“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, who had been sentenced to a penal colony in Russia where she was to serve a 12-year sentence for treason. Her crime? Allegedly donating the equivalent of about $50USD to benefit a charity that was reportedly aiding Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s war. In exchange for Karelina, the U.S. released German-Russian dual national Arthur Petrov, who had been arrested in Cyprus back in 2023 for allegedly exporting U.S.-made microelectronics to Russia. “They released the young ballerina and now she is out, and that was good, so we appreciate that,” President Donald Trump told reporters this week. For the bigger picture here, we just wanna note that arrests of U.S. or dual U.S. nationals (on trumped up charges usually) in Russia is nothing new, as authorities treat this like a game of “catch and release”. The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, quoted in The Moscow Times, says authorities will pursue more such swaps. Duh. We couldn’t help but notice however, the irony that the rumored top candidate for CIA’s Deputy Director of Operations (DDO) position had been denied the position, allegedly after a White House naysayer didn’t like the candidate’s support for Ukraine made clear on social media. (Forget the fact that the guy had been a 6-time station chief was a deeply-loyal intelligence officer according to many who know him.) Thank goodness it was Ratcliffe – and not the White House naysayer – who had been leading negotiations for Karelina’s release. U.S. authorities called the case against Karelina “absolutely ludicrous”. It got us thinking that maybe the DDO candidate for the job might have had more support from the administration if he’d just donated to a Ukrainian charity in Russia and got caught. Just sayin.
ALSO “LUDICROUS” – Insiders tell The Dead Drop that morale inside the NSA is “pegging at zero” a week after the abrupt firing of NSA and Cyber Command leader General Timothy Haugh and NSA Deputy Director Wendy Noble, news first reported by The Cipher Brief. While rumors have been flying about why the firings happened, fingers have been pointing to the advice given to the president by a deeply unexperienced (in national security circles) political supporter, Laura Loomer who may have felt that Gen. Haugh and Noble weren’t loyal enough to the president. We were kinda waiting to see if the administration would provide any clarity around why it made the decision. We’re still waiting. And while we’re not experts in public relations even we know that anytime you have a void of information, people are gonna fill it, and that void so far, seems to have been filled by fear that this could happen literally to anyone. “It was just of the blue and if you believe what you read in the press it was because of the advice of some extremist influencer, Laura Looney – or something like that - who recommended to the president that he fired the two of them in addition to some National Security Council people…that's just completely shocking and unprecedented,” former Deputy Director of the NSA told The Cipher Brief in an exclusive conversation. “I think it will knock both of them back because people get scared when the boss gets fired and the deputy of the boss gets fired, particularly when there is zero, no reason given,” was how retired Admiral Jim Stavridis described it. “There's certainly been media reports about this right-wing conspiracy theorist named Laura Loomer, who is this person who has decided she will become kind of the Madame Lafarge, if you’ve read A Tale of Two Cities, who knitted at the foot of the guillotine and helped decide who the victims would be.” Now, while The Dead Drop totally gets that the president should be able to pick his own team, the issue here is who is really doing the picking. Former NSA Director and Commander of US Cyber Command General Paul Nakasone weighed in this week from the Vanderbilt University Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats (where he is now the new director) to say that he also understands the president’s right to pick his own team but reiterated the national security implications of the way this firing happened. “Does it cause disruption? Anytime you would take out a leader and the principal deputy, that’s got to cause disruption,” said Nakasone. Meanwhile, everyone seems pretty confident in the ability of the new acting director Army Lt. Gen. William Hartman. No word on whether he will be taking any meetings with Ms. Looney – er, Loomer.
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ALL CLAPPED OUT – A lot of people are leaving government service right now for a variety of reasons, but there are still some who are leaving in way better ways than others. One example is in the recent retirement of CIA Deputy Director of Public Affairs Meredith Cavan, who started at the Agency as an analyst working on Middle East issues some 23 years ago. Everyone has a story of course, and Cavan’s is that she was hired just before 9/11 and reported for duty just after 9/11, at a time when sentiment in the country was incredibly united. As is Agency tradition, a group of about 100 employees recently lined the famous CIA entryway in the old headquarters building to send Cavan off with a round of applause. For those who have never attended a ‘clap out’, it’s kinda like a wedding, where people who have worked with you over the course of your career all show up to say goodbye. We’re told that as Cavan made her way down the line to say thank you to her colleagues, she noticed a woman who looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite place her. Once Cavan turned in her badge and stepped out the door for the last time, she heard a voice behind her, almost like a fairy Godmother. Spies tell us that the woman thanked Cavan for all she had done and grabbed both of her hands, saying she knew that this must be a really weird feeling but that nothing was ever going to be able to take this chapter away from her and that Cavan was going to crush whatever she did next, reminding her that she made a real difference and thanking her for her service. That fairy godmother voice, we’re told, was former first lady of CIA, Stephanie Tenet.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: The New York Times “Deal Book” reported this week that Stephanie’s husband, George Tenet, who led the CIA for over seven years, and then served for more than a decade as chairman at Allen & Company, is stepping down from media-focused investment bank gig and will become executive chairman of CHAOS Industries, a defense tech start-up co-founded by his son, John. MorningStar had additional details about CHAOS (which sounds like a great name for these modern times.)
