SACRED OATH (KEEPERS): You have probably heard that former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is suing his former Agency for dragging their feet on clearing his memoir, A Sacred Oath. Esper, who was fired by President Trump last fall via tweet just after the election, hired a Washington attorney to try and force the Pentagon to move on clearing the manuscript which they have reportedly had for about six months. Esper says that it’s being help up under the guise of classification – but that DoD officials have been unable or unwilling to come up with explanations of what secrets they seek to shield. Esper also told CNN that DOD has farmed the text out to multiple other agencies – some of which are arguing to remove chunks of the book asking that he delete his “views on the actions of other countries, on conversations I held with foreign officials, and regarding international events that have been widely reported.” Mr. Esper said: “Many items were already in the public domain; some were even published by D.O.D.” You may have heard all that – but here is something you might have missed – in the court filing on Esper’s suit – his attorney included what sounds like promotional language: “The Manuscript is scheduled for publication in May 2022, and copies can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com at…” and then he includes a URL that leads to the Amazon.com page for the book. We are unable to determine if the link is one of those “Amazon Associate” ones like we use – which would enable him to earn a little money on each book sold – making one wonder if Esper will publish even without clearance.
IF YOU THINK THE LAST TIME WAS A CHALLENGE: For decades, former CIA officer John Helgerson has been putting out a little book under Agency auspices called, Getting to Know the President. The monograph details how the Agency has briefed presidential candidates and presidents-elect over the years. The Agency just released an update to the book in the fourth edition which includes a new chapter 9 titled, “Donald J. Trump – A Unique Challenge.” Some of the nuggets come from political appointees of the Obama administration – like former DNI Jim Clapper. But others come from career non-political officers like Ted Gistaro, who organized briefings for both candidates in 2016 and later was the first full-time briefer after Trump assumed office. Regarding the PDB, Gistaro said: “He touched it” (referring to the briefing book) “He doesn’t really read anything.” Chapter 9 also reveals that Trump was not briefed on CIA covert actions until several weeks into the administration and stopped taking the briefings entirely during the final several weeks of his time in office. While the chapter is interesting – and fleshes out some of what has been heard in unofficial channels – it got us wondering – if Trump should run for office again and win his party’s nomination and perhaps the presidency again – what kind of reception will his next set of briefers get? He might not repeat something he is said to have told his briefers during the 2016 campaign: “the nasty things” he had been saying about the Intelligence Community in public (he told them) “don’t apply to you.”
HOLDING OUT INFO FROM GITMO DETAINEES? Lawyers for some of the men accused of planning the 9/11 attacks have complained in court at Guantanamo Bay that, as part of the discovery process, they are being given CIA cables with stuff blacked out – that members of the public can see if they FOIA for the same documents. Is this a nefarious plot – or just another example of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing when it comes to redactions? The GITMO defense lawyers might want to consult with Mark Esper’s attorney to see how such a thing could happen.
GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF GROWING UP CIA KID: This past weekend, NPR’s Scott Simon aired an interview with Sophia Glock about her graphic novel, Passport, about a young girl whose parents are CIA officers. Glock moved around six different countries with her parents in Europe and Central America. Her fictionalized book is set in an unspecified Central American location. Glock told Simon that growing up, her parents taught her how to avoid directly answering questions from curious folks by using deflection. “It’s a really useful skill. You just ask questions back. Most people are pretty much interested in themselves and happy to talk about things they can talk about.” If we could ask the author one question it would be: “Is Glock your real name or did you make it up?” It sounds perfect for the offspring of CIA officers.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
TOTAL NONSENSE: Lawyer Lin Wood has been feuding of late with well-known fellow former Trump supporters. Among the officials he is taking to the woodshed is former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Flynn, as you may recall, has been accused by some to be a Satanist – and by others to be a QAnon advocate. It’s safe to say Flynn is denying those accusations. But The Daily Beast reports that Wood recently released a recording of a phone call with Flynn in which the retired general debunked the Q-Anon conspiracy group. Normally, this would not make the cut for the Dead Drop but in the audio, a voice that we’re told is Flynn’s, says not only is QAnon “total nonsense” but the CIA invented the outfit. “I think it’s a disinformation campaign. I think it’s a disinformation campaign that the CIA created. That’s what I believe. Now, I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s what I think it is. I think it’s a disinformation campaign,” says the voice. We were going to dismiss the notion that the CIA might have invented QAnon – but then we remembered that the Agency’s venture capital platform is called In-Q-Tel. And the tech-savvy scientist in James Bond films is named ‘Q’. ‘Q’-incidence? We’ll let you decide.
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