THE DOCTOR IS: OUT – When the CIA paid a house call on Ayman al-Zawahiri and initiated an overdue change of command in al Qa’ida leadership, it gave Americans a reason to cheer and brought the country together. (Just kidding). Well, there was cheering but the smoke in Kabul hadn’t cleared before various parties offered buzz kill on the clear kill. Former Trump NSC official and CIA officer Fred Fleitz took to Fox News to ask: “Why did this strike happen now?” “How can the American people be sure exactly what happened?” And “Can we verify the U.S. actually got al-Zawahiri and that there were no civilian casualties?” Our question is: can’t we wait 24 hours before looking for the dark lining to the silver cloud? Al-Zawahiri was a medical doctor who practiced his own version of the Hippocratic Oath – “First, do harm.” For some expert opinions about al-Zawahiri’s departure, check out The Cipher Brief’s “Justice by Hellfire: The Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri” piece this week. Congratulations to all those who have worked for more than two decades to put him out of practice.
DID WE WIN? Maybe the Pentagon sensed that there was a major inflection point coming in the war on terror. Military Times tells us that DOD recently told the military services to “sharply restrict the award of the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.” The publication says the “GWOT-SM” has been handed out practically automatically to troops since 2003. The military equivalent of a participation trophy. The theory was that everyone was part of the CT mission. And indeed, they were. But starting this coming September 11th, service members will have to serve in a designated military counterterrorism operation for at least 30 days to earn the medal. So far, troops will still be issued the National Defense Service Medal simply for serving on active duty or the reserves after 9/11/01 – so no one will have to suffer the embarrassment of a ribbon-free chest on their service dress uniforms.
PUTIN’S BODY DOUBLE MAY BE UNWELL: In last week’s Dead Drop, we shared reports that some in the media think that Vladimir Putin might have sent a body double to Tehran to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Well, this week eagle-eyed observers from The Daily Mail.com spotted Putin at Russia’s Navy Day celebration. That sounds like an event tailor-made for a body double – but this time Vlad was seen limping and trying to swat away mosquitoes with his left arm while his right hung limply by his side. But wait, there’s more. The same publication says that “according to a Telegram channel” (which to our ears sounds about as reliable as “according to a Ouija board”) – “Putin and his friends are making preparations to flee Russia should his army be defeated in Ukraine.” According to the source – Putin and pals would likely flee to Syria – which makes sense – since Kabul is not an optimal destination.
MAJOR CON JOB: A 26-year-old California man named Kiernan Michael Major has been charged with bilking two women out of more than $125,000. He told them he was a CIA operative who needed their help in funding operations so that there would be no paper trail connected to the government. It is unclear where he met the women, but we are going to go out on a limb and guess it was not at a MENSA meeting. One victim noted that Major’s Instagram handle was eyesonly.intel, which apparently was enough to convince her he was legit. When the women realized that Major was ripping them off, they complained to him and he reportedly responded by threatening to kill them. In one email message he said he would destroy the woman’s family too but added: “I just feel it’s moral to warn you.” Nice. According to The Daily Beast, Major “began contacting both women up to 1,000 times a day.” That is quite a commitment of time.
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PRIMROSE PATH: Also in the “News of the Weird” category – there is a story about a married couple indicted in Hawaii on charges of “conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and false statements in the application and use of a passport.” It is alleged that Walter Primrose and Gwynn Morrison adopted the identities of two dead children from Texas in 1987 and have been living under assumed names ever since. Why they may have done so is unclear – but federal prosecutors released photos of Primrose and his wife both dressed in what appeared to be KGB garb. Morrison’s attorney says Gwynn had nothing to do with Russia and that she and her husband simply tried on the KGB outfit at a friend’s house. Pro-tip for people living under assumed names in the U.S. – beware of attending costume parties dressed as KGB. Federal prosecutors have seen “The Americans.”
MAJOR ALLEGATION: We are not entirely sure whether we are supposed to take podcaster Joe Rogan seriously or not. The ex-comedian has millions of listeners who seem to hang on his words. Last Friday, on his podcast, Rogan told his audience that Jeffrey Epstein’s evil ways operated “like it was an intelligence operation” and speculated that it might have been run by the Mossad, CIA or both. Rogan, who has also seen too many movies, speculated that Epstein brought powerful people into his web – compromised them – and then some intelligence agency used those people to influence their opinions. There are a ton of people who listen to Rogan’s podcast and his reach goes beyond that. We found a five-minute-long YouTube clip of Friday’s Epstein conspiracy theory. Just three days after it aired – the video had 1.5 million views.
THIS WEEK IN NETFLIX: We will pause our weekly beating up of Netflix for their over-the-top dumb CIA movie “The Gray Man” – to report that the platform is working on a series centering not on an assassin on the run – but instead on the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. The show will be called “The Diplomat” (man, those Netflix folks have a way with titles, eh?) Politico notes that it is a bit odd to build a series around an embassy in a (relatively) stable place like London. Other anomalies include the fact that the main character, played by Keri Russell (who you may remember from “The Americans,”) will portray a career Foreign Service Officer. Genuine diplomats will note that the post of Ambassador to the Court of St. James is almost always filled by a political appointee not a careerist. The plot also calls for the fictional ambassador to be a rumored candidate for Vice President (another thing that would not likely happen in the real world.) Still, actual American diplomats are looking forward to the series – but many are torn between hoping it is not too farfetched – but also not too accurate. One wag noted that if it were too close to the real world, Russell would spend most of the series waiting for the Senate to confirm her.
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