HO, HO, HOLY SMOKE: Drones are much in the news these days. The ones over New Jersey (so far) appear to be benign. The same cannot be said for some launched recently by Ukrainian troops and aimed at North Korean troops working as surrogates for the Russian army. Forbes has some video which appears to show lethal drones in the terminal phase right before striking North Korean positions. What makes this slaying seasonal is that the accompany video appears to show a Santa Claus figure strapped to the drone right before it strikes rapidly fleeing troops. A Ukrainian official is quoted as saying the North Korean 11th Army Corps lost around 200 troops in the strikes. Other drones carried reindeer, elves, and bird figures. We’re pretty sure the humor was lost on the North Koreans.
RT IN THE 3RD DEGREE: You often read here about Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of RT (formerly “Russia Today”.) And almost always it is thanks to Russian Media Monitor Julia Davis. In this week’s installment, Davis tells us that Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree awarding Simonyan the “Order of Merit for the Fatherlands, 3rd Degree.” We would have thought she might have made it to second or first degree – but it is good to keep your toadies hungry, we guess. Simonyan made her 2025 predictions recently saying that prospects for RT in the U.S. will improve with the new administration – saying that recently the punishment in America for working with RT has been worse than the punishment for committing murder. She also bragged that she and her husband are soldiers for their country.
GET THE POPCORN OUT: Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator Roger Wicker (R,MS) told reporters that the SASC will hold confirmation hearings for Pete Hegseth on January 14th. Some senators have questioned the former Fox News weekend host’s qualifications to be Secretary of Defense. Earlier this week, President-elect Trump also revealed the names of a bunch of nominees for other top Pentagon positions. They included billionaire Stephen Feinberg, co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, to be Deputy Defense Secretary, Elbridge Colby (grandson of former CIA Director William Colby) as Undersecretary of Defense for policy, and Keith Bass as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
SHAGGY DOG STORY: Elliot Ackerman is well-known to many Cipher Brief readers. The Marine Corp veteran is also a highly regarded novelist. He has co-authored two novels with retired Navy Admiral Jim Stavridis, 2034 and 2054 – and has written many other works of fiction and non-fiction – solo. He has a book coming out in August called Sheepdogs which the publisher calls “a uniquely perceptive, wild ride through the underbelly of modern war and intelligence.” Last week word came out from Deadline that Apple Studios beat ten other bidders and will pay seven figures to develop a series based on the novel. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are involved. Hanks and Goetzman were behind the recent Masters of the Air series as well as Greyhound.
THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE FIRMLY DECIDED: All the military services are taking actions to try to address their enlistment shortfalls. The Marine Corps has come up with a way to reduce some uncertainty for currently serving members. Military Times says: “Marines ranked E-8 or E-9 with 15 years or more in service, meanwhile, will be eligible to reenlist up to their service limit — 27 years for E-8s, 30 years for E-9s — instead of submitting the same burdensome packet of administrative paperwork every four years.” That’s right – some Marines may be eligible to reenlist for 15 years.
MISTAKEN IDENTITY: You no doubt know all about the assassination of Russian Lt. Gen Igor Kirillov on December 17th in Moscow. Kirillov was head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces. Ukraine made little secret about their role in targeting the general but we were surprised to see a piece in a publication of The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) by the ubiquitous Julia Davis, that said that prominent Russian officials are blaming the attack – on Great Britain. State Duma deputy Andrey Gurulyov posted on his Telegram channel that “In our world, there are no longer any rules. They understand only force. And we place our main hopes in force. There should be strikes on Anglo-Saxon officials. Regardless of who carried it out, it was commissioned by the Anglo-Saxons. A tough response is needed, I see no other option — only force.” Attribution can be tough, but it’s also kind of important before issuing rhetoric like this, no?
KEVIN WHO? If you’re like us – you are probably unfamiliar with an American-born heavyweight boxer named Kevin Johnson. He has been a professional pugilist since 2002 and in recent years apparently doing most of his fighting in Russia. Now we hear via SI.COM (which in a previous life was known as Sports Illustrated) that the fighter has thrown in the towel on his American citizenship and elected to become a Russian citizen. He announced his intention to move to Moscow last summer and now says he has changed his name from Johnson to “Kevin Vladimirovich.” The SI.com piece implies that Kevin has also joined the Russian army – and given their manpower shortages – that would not be a surprise. SI.com quotes Johnson/Vladimirovich when got his Russian passport while donning a Putin t-shirt saying: “I thought they would give me a gun today. I was ready. Yes! Officer Vladimirovich. I am ready,” he said. “Putin in Russia is the President; he is the chief commander. He stands for his country!” The boxer’s record is 36 wins, 22 losses and two draws…which is better than the Russian Army of late.
EXPAT PILOT FACES REPATRIATION: The Dead Drop has told you several times about the fix that Ex-US Marine Corps fighter pilot Daniel Duggan has gotten into Down Under. Duggan, who renounced his U.S. citizenship and became a naturalized Australian citizen, was arrested in 2022 at the request of the U.S. on charges of violating a U.S. arms embargo by training Chinese pilots on how to land on an aircraft carrier. He has been fighting extradition to the U.S. ever since – but this week Australia’s Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, said Duggan “should be extradited to face prosecution for the offences of which he is accused.” The pilot’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, was unhappy with that word saying she and their children were “heartbroken by this callous and inhumane decision which has been delivered just before Christmas with no explanation or justification from the Government.” We’d note that this is the third Christmas her husband has been in custody and the only reason a decision is being rendered now is that the Duggan’s dug in and has been resisting extradition for several years. Back in June, The Cipher Brief’s Tom Nagorski reported about the U.S. and its “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing community warning that China was trying to recruit Western pilots to train its own aviators. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
SHOP EARLY: Last week, we had an item in The Dead Drop about a YouTube video posted by an outfit called “Spy Collection” touting a 2024 CIA Christmas ornament. Well, Spy Collection did not rest on their laurels – or firs – or whatever – and put out a new video about the 2023 ornament officials known as “Spy Snowman/Globe.” They have also published another video about an NSA ornament from the year 2000 which they described as one of the agency’s “most iconic ornaments.” The Wall Street Journal got in the game as well recently posting an article about a variety of government-run gift shops that are hard to get into. Called “The Top Secret Gift Shop Where You Need Clearance to Get In,” the piece featured not only the CIA gift shop but also ones at the FBI, DOJ, Transportation Department and even the Agriculture Department. (The AG shop, by the way, reportedly had sold out stress-relief toys shaped like pigs, cows and tractors.) Our holiday conclusion: We had no idea stress levels at the Agriculture Department were that high.
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