Dead Drop: July 19

NOT SO ‘SPOOKY’ NEIGHBORS: The CBS Saturday Morning show recently featured video of a home in northern Virginia that was purchased by Margaret Scattergood and Florence Thomas in 1933. A couple decades later, the U.S. government wanted to acquire the house along with the adjacent grounds to build a new headquarters for the Central Intelligence Agency. The two women struck a savvy deal.  They sold their home and grounds to the government for $55,000 with the understanding that they would be allowed to live in the home for the rest of their lives. The CIA headquarters opened in 1961, and the women became part of the family. Thorne passed away in 1973 at the age of 95 and Scattergood remained there until she passed away in 1986 at the age of 92.  For a while after that, the CIA used the home to house their K-9 unit but in recent years the place has been beautifully restored and was reopened in 2004 as “The Scattergood-Thorne Conferencing Center.”

THE SCHOOL OF VICE: Chances are, you have never heard of the Defense Information School (DINFOS)  that trains military journalists, broadcasters, and public affairs officers. Currently, the school is located at Fort Meade, MD (though the outfit has had several other homes in its nearly 60-year lifetime.)  Among the school’s alumni – Senator J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for Vice President. What’s the story, you ask? Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after high school and after attending DINFOS, served in the Iraq War as a combat correspondent with the 2nd Marine Air Wing. But here’s the odd thing. You know who else is a graduate of DINFOS? Former Vice Presidents Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle and Al Gore. Why one DOD training activity has turned out so many vice presidents (and aspiring Veeps) is anyone’s guess. The Cipher Brief’s Senior Cyber & Tech Analyst Ken Hughes, and Senior Book Editor and Cover Stories Co-host Bill Harlow are also DINFOS grads.  Both assure us, however, that they have no plans to run for vice president.