th edition of The Dead Drop. Our […] More

Dead Drop: March 7

BEST YEAR EVER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY GOSSIP: We have to keep reminding ourselves that it’s only March because the flurry of activity in Washington over […] More

Dead Drop February 28

FOUR MORE YEARS OF SALTY GOSSIP:  While the Dead Drop plays no political favorites, we’d be lying if we said the gossip business isn’t booming […] More

Dead Drop: February 21

WELL, ISN’T THAT SPECIAL?  According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia’s spy services have cooked up a shadowy new unit called the ‘Department of Special Tasks’, known by […] More

Dead Drop: February 14

RUSSIA’S SHADOW FLEET SAILS INTO TROUBLE:  A 19-year-old Panama-flagged vessel that runs about the size of three football fields ran into a streak of bad […] More

Dead Drop: February 7

KILLING HIM SOFTLY?  Tucker Carlson, seemingly the only former Fox News performer without an assignment in the new administration, made some news recently by saying on his […] More

Dead Drop: January 31

EVER READY:  According to the Russian news agency TASS, Sergey Naryshkin, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says he is ready to meet […] More

Dead Drop: January 24

MUST BE AN ‘ACTING DIRECTOR’ RECORD – The Senate moved quickly this week to confirm John Ratcliffe as the Trump administration’s new CIA Director as […] More

Dead Drop: January 17

DUST OFF THE TUX FOR SPY PROM: Who doesn’t love a Washington black-tie dinner?  Especially one where the ‘who’s who’ of the national security world […] More

Dead Drop: January 10

WHAT A DRAG: Finnish authorities say the tanker suspected of cutting multiple underwater cables in the Gulf of Finland apparently dragged its anchor for “up to 50 […] More

Dead Drop: January 3

A BRAVE NEW YEAR: The Ukrainian Defense Innovation Fund known as BRAVE1 isn’t waiting around to find out what happens regarding U.S. support for Ukraine […] More

Dead Drop: December 27

HO, HO, HOLY SMOKE: Drones are much in the news these days. The ones over New Jersey (so far) appear to be benign. The same cannot be said […] More

Dead Drop: December 20

UMM, BECAUSE HE’S EVIL?  We must admit that we are not regular followers of Tucker Carlson’s podcast – but you can rest assured, when something really […] More