LET ME BE THE FIRST TO WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Last week’s Dead Drop led with an item about an imminent visit by President Biden to CIA headquarters to be among the first to celebrate the Agency’s 75th birthday. The visit happened and Biden praised the CIA as the “bedrock of our national security.” He also thanked the “incredible work of our intelligence professionals” for enabling the US to alert the world to Putin’s plans to attack Ukraine. Oddly, the visit did not make much of a splash with the mainstream media. Perhaps in part due to the assassination of Japan’s Shinzo Abe dominating the news that afternoon, the visit was under reported. For several days, we couldn’t even find a mention of Biden’s visit on the Agency’s own social media accounts. They got around to posting something about it on Facebook about three days after the event. We were able to confirm by checking the CIA’s Tweet account that the President’s visit was a bit early. The account says at the top: “Born September 18, 1947.” The White House released the full text of the remarks.
BIG FAT MISTAKE: In the July 1 edition of The Dead Drop we relayed a story that appeared in the DailyMail.com (and a number of other tabloid newspapers) including the New York Post about a morbidly obese, 67-year-old, Russian general (supposedly named “Pavel”) who had reportedly been recalled to lead the fight in Afghanistan. Some European journalists did a very deep dive on matter, analyzing the photo to a fair thee well and determining that the giant general was in fact a former member of the Border Guard (part of the FSB) and not currently a member of the Army. In other words, the story was kind of a hoax. Check out the detailed analysis here. Turns out the portly Pavel is really 58-year-old Ivan Ivanovich Turchin. So far, the newspapers which first made a splash with the story have not apologized. But here at The Dead Drop we would like to go on the record as saying we regret having thought that the Russian army had enough rations to feed the chunky chap.
PAPA PUTIN STRIKES AGAIN? At the risk of falling for more Daily Mail disinformation, we report here that the tabloid says that Vladimir Putin may be “expecting a daughter” with his ex-gymnast lover. Previous reports say that the nearly 70-year-old Vlad has had two sons with 39-year-old Alina Kabaeva who once won an Olympic gold medal as a “rhythmic gymnast” and has been described as “the most flexible woman in Russia.” Also flexible is the number of offspring Putin is said to have. But he may need to keep going to make sure the Russian Army ranks are filled.
DOES NYC KNOW SOMETHING WE DON’T? Big cities like the Big Apple have a world of challenges to face – but we were somewhat surprised to learn that the New York City Emergency Management office has posted a 90-second public service announcement that informs local residents on what to do if “the city that never sleeps” is hit by a nuclear attack. The narrator says “So, there’s been a nuclear attack” and adds “Don’t ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit.” She provides three tips on what to do next. Number 1 is: Get inside (why didn’t WE think of that?). Number 2 is: Stay inside, shut doors and windows and “get clean immediately.” And step 3 is: Stay tuned and follow media for instructions on what to do next. We recall another 3-step plan from long ago on what to do if nuked: 1. Stand up. 2. Bend over and 3. Kiss your butt goodbye.
SPICER LOSES FIGHT FOR NON-PAYING JOB: A lawsuit by former White House spokesman Sean Spicer and former OMB Director Russell Vought came to naught recently when U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled against them in their attempt to overturn President Biden’s decision to remove them from the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors. The two ex-visitors received their appointments from President Trump but Biden decided to remove them as well 16 others, such as former White House official Kellyanne Conway, from a similar posts. Conway’s gig was at the Air Force Academy but apparently did not file suit to keep the post which pays only travel expenses. The judge in Spicer’s case ruled that the litigants had no right to remain on the board (the job of which is to advise the president) if the current president doesn’t want their advice.
GREAT PLACES TO WORK – BUT NOT AS GREAT AS LAST YEAR: The Partnership for Public Service is out with their annual list of the “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.” Here are a couple of our takeaways. First, NASA topped the list – again. Wait till next year and they ride the high from the James Webb Telescope. The Intelligence Community comes in a solid #4 on this year…just like last year. The biggest loser was the Department of Justice whose employee “engagement and satisfaction score” dropped more than 8 percentage points from the previous year. And the Department of Homeland Security comes in last among large agencies...again. Interestingly, of the 17 large agencies rated, all but one saw their scores go down from last year – and the one outlier – the Department of Veterans Affairs went up only 0.2%. Among the Agency subcomponents, coming in dead last in 432rd place was the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration. Maybe the IG should inspect that place.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
PROTECTION FROM WHOM OR WHAT? Congressman Mike Gallagher (R, WI) has proposed an amendment to the FY-23 National Defense Authorization Act that would establish protections for military and civilian government officials who report “unidentified aerial phenomena” AKA “UAP” (also AKA “UFOs.”) Gallagher says that people reporting this stuff need “whistleblower-like protection.” We learned from an article on TheDrive.com that among Gallagher’s supporters is Rep. Tim Burchett (R, TN) who “sells UFO-related apparel on his website.” Among the gear is a t-shirt that says “More people believe in UFOs than in Congress.” Apparently, no whistle-blower-like protections will be offered to those who do believe in Unidentified Legislative Objects.
HOW COME THE UFOs MOSTLY STALK THE NAVY? Seems to us most of the unexplained UFO/UAP sightings happen around Navy ships and planes. So, in the spirit of equal time we were pleased to see a photo circulating apparently showing a mysterious object seen from the cockpit of a USAF F-16. Then the spoilsports at USA Today got involved and reported it was a bogus, digitally altered photo. Social media postings claimed that the incident happened in June 2014, but it turns out it was an official USAF 2004 image that had been manipulated. But wait, maybe the extraterrestrials mastered time travel and doctored the old picture to cover up their visit.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS TIPS: We don’t mean to manipulate your feelings, but we sure would be grateful if you spot any Dead Drop-worthy items if you would send them to us. Our email: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
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