NEW NUMBER 2: President Trump intends to appoint a veteran Agency officer to serve as CIA's Deputy Director. Vaughn F. Bishop spent 30 years at the Agency before retiring in 2011, but he kept his security clearances in retirement so he could continue to assist as needed, (don't tell the White House).
Bishop served in a variety of senior positions, including as Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council. After retirement, Mr. Bishop stayed close to the building, serving as the CIA Ombudsman for Analytic Objectivity during the Agency’s controversial modernization effort.
In a note to the work force, Director Haspel said “Vaughn is a superb choice. I cannot express how pleased I am that he has agreed to return to CIA. He will help empower every Agency officer to advance CIA’s mission in concrete and measurable ways.”
A former CIA Official tells the Dead Drop that there had been hallway rumors that the lengthy delay in appointing a Deputy after Gina Haspel's confirmation as Director, was due to a fight between the White House and the CIA...with the White House wanting to appoint a political commissar and Haspel wanting (and now getting) someone who can complement her considerable operational background. If you are a true Dead Drop asset, you already knew that ... June 22nd Dead Drop.
TIME FLIES: Three years ago this week, the first Dead Drop appeared in The Cipher Brief. Here is a link to the first edition. Since that time, we have published thousands of tips, rumors, and inside stories – several of which were actually true. We’d like to thank Dead Drop readers who have contributed tips. For the rest of you – remember - if you see something, say something...
THE ASSAULT ON INTELLIGENCE (ALUMNI): We’ve asked our national security alumni if they have ever heard anything like the Trump administration’s threat to pull the security clearances of former officials like ex-DNI Jim Clapper, former CIA Directors General Mike Hayden and John Brennan, and Obama-era National Security Advisor Susan Rice. The answers ranged from: NO to: HELL, NO. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called the proposal the “Dumb Idea of the Week” (and it was only Monday.) “The amazing thing,” one former official told us, “is that the administration has made zero effort to hide the fact that the move is retaliation for the political views of these individuals,” adding “You should lose your clearance if you reveal secrets. The fact they these folks are not fans of the president, is no secret.” Another official took umbrage at the way White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders announced that the President was exploring mechanisms for yanking clearances. When asked about a suggestion from Senator Rand Paul that former CIA Director John Brennan’s clearance be revoked, Sanders, reading from a prepared statement, threw in the names of “Comey, Clapper, Hayden, Rice and McCabe." The fact that some of the folks on the list (former FBI officials James Comey and McCabe don’t even have security clearances, just added to the absurdity of it.
NO WAIT: Just before press time (or whatever you call it when an on-line publication is about to publish) we found one CIA alumni who DOES think it is a good idea to strip former senior government officials of their security clearances – especially if they “work in the media.” John Kiriakou, who served 23 months in prison for HIS work with the media, writes a lengthy piece in Consortium News supporting the notion of yanking clearances. It is unclear if the piece is intended to sway President Trump to grant Kiriakou a pardon... though Kiriakou does take aim at former CIA Director John Brennan – which should endear him to the White House, and at the end of the article, Kiriakou claims he went to jail because of his opposition to the Bush administration’s “torture program.” The judge who sentenced him disagreed though, and said she was sending him to the slammer because he shared classified information with the media. Kiriakou did not mention that he now works for Vladimir Putin’s “Sputnik News.”
SECRET AGENT MAN: In a world where conspiracy theories have conspiracy theories – we bring you this report from The Daily Dot, which tries to explain why the far-right thinks controversial FBI official Peter Strzok is secretly “a CIA agent.” According to the theory, “a sheep-dipped” Strzok actually worked for the CIA’s counterespionage group for 24 years while masquerading as an FBI agent. Exactly why this would be the case is unclear – other than the hint that Strzok was really operating under the orders of the MAGA crowd’s public enemy No. 1: John Brennan. The urban myth busting website Snopes looked into allegations that Strzok “grew up in Iran; had a father who engaged in clandestine activities overseas under the guise of doing charitable work; served as a "Middle East intel operative" in the Obama administration; and was a CIA agent "placed" in the FBI to help Hillary Clinton win the presidency.” Oddly, the site rated those claims as merely “unproven” saying that this “indicates that insufficient evidence exists to establish the given claim as true, but the claim cannot be definitively proved false.” Oh my, what if that was the new standard for all of us?
ELECTION COLLUSION: You know who is really upset about possible election collusion? Sputnik News. Yep, the Putin pals at Sputnik have uncovered alleged nefarious electoral shenanigans. Oh, it was in Malaysia. According to Sputnik, a secret letter has been uncovered from former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to the CIA begging for help in the May 2018 elections. Sputnik podcast host John Kiriakou (mentioned above) discussed the matter with Nile Bowie, a journalist who covers Malaysia for the Asia Times. Kiriakou thinks that Razak’s request probably went unanswered. “The risk of blowback is so severe, especially in an important and developed country like Malaysia,” he said that he guesses that when the CIA received the letter, “they just decided to ignore it."
WHO’LL WATCH THE WATCHDOGS? Last week, Christopher Sharpley, the acting Inspector General of the CIA, withdrew his candidacy for the job full time amid claims that he has retaliated against officials who had blown the whistle about the IG’s office mishandling evidence. Since the IG is supposed to investigate allegations made by whistleblowers – the claims undercut his potential credibility going forward. No word on who might get the nomination for the job – which sounds kind of treacherous to us anyway.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
- War on Absurdity: The website Real Clear Life reports on a satirical novel called “Victor in the Rubble” by former CIA officer Alex Finley. The article says: “Finley said she struggled to strike a balance between the deadly serious topic of terrorism and the sometimes comically misguided ways in which the U.S. tries to stop it.” Finley aimed to “take the piss” out of the system, while still giving her former CIA colleagues “their due, because they deserve it.” What is not Real Clear, is why the website chose to write about a book that came out more than two years ago. Finley (not her true name) was interviewed on The Cipher Brief 15 Minutes podcast back in 2016.
- Two thumbs down for 1973 movie? The New Yorker writes this week about the revival of a 1973 movie called “The Spook Who Sat by the Door.” The film was a fictional story supposedly about the first black man in the CIA. The film by Ivan Dixon (best remembered for his role in Hogan’s Heroes) depicts an officer hired as “window dressing” who leaves the CIA disgruntled and organizes black gang members and Vietnam veterans in an uprising against the police and local authorities. The film was reportedly pulled by United Artists shortly after it was released. It was based on a book by Sam Greenlee, who later claimed that FBI agents went from theater to theater demanding that the film be removed from screens. There is no evidence that that was true. We think it was probably Peter Strzok.
- Hair raising sea stories: AP reports that a recent U.S. Navy ruling allowing women in uniform to sport ponytails – has unleashed a torrent of demands from male sailors to be allowed to grow beards. Chin whiskers have been banned for more than three decades. One argument against the return of beards is that the growth can prevent a tight fit for respirators used when fighting fires and the like. But we suspect the Navy leadership mostly objects because they don’t think sailors look ship-shape with facial hair.
- Semper Floatie: The ever-vigilant folks at the U.S. Coast Guard are searching for the owner of a giant white inflatable floating unicorn. It seems they came across the beast off the coast of Maui on July 21. It’s not that the Unicorn is unseaworthy or poses any danger, it is just that the Coastie’s figure why would anyone abandon such a nice floatie? The Coast Guard simply want to make sure that there was no unicorn rider who has gone missing. Check out the story and picture courtesy of Military.com. If you misplaced your unicorn off Maui, call 808-842-2600. If you want to volunteer to go look for it, call 808-842-2600.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
