Dead Drop June 17

FERNANDO’S HIDEAWAY:  Late last week, ABC News broke a story more than four years in the making.  According to ABC, Rajiv Fernando, a major fundraiser for Democratic candidates and the Clinton Foundation, was made a member of a sensitive State Department International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) despite having no obvious qualifications.  ABC first asked questions about the appointment in 2011—when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State – and a few days later Fernando resigned from the Board.  To be frank, The Dead Drop had never heard of the ISAB before – so we looked it up.  The State Department website gives a description of the Board’s duties and handily even provides a list of past members of the board, which includes luminaries like former SECDEF Bill Perry and former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.  Oddly – Fernando’s name doesn’t appear.  ABC did have evidence from an official State Department photo showing a group photo of the 2011 Board – including Rajiv sitting on the far left.

WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE? Gallup is out with one of their periodic polls showing the level of confidence Americans have in important institutions.  The percentage of people with “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the U.S. military is unchanged from ten years ago at 73%. Among the biggest drops were organized religion (down 11 points to 41%), banks (down 22 points to 27 percent), TV news (down 10 points to 21%), and newspapers (similarly down 10 points to 20%.)  The big surprise to The Dead Drop was Congress which dropped from 19% a decade ago to 9% now.  Nine percent have a great deal or a lot of confidence in Congress? Who are those people, and what are they drinking?