THE CHINESE ARE BAD ACTORS: Not just the government – but also their actors. The Chinese news agency Xinhua released a 4 minute and 41 second English-language spoof video that mocks British and U.S. intelligence. The Guardian provided a copy – and if you have five minutes to waste – give it a look. The Chinese call it “No Time to Die Laughing” but rest assured there is no danger of you doing so. The film features a British spy dubbed “James Pond” AKA “Agent 0.07” and a female CIA officer they call “Black Window.” (The reasons for this must have been lost in translation.) Real world MI6 chief Richard Moore responded by thanking China for the “free publicity” referring to a speech he made last year calling Beijing his agency’s “greatest priority.” The Chinese may pose a military and cyber security threat to the West – but Hollywood has nothing to worry about. We asked the CIA what they thought of the spoof but they didn’t respond. They were probably too busy laughing.
BYE NUNES: This week, Devin Nunes (formerly R-CA) resigned from Congress to become CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG.) He is, of course, familiar to Dead Drop readers as the colorful and controversial former chairman (and then ranking member) of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI.) House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has named Representative Mike Turner (R, OH) as the new ranking member of HPSCI. Given the narrow split between the parties and the common occurrence that the party of out power gains seats in mid-term elections, that means that Turner has a decent chance of becoming HPSCI chairman in the session of Congress that will begin a year from now in 2023. Turner is a former mayor of Dayton, Ohio (home of Wright Patterson AFB) and, according to Politico – is “considered more of a pragmatist than his predecessor.”
GO NORTH YOUNG MAN: There were press accounts this week that a defector was spotted crossing the border between North and South Korea. That’s not an uncommon event – but in this case, the person was going from South to North. After some initial confusion – officials in Seoul said the traveler was believed to be a gymnast who had previously defected from North to South. They suspect he was a guy who went South in November 2020 and had been having trouble adjusting to his new life in Seoul. It is unclear what he found so objectionable – perhaps it was K-Pop. Reuters says he lived a meagre existence in the South. Man, it must have been very meagre if he found a return to North Korea attractive.
AHEAD OF HIS TIMES? In July 2020, the Dead Drop mentioned that Cipher Brief expert Admiral Jim Stavridis was floating the idea that the name of the Washington Football Team should be changed to the “Fighting Admirals.” That was not the first name a lot of folks would have come up with. Admiral Stavridis argued that while the “Washington Generals” might more immediately come to mind – that name was used for years by the team that lost every game to the Harlem Globetrotters. The Generals have a win-loss record even worse than that of the WFT. Not much had been heard about the name game until this week. The Washington team just revealed that the new name will be formally announced on February 2nd. Then multiple media accounts reported that the name would be the “Washington Admirals.” For a while – WashingtonAdmirals.com would re-direct you to the Washington Football Team website. After that was pointed out – someone re-directed the re-direction. Stavridis, who created a website for the “Fighting Admirals” 18 months ago – says “Don’t give up the fight.”
J. EDGAR WOULD BE PROUD: A lot of folks were dunking on the FBI this past weekend after the Washington Field Office posting an item on social media about the exciting careers on offer at FBIJOBS.GOV. What caught the eye of a lot of people was the accompanying photo which shows a woman wearing a shirt with giant FBI letters on it, hands on hips, staring at a dimly lit wall with photos, newspaper clippings and other items tacked up – with string (or yarn or something) connecting some of them. Cutting-edge link analysis technology from the 1930s. Perhaps not the image best to capture the interest of tech savvy potential recruits that the Bureau needs. Just sayin’.
SUIT SETTLED? Back in December, we told you about former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper suing his former agency for slow rolling the clearance process for his forthcoming memoir, A Sacred Oath, are not sure it that has been resolved – but noticed that the publisher William Morrow, announced an on-sale date of May 10, so they seem to be optimistic. The book is described as a “first person recounting of his tumultuous tour of duty at the Pentagon until he was fired by the President after the November 2020 election. Morrow, by the way, landed the deal in an auction handled by his literary agents at Javelin.
SECOND PRIZE IS AN AMBASSADORSHIP IN NORTH KOREA? We’ve written before about the snail’s pace at which the Senate has been proceeding in confirming ambassadorial nominees. Fortunately, right before adjourning – a whole bunch of envoys to important – and not so important posts were confirmed. By our count, about 40 U.S. ambassadors (ranging alphabetically from Albania to Vietnam were confirmed in December.) Interesting to note, however, is that the administration has not nominated anyone to fill the job of ambassador to Ukraine. Maybe they figure by the time they could get someone confirmed – the post would just be a consulate within Russia. Ouch.
LITERARY LICENSE TO KILL: The FSB has announced that it is establishing its own literary journal, to be called “Vector.” The stated purpose of the Russian State security service’s venture into creative writing is to “mobilize public support” and “strengthen the FSB’s positive image in the eyes of the population.” According to an announcement, the magazine will “illuminate the activities of domestic security agencies with the means and methods of fiction, documentary, and journalism” and among the authors will be “former and current employees of the security agencies.” We are guessing that if the goal is to increase public support – they might want to lean heavily on fiction.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
THIS SEEMS TO BE A TRENDING TOPIC: Last week’s Dead Drop had an item about a U.S. Army fire-fighting that was crew helping to battle an enormous “dung heap” fire in Germany. This week’s edition has a small dead dropping about excrement as well. The website UNILAD dug up a golden oldie about how, during Vietnam, CIA hid seismic detection devices in the jungle disguised as tiger poop.
A FIX TO A PROBLEM YOU DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED: Navy Lieutenant Mitchell Kempisty was unhappy that the nametag on his coverall uniform kept wrinkling and curling and looking, well, not shipshape. So, according toNavy Times, he “bought a basic 3D printer, futzed around with it on his dining room table during his off time, learned computer-aided design, or CAD, and then cranked out a prototype” stiffener to attach to his name tag. Three years later, the Naval Academy graduate with a master's degree in aeronautical engineering may be on the verge of seeing his product sold in military exchanges. The article makes it sound like the product (called “The Enforcer”) is just a piece of plastic with Velcro on the back – but we’re sure there must be more to it than that.
WE COULD USE A FEW NEW WRINKLES: Send tips on stuff we should cover in an email to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
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