EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: So what network landed the first interview with CIA Director John Brennan following the coup attempt in Turkey? No network at all. It was a young reporter from WKRG-TV in Mobile, Alabama. The scoop, obtained by reporter Alison Spann, came in a long-planned interview that just happened to take place after two newsworthy events, the terrorist attack in Nice, France and the failed coup in Turkey. WKRG played out their scoop over three nights. Spann’s connections to the CIA are long and deep. Her father, Johnny Micheal Spann, a CIA officer, was the first American killed in Afghanistan. Dead Drop readers may remember the poignant scene in late 2001 when Spann’s body was returned to the United States and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Cameras focused on Spann’s wife Shannon and his three young children including Alison then nine years old. Since then Alison has grown into an accomplished young woman. She graduated from Pepperdine University a couple years ago on a scholarship from the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation – an organization which was created as a result of the need foreseen following Mike Spann’s death to support the children of fallen officers.
SPEAKING OF SPANN: The Dead Drop understands that Alison Spann spoke movingly at the CIA Officer’s Memorial Foundation annual dinner a few months ago. That event included a video narrated by former CIA Director George Tenet describing the role that Mike Spann’s death had in sparking the creation of the Foundation. The video has recently been posted on the Foundations website and can be viewed here.
SPEAKING OF BRENNAN: As we so often do – the CIA Director sat down with Dr. Jennifer Sims, nonresident senior fellow for national intelligence at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner on Tuesday to discuss the state of the Agency and the World. According to a release from INSA, Brennan defended the “modernization” of CIA structure he directed 16 months ago. “I think the initial opposition to this in some quarters has dissipated as we have been able to explain what the purpose is,” Brennan said. “There is great pride in being a case officer, an operations officer, great pride in being, what I think is the gold standard of analysis in being an analyst in the CIA. So we want to try to leverage that pride, but bring it together so that they are able to interact with one another in a manner that empowers both their capabilities and mission.” The discussion also covered the recent failed coup in Turkey, efforts by the U.S. and its allies to defeat ISIS, monitoring the Iran nuclear deal, and encryption.
30 FOR 30: In the published 51 weeks ago, we told you that the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, was embarked on a mission to throw out the first pitch at every Major League Baseball stadium. This week the New York Times reports that Mabus can say: “mission accomplished.” Mabus is said to have set out to secure the record in order to bring attention to the Navy and Marine Corps. Usually when the first pitch is being thrown, The Dead Drop is back at the concession stand getting a hot dog and cold brew – but we’re sure some folks in the stands noticed SECNAV. Mabus’ advice for first pitch throwers, according to the NYT, is to make your pitch from in front of the mound to have a better chance of not bouncing the ball. Yankee great Derek Jeter gave President George W. Bush contrary advice before Bush threw out the first pitch at a World Series game after 9/11. Jeter told “43” to throw from the mound or he would get booed. Bush followed the advice and threw a strike.
CASTING CALL: Back in mid-March, The Dead Drop told you about a forthcoming movie called “Shock and Awe,” about reporters and editors from the Knight Ridder news organization who were among the few casting loud doubts about the rationale for going to war in Iraq in 2003. This week “Deadline Hollywood” (not to be confused with Dead Drop Washington) reports that Tommy Lee Jones, Alec Baldwin, and Milla Jovovich are in talks to star in the flick. Woody Harrelson and James Marsden had previously signed up for the film. No word on who would play whom – but for those who don’t know, the story centers on reporters Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel, and their bureau chief John Walcott. So it will be interesting to see what character Milla Jovovich plays.
UNDERCOVER COMICS: GQ Magazine reports this week on Tom King, a former CIA officer who now writes comic books. King wrote “The Sheriff of Babylon,” which GQ calls “quite possibly the best comic of the year.” As a former member of the clandestine service, King is required to submit his scripts in advance to the Agency’s Publications Review Board for clearance. The Dead Drop imagines the folks at the PRB sitting around debating whether “POW!” and “BANG!” and “OOF” are classified – but we guess comic books have evolved quite a bit since we read them.
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