GENTLEMEN DON’T SPY WITH AUTOCRAT’S BROTHERS: That seems to be the message from President Trump that has a lot of intelligence community alumni scratching their heads. Earlier this week The Wall Street Journal carried reports that Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, may have been working on behalf of the CIA (and possibly other intelligence services) when the North Korean dictator ordered him executed via the VX nerve agent. When asked about the reports on Tuesday, President Trump told gathered reporters that he had just seen the story and his message to Kim Jung Un “that would not happen under my auspices. That’s for sure. I wouldn’t let that happen under my auspices.” Former Obama NSC official Samantha Vinograd’s reaction to the remarks on CNN: “Who’s side is he on?” The president responded to a question on Wednesday about whether he was committing to not spying on North Korea. “No, it’s not what I meant, it’s what I said and it’s different than maybe, your interpretation,” he said. Well, that clears that up.
NOT SURE THAT’S GONNA FLY: Secrecy News says that the Intelligence Community Inspector General is considering requesting authority from Congress to be able to issue subpoenas compelling reporters and others to testify in leak investigations. The Justice Department’s track record of compelling journalists to testify in criminal investigations is spotty at best – so the notion that Congress would grant such subpoena authority to a branch of the ODNI seems to us, highly improbable.
SURE, NO BULL: The Russians have noted the great success of HBO’s miniseries Chernobyl which highlighted the Soviet Union’s (often inept) 1986 handling of an enormous man-made catastrophe. Moscow’s state TV is planning their own series to explain why things went so badly at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Simple: it was the CIA’s fault. Alexei Muradov, the director of the forthcoming counter-programming told the Moscow Times that “One theory holds that Americans had infiltrated the Chernobyl nuclear power plant” and that “on the day of the explosion, an agent of the enemy’s intelligence services was present at the station.” The Hollywood Reporter says that Russia’s culture ministry has donated nearly a half million dollars to the project which reportedly will depict a heroic KGB officer attempting to thwart the CIA’s plot.
NOT AGENCY FANS: While it probably has nothing to do with Chernobyl, the Putin-powered propagandists at RT are not admirers of the CIA. This past week, RT picked up on an interview Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently did with Euronews defending the intelligence community’s assertion that Chinese telecom giant Huawei is a national security threat. Pompeo said: “There’s no doubt the intelligence community gets things wrong from time to time but their overall body of work is excellent and to be relied upon and trusted.” Then RT juxtaposed that statement with an out of context quote from another Pompeo speech where he laughingly described CIA operations with the phrase: “We lied, we cheated, we stole.”
THE AGENCY MADE ME DO IT (PART INFINITY): NBC News recently reported on love letters that ex-mobster and convicted murderer James “Whitey” Bulger wrote to a girlfriend shortly before he was murdered in prison. In some of the letters, Bulger claims he was subjected to CIA-administered LSD tests as part of the MK Ultra program in the 1950s, during an earlier stay in a federal prison. Bulger blamed frequent nightmares on his alleged participation in the program. Bulger’s girlfriend (who previously was a juror at one of his trials) wonders “Did our own government cause him to kill?”
SHOOTING WAR: Dan Gabriel is a former CIA officer who completed six tours in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and he is now the director of “Mosul,” a gritty documentary about Iraqi troops battling to regain the city from ISIS control. The film premiered at the Cleveland Film Festival this Spring and is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon as well Video on Demand. It will be coming to Netflix and Hulu in the Fall.
DRAWING A CROWD: The Dead Drop has previously told our readers about Tom King, a former CIA case officer, whose second career is creating Batman comics. Stars and Stripes tells us that King just completed a five-day USO “celebrity tour” of the Middle East talking to servicemen and women about his superheroes who sometimes deal with morally ambiguous choices and even suffer from PTSD.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
NO SENSE OF HUMOR (USN EDITION): The Navy has temporarily removed Rear Admiral Jeffrey Harley from his position as president of the U.S. Naval War College while investigators look into a series of allegations about his leadership. Among the charges – that he kept a margarita machine in his office in Newport, Rhode Island. According to Navy Times, he also allegedly sent emails to “hundreds of students, faculty, and staff” offering “free hugs” and games of Twister in his office. In his defense, Harley says he doesn’t own a game of Twister – and it seems to us, if you are offering hugs at an industrial rate – perhaps you are just kidding. Another clue that Harley might just have an impish sense of humor comes from an anecdote about a complaint received over an oil painting of Harley that was displayed on campus. Turns out the painting was on black velvet and is accompanied by a plaque noting: "He preferred cats, Star Trek, red wine, baseball and was positively obsessed with achieving the perfect hair day." Harley, who is bald, said the portrait was made by a professor who paid for it himself and gave it to Harley as a joke. C’mon Naval War College, lighten up.
NOT FUNNY (USAF EDITION): A two-star female fighter pilot has been fired from her position as Director of DOD’s Special Access Programs Central Office. According to Air Force Times the shop manages some of the military’s most secretive classified programs. Major General Dawn Dunlop got the axe reportedly for fostering a “toxic work environment.” According to press accounts citing an anonymous source, Dunlop, who is a "groundbreaking Air Force fighter pilot", called senior military leaders “idiots” and would call Army and Air Force personnel on the phone and scream at them. No word from Dunlop, but if true, it sounds like she would have benefited by installing a margarita machine in the office.
OVER ACHIEVING AIRMAN: On the bright side, there is the story in Air Force Times about Cynthia Schroll, who, until last month was an Airman 1st Class who possessed a patent, had authored two books, and held a PhD in analytical chemistry. Seems like Schroll really wanted to be in the Air Force and her recruiter told her admissions were very competitive and it might take a couple years to get into Officer Training School. (Sounds to us like the recruiter had an urgent enlisted goal to fill.) In any case, Schroll went through basic training in 2017 and has done well since. Finally someone realized that “Doctor Airman Schroll” was too hard to fit on a nametag – so the USAF finally made her a second lieutenant.
FORMER ACHIEVING ENSIGN: Back in December, The Dead Drop mentioned reports that former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had his heart set on joining the naval reserve but that the appointment was not yet a done deal. Well, the deal is now done. Military.com reports that Priebus was sworn in as an Ensign at a ceremony presided over by Vice President Mike Pence on June 10th. Priebus, 47, will be a human resource officer, after getting an age waiver since he is five years older than the most elderly new officer recruit.
RUMBLE FOR THE JUNGLE: Former CIA officer turned author Alex Finley is launching her second novel Victor in the Jungle with the help of a few friends. Finley is holding three spy-themed parties (partially funded through Indiegogo.) The first party was in Washington on June 7th, the second in NYC on June 14th and the third will be held in Denver on June 21st. The entrepreneurial author invited attendees to come in disguise, with an alias, and to live their cover. Look for a review of Victor in the Jungle in next Tuesday’s Cipher Brief.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
