Dead Drop: August 5

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 11^th, 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.