A “CIRCUS BEAR” IS BORN: Remember way back on November 1 when The Dead Drop mentioned that recently released (unregistered) Russian agent Maria Butina said she would not be following in Russian spy Anna Chapman’s footsteps? By that she meant she would not seek a high profile upon returning to the Motherland because, as she put it, she is “not a circus bear.” Well, according to Reuters, Butina has now been hired to host a program on state-funded RT television. She promo’d the show by appearing on TV wearing a t-shirt labeled “foreign agent.” The show is called “Wonderful Russia Bu Bu Bu.” The odd name is said to mock a slogan by a Kremlin critic who talks about “Wonderful Russia of the Future” (i.e. after Putin leaves.) The “Bu Bu Bu” part roughly translates to “blah, blah, blah.”
WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE – FOR THE MOMENT: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo keeps the world informed of his Foggy Bottom thoughts through the Twitter feed @SecPompeo. But the McClatchy News Service reports that Pompeo has also launched a personal Twitter account @mikepompeo. Sources tell McClatchy that Pompeo needs the new account “for future plans.” Hmm. That sounds suspiciously like the Secretary is getting closer to deciding to get the hell out of Dodge (or is it, back to Dodge?) to run for the about-to-open Senate seat. President Trump has said that he would be supportive of Pompeo going home if the Republicans looked to be in danger of losing the seat now held by retiring Senator Pat Roberts. So, assuming Pompeo does punch out – for that, or any other political reason - who is in line to replace him at State? Rudy Giuliani has reportedly been performing some of the functions of SECSTATE for a while – but getting confirmed by the Senate might be a bit problematic. Another name we have heard is Ambassador Rick Grenell, the current U.S. Ambassador to Germany.
AMERICA, IF YOU ARE LISTENING…. We’re sure this has occurred to western intelligence agencies – but they might want to check out Vladimir Putin’s PC. According to The Guardian, it has recently been learned that Putin’s office computer is running the obsolete Windows XP – an operating system that Microsoft no longer updates and is known to be full of security flaws. Bill Gates’ boffins quit releasing security updates for XP over five years ago.
ENDURING (SECRET) MISSIONS: The Army has made “permanent” a classified mission it flies over the Washington, DC area. Bloomberg reports that the Army flies nighttime missions out of Ft Belvoir, VA over the national Capitol region “to be prepared to respond to a natural or manmade disaster.” But exactly what they are doing – the Army won’t say. Nearby neighbors say they wish that the secret flights wouldn’t make so much late-night noise, however.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Right after The Dead Drop story last week about the State Department cutting down on the number of people allowed to listen in to the Secretary of State’s calls with foreign leaders, word came out that the White House has done the same thing. The folks at White House, no slouches at branding, call their new procedure “The Vindman Rule” after LT COL Alexander Vindman who didn’t like what he heard in the President’s July phone call to the President of Ukraine. CNN reports only the president’s most senior aids will be able to listen in real-time and that a far fewer number of people will receive the after-call, quasi-transcripts. How’s that whole transparency in government thing coming along?
FUTILE GESTURES: It is often said that the Army Navy game is the only sports activity where “everyone on the field is willing to give his life for everyone in the stands.” There are reports that suggest that some of the people in the stands may not be ready to reciprocate. You may have noticed the stories this past weekend where at least one West Point cadet and one Annapolis midshipman may have flashed white power hand signs on national TV during the game. Some say there is an entirely innocent explanation – that the young men were playing “the circle game” (illustrated by this scene from the TV show “Malcolm in the Middle”,) The circle game is a silly, juvenile (but not racist) activity where someone holds their hand in an upside-down OK sign – and if their buddy looks at it, they get to punch them. We’d like to believe that explanation to what was seen at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. We’d like to believe that because those who attend our service academies are smart enough and most importantly honorable enough – to not flash white supremacy signals on national TV (or anywhere else.) But our sources tell us that both academies HAVE been quietly struggling with weeding out students in recent months who have been circulating white power literature among their ranks. Adding to our uncertainty that anyone in uniform would be so stupid to appear to admire a reprehensible ideology – on Monday the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, the Department of Defense and the Army’s 10th Mountain Division posted on their Facebook pages – a colorized and glamorized image of a Nazi war criminal. The posts were only removed after an Army public affairs officer called attention to them saying: “I am dumbfounded by the decision to prominently display a Nazi on military social media.” So far, we have found no explanation of this behavior on “Malcolm in the Middle.”
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
MUSEUM PIECE: The CIA may have the best little museum you’ll never see (as we wrote about in last week’s Dead Drop) but a very big museum organization, the Smithsonian, has looked to the Agency for leadership. Meroe Park has been selected to be deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the Smithsonian Institution. A 27-year veteran of the CIA, Park probably received her greatest fame (so far) in one of her last acts in government. She was acting CIA Director on the day after President Trump’s inauguration and had the duty of introducing him for his colorful speech in front of the Agency’s Wall of Honor.
OH, THAT’S GOTTA HURT: Rumor has it that Navy SEALs are not used to being turned down by women – but according to Military.com the sea service marked a milestone this year when the first woman completed the Navy Seal officer assessment and selection process. But she didn’t make it to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training – because the SEALS were NOT her first choice. In other words – she decided another career path in the Navy had greater appeal. No word on what the unnamed officer ended up doing. Despite what you might have seen in the 1997 Demi Moore movie “GI Jane” – no women have gone through BUD/S (yet.)
DESIGNER CLOAKS AND DAGGERS? Earlier this year, The Dead Drop told you about a writer by the name of Sophie Matthews who had a magazine piece out about the best and worst spy films – based on the views of her mom and dad – both of whom had worked for the CIA. Her dad is Jason Matthews, author of Red Sparrow among other thrillers. Mom is Suzanne Matthews who was also a member of the clandestine service. Now Silvia has a piece in HuffPost titled “My Mom Was A Spy for the CIA, And This Is What She Wore To Work.” We’re betting that Silvia’s editors were the ones insisting on calling mom “a spy” or the subhead which described her as an “agent” (CIA brats know better.) But the piece has a variety of snapshots of Suzanne Matthews over the years in various outfits selected to – well, make her not look like a spy or an agent.
FOR YOUR LAST MINUTE SHOPPING: The Cipher Brief spotted a tweet from the UK’s GCHQ touting their “Puzzle Book 2” and noting that proceeds from the sales of the book go to a worthy mental health charity. To be honest, we had never heard of GCHQ’s Puzzle Book 1, let alone Puzzle Book 2. Turns out we are behind on the news – since Puzzle Book II came out about 14 months ago. It is not readily available from Amazon in the U.S….but the UK Amazon site offers up what they call their “#1 Best Seller in Mathematical Logic” for just £9.13.
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NO HUMBUG: Attention faithful Dead Drop readers – we want to let you know that our hard-working elves are going on hiatus for the holidays. There’ll be no new DD on December 27th. We’ll be back in the new year – on January 3. But we’ll be reading our mail – so if you have any tips for us send them to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com. And Happy Holidays from the Dead Drop!
