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Dead Drop April 8

Dead Drop April 8

POLITICS TRUMP PAST PRACTICE: The Dead Drop hears that (even more than usual) senior uniformed U.S. officials are cringing at the prospect of meeting with the media or testifying on the Hill these days. The reason is that pesky reporters and Congressional members keep asking questions premised on things said on the presidential campaign trail.  Without directly specifying the source of the question, inquisitors keep asking things like: “Is NATO obsolete?”  “Should U.S. forces target the families of terrorists?” and “Do you favor Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia getting nukes?”   In normal times, the answers to these questions would be easy – but responding publicly today can give the appearance of putting active duty flag and general officers at odds with statements made by the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump who has teed up all these issues.

BOOM BUS: “There’s gotta be more to the story,” Dead Drop aficionados are telling each other concerning last week’s news that the CIA accidentally left some explosive material on a special-needs school bus in Loudon County, VA following a training exercise.  Local officials said the material was C-4 which is pretty stable and normally can’t be detonated by heat, or being dropped – or even with a gun shot. Still, it is considered poor form to leave it lying around.  The CIA has been conducting K-9 training for federal and local law enforcement outfits for a number of years.  We haven’t been able to sniff out whether the dogs in question belonged to the Agency or Loudon County – or why a local school bus was needed for the exercise – but there is no doubt the putty-like explosives came from Langley. We wonder how long it will be before the incident earns the Taiwanese animation treatment.

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