THIS WEEK IN WOKE WOMEN NEWS: The purge of military leaders continues. On Monday April 7, it was reported that the Trump administration fired another female Navy admiral – Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, a former helicopter pilot who served as the first female president of the Naval War College, and until this week, was the U.S. representative to NATO’s military committee. So far there has been no official explanation of her firing. (Sensing a pattern here?) Unsubstantiated rumors were that she refused to post photos of the POTUS and SECDEF in her office – but we suspect that is Laura Loomer level fantasy. Earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had relieved Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy's first female Chief of Naval Operations. During his first days in office, President Donald Trump fired Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, first woman in that post. Defense News reported that Chatfield was targeted by conservative advocacy groups, one of which – the American Accountability Foundation – said she favored diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in a December letter to Pete Hegseth first published by the New York Post. The AAF is led by Tom Jones, former legislative director for Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI., and head of the opposition research program for Cruz for President. Last year, AAF received $100,000 award from the Heritage Foundation for “investigative researchers, in-depth reports, and educational efforts to alert Congress, a conservative administration, and the American people to the presence of anti-American bad actors burrowed into the administrative state.”
GET A GRIP: Last year, the Dead Drop told you about a seismic change in Navy rules which would allow sailors to put their hands in their uniform pockets. This would only be allowed for situations like – their hands were cold – and only if they didn’t need their hands for things like, well, saluting. But now, the acting Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Kilby, says the service may issue a pocket veto. As part of the Pentagon’s review of grooming standards, the Navy is looking into whether putting your hands in (your own) pockets may be a step too far. Kilby told reporters “We want a professional force, we want to be ready, and we’ll follow the direction of the administration.” The administration may be opposed to putting hands in pockets – but as Vice Admiral Chatfield and others might tell you, they seem to be in favor of putting your hands over your mouth.
BOOK BAN BONANZA: Here’s an update on the Pentagon-ordered purge of the Naval Academy library. Originally officials at Annapolis had identified 900 books in the stacks that might offend the sensibilities of the new regime at DoD. But some books, like the biography of baseball star and WWII soldier Jackie Robinson, were eventually called safe. The Pentagon later released the list of 381 books, however, that were deemed hazardous to midshipmen’s eyes. Frankly, most of the books are obscure. We don’t imagine books like the 1997 “Gender and Language in Chaucer” were getting checked out a lot. But a few of the now-banished books were better known, like Maya Angelou’s 1969 bestseller: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Going forward though, if midshipmen want to read these books – they’ll have to go to the public library – or order a copy from Amazon.
NOT YET BANNED BOOKS: Here is news about couple books that have not yet been banned – perhaps because they haven’t been written yet. Author Ronald Drabkin, whose previous book Beverly Hills Spy was favorably reviewed in The Cipher Brief has landed a deal to write, The Busted Hand: How Japan’s Greatest Poker Player, Admiral Yamamoto, Made His Biggest Bet, Planning and Carrying Out the Attack on Pearl Harbor. We’re betting some editor eventually shortens the subtitle. The book is not due out until December 2026 which, for those of you keeping score at home, will mark the 85th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. No word on whether a book about an Asian admiral who was good a poker player might run afoul of current DEI concerns. A somewhat more timely forthcoming tome will be produced by journalist Sam Dean who has clinched a deal with Viking to publish a book with the engaging title, “Move Fast Kill Things.” It is said to be “a 25-year chronicle of how the CIA, tech billionaires, and the specter of a new Cold War with China got Silicon Valley back into business with the Pentagon.” No word yet on publication date or whether it will have anything offensive in it. It is probably safe as long as all the “tech billionaires” are tech bros – and not tech sistas.
OY VEY: One of the perils for the folks at the U.S. Naval Academy is being geographically closer to their bosses than their counterparts at West Point or Colorado Springs are and as a result, they reportedly get more high-level visits and spot inspections. That danger played out last week, when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made the short trip from the Pentagon to Annapolis and over-eager USNA staff members decided, in advance of the visit, to remove items from a display honoring female Jewish graduates. The thinking, apparently, was to avoid possibly earning the ire of the Secretary. An Academy spokesperson later said, however, that the removal was “mistakenly” undertaken.
NO LOOSE LIPS OVER PINK SLIPS: Despite all these admirals and generals being summarily kicked the curb, we noticed that the one precinct almost unheard from was the fired flags themselves. We asked some folks why that might be. One answer, of course, is that military officers know that they serve at the pleasure of the president – and if the POTUS or his designee asks them to go – there is nothing to do but salute and pack your go bag. But another reason is that 3 and 4-star officers only serve at those ranks in an assignment at that level. Normally, if you have served honorably for three years at that level, you are nominated to be placed on the retired list at the highest grade you have held. BUT – in order to be eligible for retirement as a 3 or 4-star officer, the Secretary of Defense must certify to the President and Congress that you have served satisfactorily in that grade while on active duty. So, say or do anything that annoys SECDEF and you may be busted down to two stars in retirement. That could cost the retiree tens of thousands of dollars each year for the rest of their life. All the more reason to keep your head down and lips zipped for now.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: A member of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s security detail was reportedly arrested in a Brussels hotel last week after “behaving erratically” and getting into a fight with local police. Apparently the DSS agent was unhappy when staff of the “Hotel Amigo” refused to re-open its bar. The State Department is said to be reviewing the incident and the shift supervisor in question was eventually released to the custody of the U.S. embassy in Brussels. Unnamed, but sympathetic sources “with direct knowledge of the situation” hinted to the Washington Examiner that people should cut the agent some slack because “Rubio’s protective detail is under severe strain and has been stretched to a near-breaking point by senior leadership.” Did DOGE decimate the DSS staff? Or is all that winning on the diplomatic front just getting to be too much? We don’t know – but if the security detail is stressed out – more time in the hotel bar doesn’t seem like the best idea.
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