SOUNDS FAMILIAR: The White House announced on April 12th that the President will nominate Christine S. Abizaid to be the director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC.) If confirmed by the Senate, Abizaid will be the first woman to hold the job full-time. She previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration and has served on the National Security Council staff. DNI Avril Haines lauded Abizaid’s lengthy resume including her “command of counterterrorism issues, leadership acumen and enterprising approach.” If the name sounds familiar, she is also the daughter of General John Abizaid who (among other things) was head of U.S. Central Command and oversaw military efforts in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Proving that “irony” is dead, following the announcement, the former Acting DNI Ric Grenell tweeted: “Biden snubs multiple female career experts to run NCTC – and instead selects a politically connected partisan with a famous father. This is how DC works…sadly.” Let’s unpack that a little. Way back in 2020, President Trump picked Grenell (a political appointee ambassador with minimal intelligence experience) to temporarily be Acting DNI after firing the previous acting DNI who was installed after the administration ousted the highly-qualified female career intelligence expert, Principal Deputy DNI (Sue Gordon). Oh, and Christy Abizaid’s “famous father?” He was serving as Trump’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia at the time.
THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE UNCONVINCED: CNN reported recently that nearly 40% of U.S. Marines have declined COVID-19 shots. The other U.S. military services have so far not provided participation statistics, although the Army Surgeon General says 80 percent of active duty soldiers will be vaccinated by July 4th. A Marine spokesperson told CNN that some of those turning down the jab may have done so because they generously were allowing others to get it first. Right. Maybe they were waiting for this: the (satirical) website Duffel Blog recently suggested that the FDA has authorized the Crayola vaccine for Marine Corps use, writing “Crayons have been a favorite of Marines throughout history, so Crayola is a natural fit as a vaccine maker.” But in the real world, the military cannot currently require troops to take the shot – since the various vaccinations have only been granted “emergency use authorization” by the FDA. Meanwhile, conservative media outlet, The Blaze, reported that some folks recently noticed that the U.S. Navy added a face mask to their bald eagle logo. They quoted social media users as saying things like: “China, Iran, and Russia are laughing at us.” The Navy subsequently pointed out that the mask was added about a year ago. We think China, Iran and Russia might be laughing about the fact that the U.S. gives its troops a vote on whether to take the vaccine at all.
THAT IS GONG TO LEAVE A MARK: Apple TV+ has announced that Justin Timberlake will star in an hour-long drama they are developing about Chuck Barris, the late host of the “The Gong Show.” Barris wrote a book called: “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” in which he claimed he was also a CIA assassin. For our younger readers who may not know, “The Gong Show” was a goofy 1970s show where contestants with low (and sometimes no) talent would embarrass themselves on national TV. When the performances got too excruciating, a celebrity judge would bang a giant gong, signaling to get them off stage. Barris’ book, which came out years after the show, claims that in addition to being a game show host, he was also an assassin. A CIA spokesperson took the unusual step of publicly declaring that Barris has never worked for the Agency and speculated that if Chuck believed he had, perhaps he had “stood too close to the gong.” The book was turned into a comedy movie directed by George Clooney in 2002. Exactly how Apple TV+ is going to make it into a “drama” should be interesting.
OH, I SEE: Federal Computer Week reported recently that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is launching an advertising campaign to market the entire intelligence community as a single place where job seekers (particularly those with STEM backgrounds) should consider employment. The campaign is called “One IC.” Lori Welch, the Chief of Emerging Talent at ODNI, was quoted as saying: "People know the FBI. They know the CIA," she said. "But there are 16 other elements, and together, we're one." Illustrating the point, FCW illustrated their story about the ODNI with a photo of the CIA headquarters.
AS LONG AS IT DOESN’T GET GOOFY: The U.S. Air Force flight demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, has redesigned their show “from the ground up” for just the third time in their 68-year history. And you will never guess who helped: Disney and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. One of the goals of re-choreographing the airshow was to cut down the typical run time from about 90 minutes to about 50. Given the short attention span of audiences and the limited fuel capacity of the F-16s – we think that’s a good idea. Disney was reportedly consulted on things like how to script the show to how to keep the audience entertained. The Thunderbirds’ friendly rivals, the Blue Angels (who are also tightening their show length) also provided some suggestions. The T-Bird’s season launches on April 17-18 when they will be flying low at the Cocoa Beach Florida Airshow – hopefully not so low that anyone has to shout: “Donald, duck.”
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
BLIMEY, MATE: Ship commissioning ceremonies are always festive occasions, so it was understandable that the Australian Navy wanted to go all out in welcoming the HMAS Supply to their fleet. Exactly what went wrong is unclear. One theory is that local officials wanted to book an aboriginal dance team to perform at the event. But signals got crossed and somehow a squad of scantily-clad young ladies were brought in instead to perform for the gob smacked dignitaries on hand including the Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell. You can watch the dancer’s twerk in this tweet from the event.
“NO COMMENT! AND DON’T QUOTE ME ON THAT”: We haven’t read it – but that’s the entertaining title of a recently published book written by Thalif Deen, a journalist with over forty years of experience covering the United Nations. The book is described as a rich collection of political anecdotes, both serious and hilarious. Among the stories dredged up is one (first revealed by the Church Committee) about how the CIA supposedly planted Russian-speaking lip-reading experts in a press booth above the U.N. Security Council chamber to keep an eye on the lip movements of Russian delegates whispering to each other. The publisher describes the book as “a motley collection of political anecdotes picked mostly from the corridors, committee rooms, and the UN’s watering hole.” “Motley collection” doesn’t sound like high praise to us, but perhaps it lost something in translation.
JACKPOT FOR PENTAGON PERSONNEL: Among the personnel moves announced by the White House this week was that of former Congressman Gil Cisneros, who will be nominated to be the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Cisneros served for 11 years in the Navy and left the service in 2005 to work in the shipping and manufacturing industry. Five years later he was laid off, but as luck would have it, a few weeks later, he reportedly won $266 million in the Mega Millions lottery. Cisneros served two terms in Congress before losing reelection last fall. Hopefully, Cisneros will bring some of his good fortune to the Pentagon personnel business. Maybe he will bring back the draft lottery.
TAKE A CHANCE: You know that quirky bit of national security info you picked up recently? Why not take a spin at getting it into the Dead Drop. Email your tips to us at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
