WOULD HE LIE? Rest easy NATO, Reuters says Russian president Vladimir Putin promises that he “has no designs on any NATO country and will not attack Poland, the Baltic states or the Czech Republic.” Putin claims that the notion of such an attack is “…complete nonsense. It’s just drivel.” That’s comforting because Vlad has never misled anyone about such matters – right? It is not like he is going to launch a “special military operation” or anything. Putin did say, however – that if the West supplies F-16s to Ukraine they will be shot down by Russian forces. Russia does have enormous recent experience in shooting down aircraft. However most of those shootdowns (like the one in this video of a fighter being splashed in the Black Sea) –are of Russians accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. There was some debate online if the most recent plane shot down by the Russians was an SU-35 or a SU-27 – but everyone agrees it did not belong to the good guys.
MUSIC TO THEIR EARS: While Putin is swearing on a stack of “God Bless the USSR” Bibles that he has no intention of striking NATO, Russian State TV talking head Vladimir Solovyov was on the air with someone identified as “military expert” Vladislav Shurygin hinting that such a strike might happen. The two men talked about how much Moscow is learning about the West as a result of Russian armed forces attacking weapons systems provided to Ukraine by NATO countries – and they speculated that this info will be useful to Russia in the future. Russia media monitor Julia Davis posted a clip of Shurygin telling Solovyov of an old song about Soviet troops landing in New York and Washington and that he listens to it whenever he wants to cheer up.
OFF WITH THEIR EARS: The head of the news organization RT (formerly known as Russia Today) Margarita Simonyan came to the defense of the Russian law enforcement officer who captured one of the Crocus City Hall attack suspects, cut off the man’s ear, and forced him to eat it. She very much hopes there are no negative consequences for the ear harvester – telling those who might disagree with her: “This isn’t Norway. If you want to go to Norway, then go!”
NIFTY SCIFS: We had no idea that this was a thing – but apparently rental Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities are popping up around the country for spooks and cleared contractors who are just too busy to make their way to traditional government facilities. According to Bloomberg, outfits like “Nooks” a place that says it services “the new world of classified work” are springing up like Wendys. Bloomberg says these places rent for “a few hundred bucks for an hour or two to a few thousand dollars a month for full-time use.” Small companies have a tough time coming up with the funds to build and maintain fully functional SCIFs. But contractors are now offering options and alternatives. Bloomberg mentions “cappuccino and kombucha on tap” -which sounds nice - and “high-speed Wi-Fi” which sounds like a security violation waiting to happen to us. The Washington Post last year described what goes into a typical government SCIF. That article was sparked by reports of highly classified documents found stored in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom – and a Delaware garage among other places. Not only were those locations not SCIFs…they probably didn’t have cappuccino on tap.
GETTING A LIFT IN BALTIMORE– Lots of agencies and organizations are lending a hand to help clean up the mess surrounding the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore. Officials are rushing giant cranes to the scene to help remove bridge debris with the hope of quickly reopening the channel and allowing maritime traffic to pass once again. Several giant cranes are now on the scene with more to follow. It turns out one of the cranes already on scene (now known as “Chesapeake 1000”) was previously known as “Sun 800” and was used to help build Howard Hughes’ Glomar Explorer in the 1970s that was used to clandestinely recover pieces of a sunken Soviet submarine in the Pacific. We first learned of the Chesapeake 1000’s lineage from the U.S. Naval Institute News last Friday. Initially that publication said the crane was “infamous” through that connection – but someone must have pointed out that the operation (described in detail in the Naval Institute book: “Project Azorian”) was an engineering marvel – and hardly “infamous.” USNI News later lifted the “in” from the description of the Sun 800 crane – now just calling the operation “famous.”
CATCHING UP WITH KATSU: Cipher Brief readers are likely familiar with former CIA officer Alma Katsu whose post-government career includes writing numerous well-received novels. Alma has appeared on multiple Cipher Brief podcasts including a Cipher Brief Cover Stories podcasts, and even reviewed other people’s books for us. Now we see she announced on social media that she will soon be publishing a trilogy of short stories. “The Spy Who Vanished” is expected to appear through the auspices of Amazon Publishing in July. Alma says the stories were “born out of real-life (Russians “defecting” to Western intelligence after Russia invaded Ukraine) and also an exploration of the James Bond myth.” Wait. You are telling us James Bond is not real? We are quite shaken by the news.
SHAMELESS (SELF – PROMOTION) What’s happening behind-the-scenes at The Cipher Brief:
SECRET MISSION KYIV: The Cipher Brief is reportedly on a secret mission in Kyiv, Ukraine.Word is that details will start ‘leaking out’ early next week.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
PROBLEMATIC PHRASES: The Washington Free-Beacon reported recently that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has urged members of the IC to quit using phrases that might be badly received to some ears. Among the terms that are reportedly out of favor are things like: “radical Islamists” and “jihadists.” A document created by the ODNI lists quite a few other phrases – the origin of which you probably don’t know – or which might land with a thud in some sectors. Among the frowned upon phrases: “blacklisted,” “cakewalk,” and “brown bag.”
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