UMM, BECAUSE HE’S EVIL? We must admit that we are not regular followers of Tucker Carlson’s podcast – but you can rest assured, when something really interesting gets said on it – others will make sure you don’t miss it. For example, this week RT (the Kremlin-funded propaganda outlet formerly known as “Russia Today”) was quick to point out some exchanges that happened between Carlson and economist Jeffrey Sachs. At one point Carlson asked: “Why am I required to hate (ousted Syrian dictator Bashar) al Assad?” Hmm. The fact that Assad used chemical weapons on his own citizens, and tortured and killed more than 100,000 people, apparently was just a technicality. Carlson seems unhappy at the turn of events on the eastern end of the Mediterranean. He asked Sachs:“Were Americans involved he overthrow of Assad, last week?” “Of course they were,” he was told “because this has been an ongoing operation, whether they were involved in the final days, I don’t know. They were involved in this in the 13 years nonstop.” Sachs blamed the CIA for Bashar having to beat feet to Moscow. Sachs by the way, has previously blamed the United States for causing the global pandemic. No wonder RT was fans of both sides of this exchange.
TUCKERED OUT: Speaking of Tucker Carlson, the Wall Street Journal says he was personally responsible for spiking Mike Pompeo’s chances to be Secretary of Defense in the upcoming administration. Carlson, it is said, intervened because he considers Pompeo, the former CIA Director and Secretary of State, a “warmonger.” In Carlson’s eyes, apparently, Pompeo is not a man of peace. Perhaps he wants to weigh the possibility of someone like Bashar al Assad. Or perhaps American media influencers should do more of their own homework.
BE ALL YOU CAN BE: A 56-year-old U.S. Army veteran thought it would be a good idea to fly to Europe to volunteer to fight in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. But it turned out Kevin Loftus’s desire to serve was thwarted. Instead, he will get to serve six months in prison. You see, Loftus intended to volunteer to serve in the Russian Army – and at the time he tried to board a plane for Europe – he was still on probation for having stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021. His defense attorney said he was heading to Europe because he “felt bad” for Russian soldiers and wanted to help them. Now that he is heading to prison, perhaps he can join that “J-6 Choir” and convince them to expand their repertoire to include the Russian national anthem.
CIAO TO THOSE DD/CIA RUMORS? Last week, we passed along reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was lobbying to have Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy, III (better known as former CIA officer Amaryllis Fox) to be named deputy CIA director. One of the reasons the elder Kennedy was keen on landing the gig for Amaryllis Fox was said to be so that she could “get to the bottom” of unproven conspiracy theories, like: the Agency was behind the assassination of RFK’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy. SpyTalk had a lengthy piece about the major role that the Soviet Union and KGB had in pushing the “CIA-killed-Kennedy theory” back in the day. Late last week, Fox apparently met with CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe to discuss the deputy position. But according to the Washington Post and other media, Senator Tom Cotton (R, AR), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, subsequently weighed in an (reportedly) successfully derailed Fox’s path to the 7th floor post at Langley.
BOOK REPORT: We hear that Liza Mundy author of Code Girls: The Untold Story of American Women Code Breakers of World War II and The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at CIA is working on a new book about American nurses serving in the Philippines during World War II who were taken prisoner by the Japanese. No word on publication date. Liza was a guest on The Cipher Brief’s Cover Stories podcast last year, talking about The Sisterhood.
WAR REPORT: The first trailer has been released for a film scheduled to hit theaters in 2025 called “Warfare.” The story is said to “embed” the audience with a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs in the home of an Iraqi family in 2006 as the SEALs provide overwatch of U.S. troops through insurgent territory. It is written and directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland. Mendoza is an Iraq War veteran and Silver Star recipient. From the trailer – the film appears to be very gritty. We’re thinking The ”embed” may be uncomfortable for some.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
TIS THE SEASON: There is a guy who goes by the single name: “Anastasios” who has a YouTube channel called “Spy Collection.” He describes himself as a “researcher of the world of espionage, intelligence, counterintelligence, and secure communications.” He also likes to examine intelligence artifacts. About a week ago, he posted a video in which he lovingly displays, in his white-gloved hands, his latest acquisition – the 2024 CIA holiday ornament. The find was somehow obtained from the Agency’s gift shop – known as the EAA Store. We were glad to see the ornament was proudly stamped “Made in the USA.” The ornament even has a name – it is called “Spy Sledding Fox/Squirrel” and features a sled with two spies on it. The sled is being pulled by a fox (perhaps reindeer grow up too close to Russia to be trusted) and there is a secret squirrel at the back of the sled for good measure. Anastasios’ YouTube video caused us to do some holiday shopping – and we found a couple dozen CIA Christmas ornaments for sale on eBay. They included one labeled as “rare” – a 3-D U2 Spy Plane available for just $355.50. We opted not to buy it since it appeared to lack any foxes or squirrels.
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