LEAVE NO MARKER BEHIND: The US is rapidly pulling its forces out of Afghanistan and in the country where US and allied troops have fought and died for the past two decades, efforts are being made to remove important physical reminders of the US presence. Stars and Stripes reports that, as coalition troops pulled out of Bagram airbase, officials scrambled to bring along war mementos so they wouldn’t fall into the hands of whomever comes next. One example was the jersey of former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman which was on display at the Bagram USO center. USO employee Kimberly Culverhouse-Steadman was sent to Bagram to help close the center. But when she flew out of the country, she tried to bring along two suitcases – one with her personal belongings and the other with memorabilia including the Tillman jersey. Government officials reportedly told her that she could only bring one bag – so she left her personal stuff and brought out the keepsakes. The Tillman jersey is now at USO headquarters in Arlington, VA. The story got us pondering. It’s one thing to pack up small mementos but another to remove larger memorials. We wonder what - if anything - is being done for historic markers like the stone memorial at Qala-i-Jongi prison honoring CIA officer Mike Spann or the plaque placed in Khost by former CIA Director Leon Panetta honoring the seven CIA officers killed by a suicide bomber in 2009? The inscription quotes from Isaiah 6:8: “And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am; send me.” If anyone knows the status of those memorials – drop us a note.
READY FOR MY CAMEO: Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (say that five times fast) Susan Gordon made a cameo appearance this week at the confirmation hearing for Dr. Stacey Dixon, the Biden Administration’s nominee to become the next PDDNI. Gordon, who famously exited the role during the Trump administration, offered high praise for Dixon, who told Senators that the number two at ODNI is “more than a manager, more than a leader; the PDDNI is a problem-solver and bridge-builder.” Dixon was joined by Cipher Brief Expert Matt Olsen - who will have to hang up his Cipher Brief Expert hat as well as his Uber Chief Security and Trust Officer hat if confirmed as the new Assistant Attorney General for National Security - and Thomas Monheim, who told Senators that he isn’t expecting to win any popularity contests if he’s confirmed as the next Inspector General for the Intelligence Community….because well, why would an IG ever win a popularity contest?
A WEEK OF RISOTTO, NUKES AND GUNFIRE: Former CIA analyst and current Cipher Brief Expert Rodney Faraon appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef Amateurs” on July 15th. He made risotto, scrambling to find the necessary herbs. Faraon told Bravo it was like a scene from a spy movie “the clock was ticking, and I had to disarm the nukes.” Pretty exciting, eh? It seems like excitement follows Faraon around. After the pressure of being a chef, he took his family to a Washington Nationals baseball game — only to have to find a way to escape when gunfire outside the stadium caused officials to suspend the game. Sadly, three people were hurt in an incident outside the Park. We’re happy to say no one was injured during Rodney’s television cooking debut.
“YOU JUST KNOW I’M AN AMERICAN AIRMAN, KICKING YOUR BUTT”: Speaking of television appearances, we like the tagline of a new kick-ass 30-second TV spot featuring Air Force Chief of Staff General CQ Brown. The ad first ran during a pre-game show during the NBA finals. The point – as Brown pointedly says in the piece is that: “When I’m flying, I put my helmet on, my visor down, my mask up, you don’t know who I am – whether I’m African American, Asian American, Hispanic, White, male or female. You just know I’m an American Airman, kicking your butt.” Effective.
YOU DON’T KNOW WHO I AM: Some folks don’t need helmets, visors and masks to shield who they are. They just make stuff up. DefenseOne.com reports that an online threat analysis firm called ZeroFox enabled the taking down of 40,000 social media accounts last year owned by people whom they say were impersonating military leaders. And those were just the ones they found. It is not a new phenomenon, but the scams seem to really be taking off. Some are financially based – folks in Nigeria and elsewhere are trying to con gullible people into sending them money. Others are information gathering efforts from places like Russia and China. Two years ago, the Department of Defense pointed out the danger of “romance scams” where online predators pretend to be lonely deployed servicemen asking internet paramours for money so they can fly in for an in-person meet up. Fall for one of these scams and you’ll want to kick your own butt.
REMEMBER THE TITANS: The Intelligence Community has set their sights extremely high in recruiting their next CIO. Acting CIO Michael Waschull told FedScoop that when they issue a job announcement shortly – they will be looking for “…a titan in this industry, we’re looking for a former CEO of a telco, we’re looking for a former CEO of a major information-intensive organization.” When a new CIO is selected – Waschull will go back to his old role as deputy CIO – but he’s already buttered up his new boss. Who wouldn’t want to be called a “titan of industry”?
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
LISTLESS LIST: When media outlets run out of ideas, particularly during the summer doldrums, they often run “list stories.” You know, the “Ten Best” this, or the “Five Worst” that. If you don’t believe us – wait until next week. If The Dead Drop doesn’t find more material we may have to run our list of the 50 worst lists. One contender is the website Collider which recently ran a story about the “7 Most Underrated Spy Movies of the 2010s.” We’re not sure about underrated – but “unheard of” we’ll buy. Their list included: “Kill the Messenger,” “Anthropoid,” “The Company You Keep,” “Our Kind of Traitor,” “Operation Avalanche,” “Haywire,” and “Snowden.” Another example of lazy writing is in The New Yorker this week with a “humor” piece called “Signs that you’re not ready to become a spy.” On their lame list: “You use the same password (“spyguy123”) for all your accounts, even after they’ve been breached” and “You’re incapable of choosing a pseudonym that isn’t just an anagram of your real name.” The piece was written by “Jiji Lee and Evan Allgood” – which ironically, sound like pseudonyms to us.
SOME PEOPLE HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS: That’s our takeaway from a report on the website Screenrant.com which says that some fans of the 2002 Disney animated film, “Lilo & Stitch,” have decided that the six-year-old orphan in the picture, Lilo Pelekai, was really the offspring of secret “CIA agents.” In the film, Lilo encounters a blue space alien named Stitch and adopts him thinking he is a dog. Hijinks apparently ensue. But now fans, who have had almost two decades to ponder the inner meaning of the Disney flick, have decided that perhaps Lilo’s folks weren’t killed in a tragic automobile accident as explained in the movie but perhaps that was a cover story to explain their disappearance which had something to do with spy work. And taking things to the next level – other fans wonder if Lilo’s CIA parents are really still alive (to the extent that anyone in an animated film is still “alive.”) Why Disney would go through this elaborate ruse – and fail to capitalize on it for 19 years is hard to fathom.
DON’T JUST LILO. KEEP US IN STITCHES: We hope you are animated to send exciting news tips to TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
