Dead Drop: December 4

CIA DIRECTOR SWEEPSTAKES: For the past several weeks, the Dead Drop has resisted reporting on rumors of who will be nominated to lead the CIA in the next administration.  We’ve held off – not for lack of interest – but because we figured that the mystery would be solved any day now, rendering our item obsolete.  But “not so fast” says 2020.  Initially, the rumored leading candidate was (and may still be) former CIA deputy director (and twice acting director) Michael Morell. But then Morell took some heat from folks like Senator Ron Wyden who objected to the fact that Morell has called Senator Dianne Feinstein’s 2014 report on Agency interrogation practices ‘flawed’ – and said that some valuable intelligence came from the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Virtually every other living former CIA director has said the same things – but apparently Wyden wants a CIA director who will speak truth to power – as long as it is the “truth” he agrees with.  Then, former national security advisor Tom Donilon’s name came up as the likely nominee.  Donilon was leading the rumor mill until November 29 when word came out that he did not want to come back into government.  Apparently he had trouble initially getting this word across – which seems odd since his brother was chief strategist for the Biden campaign and will be a senior White House advisor and Tom’s wife, Cathy Russell, is slated to be head of White House personnel.  In addition to Morell, other names that popped up include former Principal Deputy DNI Sue Gordon, former senior CIA clandestine service officers Justin Jackson and Darrell Blocker, and retired Marine Lieutenant General (former DIA Director and Cipher Brief expert) Vincent Stewart. Blocker, is the least known of the group, but he is not entirely unknown to Dead Drop readers – we noted back in September 2019 an ABC News story about how he used his singing talents as a front man for one of Uganda’s top bands as cover. On December 2^nd, The New York Times reported that another former CIA deputy (and Cipher Brief expert,) David Cohen is now the leading contender.  Cipher Brief readers will remember Cohen’s other claim to fame – as a walk on in HBO’s Game of Thrones.  By the end of the day on Thursday, December 3rd, sources inside the building were hearing Susan Rice’s name being thrown into the mix.  This is all starting to feel like a real Game of Thrones, no?

WEIRDEST STORY OF THE WEEK (WSWC) NOMINEE: Reuters posted a “fact check” this week which would seem unnecessary – but apparently some folks actually believed a whacky story circulating on the internet.  Rest easy, Reuters assures us, there is no truth to the rumor that former President Barack Obama was arrested on November 28 for espionage. The bogus story lifted segments of an actual Department of Justice press release from August 17^th about the arrest of Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a former CIA officer. In the phony story, the fake DOJ alleges that Obama conspired with his business partner (Ma.)  You must wonder about the people who see these items on obscure websites – and whether they ask themselves how come Fox News and OANN forgot to report this story?