IS CIA AN EX X USER AND Y? The social media platform formerly known as Twitter has had a rough year. The mutual fund Fidelity says X has lost 71.5% of its value since having been purchased by Elon Musk. The number of users has dropped by 15% and advertisers have been bailing– some apparently motivated by intemperate and possibly antisemitic comments by the platform’s owner. We stumbled across an interesting angle more in The Cipher Brief’s wheelhouse, however. We noticed that CIA, once a powerful user of the Twitter platform, seems to be giving Musk the silent treatment. The Agency has posted more than 5,000 times on X (nee Twitter) since it joined in 2014 and has racked up 3.4 million followers. But CIA hasn’t posted anything on X since late September. We thought perhaps the CIA social media team had gone on hiatus – but they’re still posting with some regularity on other sites like Instagram and LinkedIn. Then we wondered if the Intelligence Community writ large had put X on ice – but no, the ODNI, NSA, FBI et al seem to be posting at the same pace as they had before. A little birdie told us there is no official Agency guidance not to post on X, so (we’re just flying by the seat of our pants here, but …) maybe the Agency is focusing its energy on platforms that offer more ‘constructive’ engagement opportunities, which – by our assessment – would be any platform other than X.
SO SOON? According to the British tabloid, The Mirror, a woman identified only as “Barbara” has decided to call it a career at MI5 – after having served at the domestic agency for more than half a century. We figure that Barbara, who is now 90 years old, was probably making up for lost time – since she didn’t join MI5 until 1968, when she was in her mid-30s. All we know about her is that she worked in personnel management, recruiting and the agency’s history section serving under 12 directors-general. It’s safe to say that after 50 years, she probably knows a lot more about us than we know about her.
YOU DON’T SAY: Is it coincidence that Barbara’s bailing follows news from The Telegraph that Britain’s spy chiefs are electing to release some personal details about their employees as part of a recruitment campaign? Apparently, the message is that you can come from any walk of life and end up the next James Bond. Of course, when MI-5 releases details about some of their employees – they use only first names (like Barbara.) MI-5 personnel success stories (well, some of them anyway) are posted on the outfit’s official Instagram account.
WHAT GOOD NEWS: We were temporarily relieved to hear that a senior intelligence official had promised that there would be no foreign meddling in the upcoming presidential election. Relieved until we read the not-so fine print. Turns out Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said in a recent video that his outfit is making ‘every effort’ to prevent foreigners from meddling in Russia’s upcoming presidential election. Naryshkin can likely feel confident that things are locked down because although the Russian election isn’t until March – we’re pretty sure the outcome is already set in stone.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Yet another Putin crony has met his maker after “falling” out of a window. Vladimir Egorov, 46, who was a senior member of the United Russia party was found dead outside his home after exiting a third-floor window. Local officials assure us that there was “no visible sign of criminal death on (his) body” and speculate that perhaps he had a heart condition. Seriously, is there any country on the planet with more defenestration deaths than Russia? In most parts of the world – if you have a heart attack, you fall down on the floor not up and out a window. We’ve lost count of how many prominent Russians have suffered similar fates.
CARROTS AND STICKS: A Russian man who was mobilized for the Army and was seriously hurt while fighting in Ukraine was reportedly hoping that his government would compensate him. He filed a claim asking for a payment of 3 million rubles (about $32,600) for his injuries. But 45-year-old Oleg Rybkin was reportedly left holding the bag. Instead of a cash payment, officials are said to have given him “two buckets of carrots and a bag of onions.” No doubt Oleg is in quite a stew about the matter. We hope he lives in a house with no windows.
RUSSIAN SHELLING: What is this with Russian officials awarding food? A Russian Deputy from Vologda, Alexander Gordeev recently acknowledged the egg-cellent work of the people in his office by giving them each a carton of eggs. A picture of Gordeev and four co-workers sporting egg cartoons and bemused smiles was posted on line.
YOU’D THINK THE RUSSIANS WOULD BE FED UP BY NOW: Ukrainian social media accounts claim that two young Ukrainian women (who we have told you about before) have struck again, chatting up invading Russian soldiers and giving them “pies stuffed with cabbage and potatoes” as a gift allegedly from their grannies. Oh, and they gave the soldiers beer, too. According to these accounts (which we cannot verify) 18 Russian soldiers have died and 14 were hospitalized. Must have gotten some bad cabbage.
WHO’S HONEY? The Daily Mail has a lengthy update on reports about “high-end” brothels in the Boston and Washington, D.C. areas that were busted back in November. Unnamed investigators reportedly told the Mail that the six sites might have been used to ensnare politicians and government officials - including “members of Congress, military officers, national security contractors” – none of which have been charged yet. But the story includes speculation (but no evidence) that Russia, China, or even allies like South Korea and Israel might have been involved in using the sites as “honey traps.” Some former intelligence officials we talked with are skeptical about that, however. While fancy brothels set up around power centers might be the work of foreign governments as wholesale entrapment opportunities – “Setting them up allegedly by a hostile Intel service seems like too much work. Easier to target a target in a bar or with a knock on a hotel door,” one former official told us. Blackmail of government officials is certainly possible – but would a sophisticated foreign government intelligence service set up permanent locations – and leave detailed written records as happened in this case? We will all find out – eventually.
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