CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A LEGAL KIND: The folks at Georgetown University Law School took to twitter recently to post a short video with Professor David Koplow, who is part of a small international group assembled by NASA to think about the legal ramifications of an asteroid headed for earth. We’ve heard folks speculate in the past about the impact of an asteroid strike – that’s what killed off the dinosaurs, right? But we hadn’t lost much sleep about its impact on lawyers. Turns out the concern is real: if we see an asteroid approaching and try to divert it by hitting it with a space-based nuke – we would be violating international treaties banning the use of nukes in space. And if we are only partially successful in changing its path and instead of landing in “country A” it lands in “country B” – there are likely to be some astronomical lawsuits going on…assuming the lawyers survive.
SEAL OF APPROVAL: Speaking of space, the twittersphere launched into orbit late last week when the President announced the design of the official seal of the new U.S. Space Force. Turns out the design is nearly a dead ringer for the one used by Star Trek’s Starfleet Command. Nearly identical delta shapes in the middle, a dot orbiting the design…and stars in the outer quadrants. But the Space Force had the last laugh. They posted on Facebook a statement pointing out that the design was based on elements first used by the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 and that bits and pieces of the logo have been found to be the right stuff on Air Force space organization emblems going back to 1961. So, the Space Force didn’t rip off Star Trek – if anything, it was the other way around.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY CHANGE: It is no secret that there has been a lot of turnover on the National Security Council staff during this administration. But we had no idea how much. No idea until we spotted an article on a Brookings blog that says that one third of the positions in the NSC have had more than two occupants during this administration and some have had as many as six. Scroll down in the blog item to see a really cool chart which shows who has been playing musical chairs at the upper levels of the NSC staff.
I’M GOING TO DISNEYLAND! (ON THE CIA’S DIME): The Jerusalem Post dusted off a story about how the CIA opened up a back channel with the PLO back in 1969. According to the story, a Palestinian by the name of Ali Hassan Salameh, was recruited by the CIA – much to the distress of the Israelis. The Agency apparently wooed Salameh and his wife (a former Miss Universe) with a trip to Disneyland for their honeymoon. Salameh was said to have been later killed by a car bomb planted by Mossad. On a week where a new peace plan for the Middle East was announced by the White House – this is a reminder that, as The Jerusalem Post puts it: “history is never as simple, or as neat, as common narratives suppose.”
QUOTH THE RAVEN: NEVERMORE: Former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke gained fame after 9/11 for pointing fingers at others for having let the country down by failing to stop the al Qaeda attacks. Since leaving government he has been branching out into cyber security consulting. A lengthy Reuters investigation posted in late 2019 looked at allegations that Clarke and his company, Good Harbor, consulted with the United Arab Emirates on creating a cyber surveillance operation that the UAE may have used to keep an eye not only on terrorists but was later used by the UAE to also keep an eye on women’s rights activists, diplomats and international soccer officials. The program came to be known as “Project Raven.” Clarke told Reuters that the plan had the approval of the U.S. State Department as well as the National Security Agency and said his company followed U.S. law. Concern, though, over former NSA officials and other U.S. intelligence experts selling their expertise to foreign countries has now led to a new law which will require the intelligence community to provide Congress “with an annual assessment of risks to national security posed by ‘retired and former personnel of the intelligence community’ who work as intelligence contractors to foreign governments.”
A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE: For three decades, a sculpture in a courtyard at CIA headquarters has caused spooks to scratch their heads. Known as “Kryptos,” the artwork has a secret message embedded in it (and around it) that has proven impossible (so far) to decrypt. Actually, three of the four passages on it have been broken…but the final part of the message has remained uncracked. It seems the sculpture’s creator, Jim Sanborn, is getting tired of waiting for someone to crack the code and has provided a series of clues to help. According to the The New York Times, his latest clue is “Northeast.” Thanks, Jim. Sanborn provide a key for deciphering the message to then-CIA director William Webster when the artwork was installed in the early 1990s. Webster, who is now 95, isn’t about to spill the beans so if you want to know the rest of the story – you are just going to have to head “northeast.”
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
SHE’S BAAAACK: Remember last fall when a woman was arrested for repeatedly showing up uninvited at the CIA’s front gate and asking to “speak with Agent Penis”? Sure, you do. Well, it turns out despite having promised to quit doing that, the woman went back to CIA HQ on December 23. She had also previously appeared outside former President Barack Obama’s DC house. The woman, who WTOP says is 58 years old, was out on bail awaiting trial. Her latest Langley visit did not reportedly result in new charges, but she must appear in court to try to convince a judge that her pre-trial freedom should not be revoked. Her next court date is right before Valentine’s Day.
LEAKS, LAGS & LIES: Just how hard is it for a reporter to cover national security news these days? WTOP’s National Security Correspondent JJ Green has always been known for being straight-forward and he doesn’t disappoint in a piece he penned for RTDNA.org about navigating a celebrity culture and trying to do your job as a reporter. We first came across this tidbit by reading Inside the SCIF.
THE MARVELOUS MS. DONOVAN: The annual Sundance Film Festival is just wrapping up. One story out of Utah that caught our eye is about a forthcoming movie to be called “Ironbark.” Rachel Brosnahan who has won two Emmy Awards for her performance in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” plays “Emily Donovan” one of only a few female CIA officers in the 1960s. Benedict Cumberbatch also stars. While details are sketchy, the plot apparently revolves around Soviet GRU Colonel Oleg Penkovsky and how he worked with MI-6 and the CIA to save the world. How dramatic.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
