THE DUST-BINNEY OF HISTORY: In July of last year a group of contrarian former government officials who call themselves “Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity” (VIPS) came out with a theory that the Democratic National Committee emails were not hacked by Russians, but instead were leaked by an insider. The theory was picked up by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson and soon given credence by President Donald Trump. Not long thereafter, as The Dead Drop told you last November, one of the “VIPS” leaders, former NSA official Willian Binney, was granted an audience with then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo to explain why he thought the entire U.S. intelligence community was wrong and VIPS were right about how the Russians were not to blame. Now comes a report in ComputerWeekly.com from veteran British investigative journalist Duncan Campbell which says a “British IT manager and former hacker” ran a disinformation campaign that duped VIPS into thinking there were no Russian fingerprints on the theft of DNC emails. Campbell says that Binney has changed his mind on the evidence he previously thought proved that the pilfering of the DNC emails was an inside job. But if VIPS or Fox News have issued any corrections, we have missed them.
PROTECTING THE CROWN JEWELS: CNN.COM posted a lengthy story late last week about the increased challenges of protecting foreign defectors who once spied for the United States and who have been resettled on domestic soil. Former CIA Director, General Michael Hayden, was quoted as saying that when he would speak to graduating classes of Agency case officers he would remind them “of the moral responsibility they had to anyone they would recruit.” Joe Augustyn, a retired CIA officer who once ran the Agency’s defector program, said high-level defectors “have been the crown jewels of human intelligence collection.” Augustyn noted that modern technology makes it harder than ever to assure defectors of safety and anonymity. We suspect Russia’s recent poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom has increased the pucker factor for former KGB and GRU officials in the United States.
GOOD BOY? GOOD GRIEF: Several months too late for Mother’s Day, The Guardian published an interview with Osama bin Laden’s mom. Alia Ghanem, seems to be looking for pity. “My life was very difficult because he (OBL) was so far away from me,” she said. “He was a very good kid, and he loved me so much.” Ghanem blames bad folks at King Abdulaziz University, where OBL matriculated, for “brainwashing” him. Only a mother...
HOW DO YOU SAY “SCHADENFREUDE” IN CHINESE? Trump supporters and others who have been sharply criticized on security matters by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, CA), took notice last week of reports that a Chinese government mole worked closely with Feinstein for nearly two decades. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Feinstein’s driver and liaison to the Asian American community in the Bay area, was fired about five years ago after the FBI told the Senator that he had ties to Chinese intelligence. No charges were filed against the driver, but DiFi was reported to have been “mortified” at the connection, which is only now surfacing.
YOU WANNA WAKANDA? The folks who run the CIA.GOV website decided to spice up their “News & Information” section this week with an innovative addition to their site. To get the most out of this, it helps if you've seen the “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” superhero movies which involve a fictional African nation called “Wakanda.” The Agency reached out to one of their “most innovative scientists” (who they call “Rebecca”) for analysis of how the high-tech in the movies matches up with emerging “real life” technology. If you want the low-down on Hollywood magic metal like “vibranium,” “Kimoyo” communications beads” and the “invisibility cloak” (which apparently is NOT made of ostrich leather) check out the Agency’s imaginative foray in their #ReelvsRealCIA series.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
- Uncle Sam to Emulate Papa John: A loyal Dead Drop reader tipped us to a story on the Army’s website which delivered the news that after four decades of effort, soldiers will soon be enjoy pepperoni pizza MREs (Meals Ready to Eat.) "The real trick is to get bread, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni inside of a pouch, happily together for at least three years,” an official explained. Our tipster salutes the extraordinary 'stick-to-it-iveness' that led to this breakthrough noting that the 40-year fight to cook up edible pizza MREs took longer than the timeline needed to development major pharmaceuticals and vaccines, and adds: “Let’s see the Russians and Chinese top this!” USA! USA!
- North Korea has Dennis Rodman, Russia has Steven Seagal: We had to check to make sure we were not being fooled by The Onion, but apparently not. According to the Associated Press, Russia has appointed actor Steven Seagal as their “Special Envoy for Humanitarian Ties” with the U.S. The news was first posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Facebook page – so it MUST be true. Seagal shares a passion for martial arts with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to AP he was granted Russian citizenship in 2016. Seagal has also defended Putin against allegations of messing with U.S. elections, saying that anyone who believes such charges “is stupid.” Seagal is no Steven-come-lately to his pro-Russia stance. As far back as 2013, in an interview with RT (then called “Russia Today”), he called Putin “one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest world leader, alive today.”
- One Star Rating: If you are in the military, having one star is generally impressive. If you are in a VA hospital – not so much. Reports in USA Today, Stars and Stripes and Business Insider say that the VA hospital in Washington, DC is not exactly cutting edge. Business Insider says that the facility was cited for “using rusty surgical tools and water full of bacteria.” Stripes says that the 170 VA hospitals are given ratings from one to five stars. The one in DC is on the bottom rung – a single star.
- Nazi’s in Space: The British tabloid The Daily Star treated us this week to “shocking declassified CIA files” which, they say, show that the Nazis claimed to have developed a 2,500 MPH flying saucer weapon during the final days of World War II. The Daily Star says the CIA files marked the claims “unevaluated.” The tabloid helpfully provides a wrinkled black and white illustration of what Hitler’s UFO “might have looked like.” To their credit – The Daily Star cast doubt on a previous rumor that the Nazi’s had actually landed men on the moon. We had never heard that claim before – but it appeared...in the Daily Star…way back…about two weeks ago.
- Honest Ed, Ordinary Guy: In case you have been wondering what Edward Snowden has been up to, the fine folks at Sputnik News just published a story called “Ordinary Guy: Edward Snowden’s Life in Russia After Leaking Classified Data.” According to the article: “Snowden’s whereabouts in Russia are a closely-guarded secret.” He reportedly “rents an apartment” and we’re told he “works in IT as a company adviser” and “moves around Moscow on the metro.” According to his Russian lawyer, Snowden is “under constant surveillance, moving around the city under the protection of a private bodyguard.” While there have been rumors that Snowden’s act may be wearing thin in Moscow, there was no indication of any consideration of shipping him back to the U.S. in exchange for someone like Marina Butina. The article does note that former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell suggested in early 2017 that Vladimir Putin might consider extraditing Snowden to the U.S. as a gift in honor of Donald Trump’s inauguration. Obviously, that did not happen. Apparently, Putin decided he didn’t owe any such gifts. BTW, Morell’s gift suggestion first appeared in The Cipher Brief but Sputnik News forgot that part.
