WAIT, WUT? At The Cipher Brief, our focus is on easy stuff — like national security and world peace – so we intentionally stay away from hard things like domestic policy. So cut us some slack, here but we vaguely remember an issue coming up during the most recent State of the Union speech when President Biden accused Republicans of wanting to “sunset” entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. And Republicans said – “no we didn’t!” And normally, we would not bring this up...but this week, Florida Senator Rick Scott reportedly modified his previously published “Rescue America” plan to make clear that it no longer proposed sunsetting (requiring re-authorization every five years) – Social Security, Medicare OR THE U.S. NAVY. Huh? We were unaware that the Navy was an entitlement program or that it was in danger of every five years, Congress deciding they might make it go away. And if the Navy DID get deep sixed – what was Congress going to do with all those ships and planes? Oddly, Senator Scott’s plan apparently was silent on things like the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force. As stipulated above – we don’t entirely understand this domestic policy stuff – but can say for our friends in the Navy that we’re pleased to know they’ll still be in business six years from now.
FIRST DRAGON LADY SELFIE: It’s a good thing the US Air Force is still well funded, otherwise, we may have a different perspective on the big ball of hot air that was floating over the US recently. The US Air Force scored a win not only by shooting down the Chinese Surveillance Balloon that drifted for days over the Continental US, but also when the pilot of a U2 Dragon Lady spy plane who was monitoring the balloon’s movements, shot a selfie with the most famous balloon in the world. We found it somewhat entertaining that The South China Morning Post carried the story – and the selfie – that was apparently snapped a day before the balloon was relieved of its hot air by another Air Force fighter pilot.
DYING FOR DUMPLINGS – THIS IS NOT A GAME SHOW: BBC Russia-watcher Francis Scarr tweeted an item recently about the mother of a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine who was just awarded a bag of pelmeni (meat dumplings) by officials from her native Siberia to compensate for her loss. The Siberian media item that sparked Scarr’s note seems to have been taken down, so perhaps Russian officials have figured out that their pelmeni was in bad taste. A bag of dumplings may sound like a poor trade for a son – but the now removed Russian post originally said that she had previously claimed a larger (unspecified) “prize.”
AMATEUR HOUR: Actor Rami Malek, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 2019, and played a bad guy in the James Bond film “No Time to Die” in 2021, has reportedly signed up to star in a new TV series in development from 20th Century called “Amateur.” According to Deadline the show “..follows a CIA cryptographer who, after his wife is tragically killed in a London terrorist attack, demands his bosses go after them. When it becomes clear they won’t act due to conflicting internal priorities, he blackmails the agency into training him and letting him go after them himself.” No word on where the program will air – or when.
SOUNDS FAMILIAR: See if you can identify a theme: there is a movie in post-production called “Chief of Station” that stars Aaron Eckhart. The plot summary on IMBD says that “After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.” That film should be out fairly soon – we learned of it by reading that Aaron Eckhart has been cast in another movie called “Midair” playing a cargo pilot who “flies rogue missions for the CIA” and discovers a terrorist has “squirreled away onboard, and he has to figure out a way to eliminate the threat without the plane going down and killing everyone.” That one will probably hit theaters in late 2024. As far as we know, the plot does not call for the pilot’s wife to be tragically killed by terrorists – but since they haven’t started filming yet – there is still time to work that in.
BUTLER DID IT: Actor Gerard Butler, who recently starred in: “Plane,” is about to roll out “Kandahar” a film in which he plays an undercover CIA operations officer “…who is stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan. After his mission is exposed, he must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.” Here is the trailer for the flick. The film will hit theaters on May 26th.
BAD ACTOR: If you want to pretend to be a CIA officer – it is best to confine your efforts to the large or small screen. That was not the course taken by Robert Earhart, Jr. of Columbus, GA who, according to a DOJ press release has been charged with trying to pass himself off as a “CIA Agent” with the “protective operations division.” We have heard of folks making such false claims in bars and such – but Earhart may find himself behind bars because he allegedly made his false claim when trying to arrange a meeting with the U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Georgia, Peter Leary. Prosecutors say he also tried to pass himself off as a Homeland Security Agent. No word from Leary’s attorney but should he be convicted, Earhart could face up to three years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine – in a case being handled by the same people he tried to con. Now there’s a plot twist.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
IT IS A CONSPIRACY, I TELL YA: Remember last week’s Dead Drop noted that 85-year-old journalist Seymour Hersh published on Substack, his theory that the U.S. Navy carried out a CIA plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022? We noted that many mainstream media outlets may have been a bit skittish about buying what Hersh was selling, since the story appeared to be based largely (if not entirely) on a single unnamed source. Well now, some well-placed media claim that Sy has apparently found a news outlet to interview him on his conspiracy theory. Russia Media Monitor, Julia Davis, reported that Margarita Simonyan, the head of the Kremlin’s propaganda outlet, RT, has announced that her publication has landed an interview with Hersh. But then shortly thereafter, author and journalist Andrew Meier took to twitter to say he had just spoken with Hersh, saying while he had been deluged with calls from Russian reporters he had “not spoken with a single one” regarding this story. Maybe RT spoke with CIA and US Navy officials pretending to be Sy Hersh. Kind of a false flack operation.
THERE THEY GO AGAIN: Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, must have hired an energetic new PR person. Recently, we have mentioned several initiatives where they have gone public celebrating their greatest hits – no, not that kind, but honoring past operatives, giving out awards for portraying their work positively in books and movies, and the like. This week their leader, Sergey Naryshkin dedicated a memorial plaque in honor of “Hero of Russia” Yuri Shevchenko who, according to an SVR press release, “obtained plans of the West to dismember Russia.” We dis-remember such dismembering, but would the SVR lie to us? The Kremlin had previously claimed that as an illegal, Shevchenko conducted espionage operations against the West including presidential administrations, the CIA, FBI, State Department and NATO headquarters.
HERO OF THE CIPHER BRIEF: We will dedicate a (virtual) plaque to the Cipher Brief readers who point us to interesting/weird/wacky news we can use in some upcoming Dead Drop. Send your tips to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com
