BAER TRUTH? We’ve gotten a lot of responses to the opinion piece published in by three former CIA Counterintelligence Chiefs who weighed in with their expert perspective on author Robert Baer's claim in his book, The Fourth Man, that former CIA officer Paul Redmond was a probable KGB spy. Our Dead Drop spies tell us that Redmond has written his own review of the book, set to be published in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, in March. However, we hear that the Journal is giving readers an early sneak peek. Titled, The Ghost of Angleton, the review/rebuttal points out substantive issues with Baer’s reporting. We hope Baer does a better job researching the claims he makes as a contributor for CNN – which used to call itself ‘the most trusted name in news’. Since Baer is on the CNN payroll, we don’t anticipate that the network will put a whole lot of effort into exploring the accuracy of his reporting.
WHO’S A GOOD BOY? Everybody loves a shaggy dog story – and there is one in former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller’s just released memoir, Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield & the Pentagon about America’s Most Dangerous Enemies. According to early accounts, Miller describes the scene in Washington when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi met his maker. The ISIS leader was killed in a raid in Syria, as officials monitored the operation in real time from the White House Situation Room. Miller writes that then-President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley were among those present. Miller says that First Lady Melania Trump dropped in unexpectedly too, so like a gentleman, Miller (who was Director of the National Counterterrorism Center at the time) gave her his seat as a U.S. assault force cornered Baghdadi and unleashed their combat dog. Miller says that faced with the fierce fido, al-Baghdadi “detonated a suicide vest, killing himself, his two children and two of his wives.” After the action ended, Miller says that then-President Trump asked those present what he should say to the American people about it and, that Mrs. Trump “took over” the conversation, telling the president: “You should talk about the dog,” adding “Everyone loves dogs.” Trump followed that advice and had the dog (named “Conan”) eventually brought to the White House where he was given an award and lauded for doing “such a great job in capturing and killing the leader of ISIS.” Maybe just further evidence that Trump-era press messaging really went to the dogs.
REPLACEMENT THEORY: About a week ago, Al Jazeera reported that “recently released” British documents say that former President George W. Bush ordered the CIA to search for a replacement for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2001. The article says that Bush described Arafat as “weak and useless” but that the CIA eventually determined that there was no replacement available. Here’s the weird thing – The Dead Drop found quite a few versions of this story floating around Middle Eastern media outlets but have yet to find any British media pointing to any such documents. We checked with several U.S. intelligence officials who were around at the time, and they described the report as – well, let’s call it “bovine excrement.” One theory is that the story (for some reason) is a belated attempt to attribute Arafat’s 2004 death, to the CIA.
ZOOM OF DOOM: One of the great things about the Ukrainians is that despite being under a year-long brutal assault, they still maintain a puckish sense of humor. For example, there are reports that a group of disloyal Ukrainian citizens from the Donetsk region were on a Zoom-like call with some folks in Moscow (presumably getting marching orders) when the Ukrainian security service hacked into the call, informing the participants that they had all been charged with treason. The hacker then loudly played the Ukrainian national anthem and the participants belatedly turned off their cameras. The video of their stunned reactions is quite amusing.
BAD SPORTS: We hope someone had a camera zooming in on the Colorado State University student section recently that captured the faces of those in the stands who thought a good way to throw off the concentration of Utah State University basketball player Max Shulga, who is from Ukraine, as he was attempting free-throws. The Colorado State supporters started chanting “Russia, Russia”. Colorado State’s official twitter account quickly apologized, saying the classless chant was “a violation of our steadfast believe in the Mountain West Sportsmanship Policy and University Principles of Community.” Shulga, the Ukrainian guard, hit 3 out of 4 foul shots during the game and his team beat Colorado State by nine points which, coincidentally, was Shulga’s point total for the night. Guess the lesson for those students is that Ukraine can’t be shaken so easily. Huh. You’d have thought they’d have learned that one by now. Just sayin.
BLOWN COVER: We didn’t see this one coming. According to Deadline, actor Matthew McConaughey has agreed to be the voice of Elvis Presley in a new adult animated series for Netflix called “Agent Elvis.” In the cartoon, Elvis is a global superstar by day but by night, is an ass-kicking vigilante who battles the dark force that threatens the country he loves – and he joins a secret government spy program to do so. But here is what really animates us: the name of the secret agency? “TCB” – which around here is short for: The Cipher Brief. The series debuts in March.
NOT MY DEPARTMENT: Ask around among intelligence service alumni for recommendations on compelling television series about operational tradecraft and one title you will often hear is the French drama Le Bureau des Legendes (The Bureau of Legends.) In this case, it doesn’t mean “legends” like Elvis – but rather the cover stories and false identities used by intelligence operatives over the years. Well, now we hear that Showtime is planning to produce its own version of the series – and they’ve signed the legendary George Clooney to direct what they are calling “The Department.” It’s not unusual for successful American-made series to lift from the structure and outline of series that were first produced overseas. In this case, the producers reportedly plan to follow the same plot line of the original French series, which "centers on the daily life and missions of agents within France's principal external security service. The show focuses on those “responsible for training and handling deep-cover agents on long-term missions in areas with French interests. Living under false identities for years, these agents' missions are to identify and recruit good intelligence sources." Clooney has been directing films for over 20 years. His first was the 2002 “Confessionals of a Dangerous Mind” about Gong Show host Chuck Barris, who thought he was a CIA assassin. Hmm. Maybe he took out Arafat, too. Just sayin.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
OORAH FOR THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE: Military.com is out with an answer to a question you probably never thought of: Why do Marines say “oorah”? Turns out, it goes back to World War II, when Marine reconnaissance units were put ashore from Navy submarines. While onboard the subs, they heard orders for the boat to dive followed by a klaxon sound which Military.com spells: “Aarugha.” So, when the Marines went ashore, they motivated each other with a similar sounding: “oorah.” Left largely unexplained in the piece, is why the Army elects to say “hooah” (other than to assert that it has nothing to do with “oorah” origins.) All this got us wondering – what do Space Force Guardians say? We’re thinking maybe: “Ooooooh”
LOST IN TRANSLATION: Apparently, you can make this stuff up. We just learned that for more than 20 years, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, has been handing out prizes for literature and art. Normally, they give out three awards a year but according to service chief Sergey Naryskin, there were so many wonderful works lauding the work of Russian intelligence this year, that they had to give out five. In a press release translated by our friends at Google, a reporter noted that “Despite the secrecy, the intelligence profession is so bright and so heroic that it serves as a source of inspiration for cultural figures, writers, cinematographers, screenwriters, and journalists.” Among this year’s winners was a children’s dance ensemble that created a show loosely translated as "The history of intelligence is the history of the country. Nuclear shield." Funny how art imitates life, huh?
BALLOON FREE ZONE: There has been SO much coverage of the Chinese spy balloon – a subject that far too easily lends itself to puns, mockery and balloon-acy – that The Dead Drop decided NOT to report on all the goofy stuff we saw this week. We hope that does not leave you deflated.
AND THE WINNER IS… The reader who sends that kick-ass secret spy agency TCB the best tips for news we can use in next week’s edition (Nuclear shield) Dead Drop. Send your tips to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com
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