RETIRED SENIOR OFFICERS NEED NOT APPLY: The lead item in last week’s Dead Drop was about a public opinion poll indicating that public confidence in the U.S. military has dropped dramatically over the past four years. Well, this week former Under Secretary of Defense (comptroller) Dov Zakheim has a solution which he provided in an OPED in The Hill, “Retired senior military officers should not engage in partisan politics”. Zakheim is not suggesting just discouraging such activity – he says it should be “banned.” The key word there is ‘retired’. Exactly how this would restore public support is unclear. It seems to some of us that not saddling active-duty military folks with unworkable plans designed by civilians might be a better idea. Retired Navy 4-star (and Cipher Brief Expert) Admiral Jim Stavridis poked a little fun at The Hill piece tweeting: “Good thing George Washington, U.S. Grant and Dwight Eisenhower snuck in under the wire before such rules went into effect. Exclude retired military & you can rely on true leadership experts like former TV show hosts and electric car czars.”
UNRELIABLE SOURCES: Fox News host Tucker Carlson appeared on a podcast hosted by former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard this week, regaling her with a story about how he tried to book Vladimir Putin on his TV show as a guest once and that got a lot of people spun up. Carlson says he had an angry exchange with Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) who allegedly suggested Tucker was a Russian agent. When pressed why he would say such a thing, McCaul allegedly attributed this to his intelligence briefers. Carlson said he replied, “That’s what the intel briefers told you? You believe your f#%ing intel briefers? Like, how old are you, son? … You’re being manipulated by your intel briefers, duh!” At issue, apparently, is that the U.S. intelligence community learned of the booking effort and Carlson therefore believes he was the target of spying. Another possibility is that the Russians on the other end of Carlson’s communications might have been of legitimate interest to the IC.
MAN A-BOUT TOWN: The newly released “Merchant of Death” wasted no time in paying off his debt to Vladimir Putin on his return to Moscow. Viktor Bout appeared on Russian State TV interviewed by none other than Maria Butina, herself no stranger to the U.S. justice system. Russia Media Monitor Julia Davis captured (and kindly translated) the video of the interview which was taped just a few days after Bout was swapped for US athlete Brittney Griner. Bout complained about the food in prison –overcooked French fries and no garlic! Oh, the humanity! He says like “any Russian person,” he wonders why the Motherland did not start their “special military operation” against Ukraine sooner. He adds that if he had an opportunity and the necessary skills, he “would definitely go in as a volunteer.” He might want to reconsider that – we hear the food on the front is even worse than in U.S. prisons. Bout says he had a portrait of Putin hanging in his prison cell and he is very proud that Vlad is his president. Then, oddly the video continues with Butina saying (as if the interview had ended) “They said we should keep sitting here” Bout asks: “Is this it?” She says: “Go ahead and exhale, good job!”
BOND, JANE BOND: Several senior female officers from Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service have come (partially) out of the shadows to participate in a lengthy interview that appeared in the Financial Times. The article notes that there are four directors-general at SIS (aka MI-6) and each of them report to the chief – known as “C.” For the first time, three of the four people in those jobs are women. Reporter Helen Warrell interviews three senior women (using aliases and fuzzing up some stuff apparently) about their careers in hopes of encouraging more women to see careers in the Intelligence Service and to “correct the perception of espionage as a man’s game.”
NEW ALIAS FOR OSS MUSEUM? The National Defense Authorization Act for FY 23, agreed to by both houses of Congress last week, apparently included language recognizing the museum that the OSS Society plans to build in Northern Virginia as the “National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations.” While the facility, planned for Ashburn, VA, is to be privately funded, Congressional recognition of it as a “National Museum” may help motive donors to contribute to the museum that (according to congressional language) would “commemorate the members of the intelligence community and special operations forces who have been critical to securing the Nation against enemies of the United States for nearly a century. We say “apparently” because at one point, the House included such language in their bill (though the Senate did not…but according to reports, that may have been sorted out). The 4400-page bill seems to suggest that the name was approved, although the 748-page-long “explanatory statement” released by the Hill about the NDAA suggests not. In any case, OSS Society officials are hopeful that the designation will amp up support for the facility, which they aim to open in 2027.
I FEEL THE NEED FOR GREED, MATE: A former U.S. Marine Corp fighter pilot (who is now an Australian citizen) has been accused by the United States of conspiring to help train Chinese military pilots on how to land on aircraft carriers. Daniel Edmund Duggan is in custody down under at the moment. The U.S. unsealed a 2017 indictment that accused Duggan of providing such training on at least three occasions in South Africa in 2010 and 2012. We are sure there is an innocent explanation (well, alibi) for all this. Duggan runs (or ran) a company called “Top Gun Australia” which provides adventure flights for Maverick wannabees taking tourists up for jet joy rides from an airport in Tasmania. Duggan is still listed as their “chief pilot” on the Top Gun Aussie website. Although other press accounts say he sold the company in 2014. If so, they are really running behind in updating the website. Duggan’s bio on the Top Gun website mentions his experience with the USMC, British, Spanish and Aussies but so far – no mention of the PRC. Some press accounts say that Duggan had renounced his U.S. citizenship some time ago, and others report that his LinkedIn bio (which we can’t seem to find) suggest that he had recently also been working as an aviation consultant for China. Pro tip: putting crimes on your LinkedIn page does not get you off the hook.
NETFLIX AND KILL: We spotted an item saying that the “long awaited” Netflix series “The Recruit” about a CIA lawyer was about to debut. At first, the existence of the series was news to us but we wrote about it in May 2021, when the working title was “Graymail.” The series follows a young lawyer at CIA who reportedly gets “entangled in dangerous international power politics when a former asset threatens to expose the nature of her long-term relationship with the agency.” From the trailer, it looks like there are lots of car chases, gunfire and beatings – not the average day of a CIA lawyer, as we understand it. Adam Ciralsky, a former CIA lawyer, is listed as an executive producer. The first episode drops December 16th. Calling the series “The Recruit” seems like an odd choice since that was the title of a 2003 Al Pacino movie about the CIA as well. The new Recruit stars Noah Centineo.
BOOK REPORT: Just this week, The Cipher Brief ran a piece on the nexus of climate change and national security. One of the experts whose wisdom was tapped for that piece was Sherri Goodman who was the first U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security and now is Chair of the Board at the Council on Strategic Risks. We hear that she has landed a deal to write a book called Threat Multiplier: How the Us Military Got Educated on Climate Change and How That Can Help The Rest Of Us. The book will be published by Island Press. No word on exactly when, but we will let you know.
SPOILER ALERT: We have noticed lots of books on the horizon focusing on the very messy end to the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. One such book is due out next summer from Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy and former U.S. Army Captain James Hasson. Their take on the subject is foretold by the title: Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden's Fiasco and The American Warriors Who Fought to The End. The publisher is Center Street and it’s due out August 15th.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
WHO’S A GOOD BOY? Well, for one, U.S. Marine Corps mascot Chesty XVI. The English bulldog was just promoted by the Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro to private first class. Del Toro praised the pooch saying: “Since you relieved your predecessor, you’ve amassed a nearly spotless record,” adding “Literally. No spots on the rug, no sword biting, no assaults on your superiors and no barking in silent drill.” Not all Chesty’s predecessors could make that claim. Chesty XVI has only been in the Marine Corps for less than a year – but his promotion to E-2 is not that meteoric, considering that is almost seven dog years.
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