MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GITMO DETAINEES: The New York Times recently updated their interactive database telling you tons of information about the 780 or so detainees who have resided at the U.S. detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Only 40 detainees remain at “Club Fed.” The database has entries for just about every detainee and you can drill down and find lots of fun facts about how they landed in their Caribbean location.
IF TRUE, SOMEBODY DESERVED A BONUS: An article in RT (formerly “Russia Today”) by a journalist named “Jonny Tickle” really tickled our fancy the other day. Mr. Tickle says that the former chairman of the Russian parliament, Ruslan Khasbulatov, claims that the late Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, was surrounded by “hundreds” of CIA agents who told him what to do throughout his tenure as leader. Those were the days.
HOW NOT TO CELEBRATE YOUR MARINE’S BOOT CAMP GRADUATION: The good news is that friends and family of new recruits are once again welcome to attend Boot Camp graduation at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, SC. It’s always a thrill for loved ones to see newly-minted Marines perform close order drills. But the Marine Corps has found it necessary to ask family members planning on visiting the base to leave their personal weapons at home. We’re not sure why mom and dad feel the need – but apparently, a lot of proud parents have been packing heat as they head to Parris Island. “As a federal installation, no personal firearms are authorized aboard the base and those families must take measures to store their firearms prior to entering the base or they will be turned away,” Capt. Bryan McDonnell told Marine Corps Times in a written statement. Those are not Mickey Mouse rules about guns on base – but a little further south in Orlando, Florida – Disney World is also experiencing a large rise in the number of guests trying to bring weapons into the “happiest place on earth.”
CONCEALED CARRY OSS-STYLE: Speaking of smuggling guns into places they aren’t expected, Sandboxx.us has a piece on “the strangest covert weapons American spies carried in WWII.” We’ve seen some before – but others are new to us. Let’s hope visitors to MCRD Parris Island aren’t carrying any “Flying Dragon SAC-46” poison dart guns.
CALL OF THE WILD: Bogus phone calls from crooked telemarketers are annoying. And a TikTok creator by the name of Roy Baker has come up with an interesting way of dealing with them. Sporting a very professional voice, Baker answers spam calls and says: "Hello. Thank you for calling the CIA. You've reached our Scam and Fraud Division. All of our agents are currently assisting other callers. To further assist you, please hold while we download your incoming and outgoing call logs to be analyzed against our database of known scam and fraud operations. An agent will be with you shortly." Not surprisingly – the callers usually hang up – quickly. We enjoyed his video so much we will give Baker a pass for the incorrect use of the term “CIA agent.”
THE HIGH COST OF PUBLIC SERVICE: According to Politico, Matt Olsen – a longtime Cipher Brief Expert who is also former director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Obama administration and current Biden nominee to be Assistant Attorney General for National Security - has done well in the private sector while out of government. The media outlet cites Olsen’s financial disclosure statement, pointing out that he earned more than $1.9 million in salary since January 1, 2020, working as the chief trust and security officer for Uber. That’s not an abnormal salary for formers who take their talents to the private sector, but he also reportedly holds an additional $1 million to $5 million in Uber stock. The part that caught our attention is that Olsen says he will forfeit an additional $5m - $25m in unvested restricted Uber stock if he is confirmed. Man, that’s dedication. You must really want a job to be willing to leave $5-25 million behind in the Uber that delivers you to Main Justice. We’re impressed.
HIRE A VET: You’ve probably heard of the website “Cameo” which allows you to hire some famous (or formerly famous) person to record a short personal video message. For just a thousand bucks or so, you can get Magic Johnson to wish a friend happy birthday. If that is too pricey, the guy who played the “Soup Nazi” on Seinfeld will do it for $100. Military.com went through the Cameo “celebs” and identified those who are also veterans. Like many of the other people on the Cameo site, many are unknown to us. But others are reasonably famous. If you have some bucks to blow, you can get Air Force veteran Chuck Norris, Army vet Ice-T, or Navy man Montel Williams to deliver your inspirational or funny message. Or if you are on a budget, Richard Hatch who was in the Army – before winning on the first season of “Survivor” will make a recording for you in exchange for just $50. Unlike Chuck Norris, Hatch may actually need the money – since he went to prison for 51 months for failing to pay taxes on his $1 million earned on Survivor.
FLIGHT OF FANCY: Kaley Cuoco, best known for her role in the TV series “The Big Bang Theory,” launched a series of her own last season on HBO Max called “The Flight Attendant.” It was described as a “dark comedy thriller.” The first episode opened with Cuoco, playing an alcoholic flight attendant who wakes up next to a dead body in Bangkok. Don’t you hate it when that happens? In season two, the plotline calls for her to get hooked up with the CIA, somehow. However, Cuoco says "this is not all of a sudden going to be Cassie (her character becoming)… a superspy. I think there will be a little bit of the CIA-asset stuff, on the side."
TCB EXPERTS RATE: About a year ago, The Dead Drop mentioned a pandemic phenomenon, a Twitter account called @ratemyskyperoom, which passes judgement on the look of people’s living rooms, kitchens and offices seen in TV interviews conducted via platforms like Zoom and Skype. While not exactly a Zoom call – check out their analysis of the set for the Biden-Putin summit. When we first mentioned them in April 2020, @ratemyskyperoom had 75 thousand followers. Now, 14 months later, they are up to about 400,000. Cipher Brief experts are highly sought after TV “talking heads.” So, it is no surprise that several of Team TCB have caught the eye of the room raters. For example, Marc Polymeropoulos recently landed a 10 out of 10 rating. Fellow CIA alum John Sipher logged a 9 out of 10 but suggests he doesn’t want to look pretentious by going for a 10. Former CIA and NSA Director General Mike Hayden snared a 9 out of 10 way back in August of 2020 – although he is always 10 for 10 with us. General Stan McChrystal was also rated last year and was awarded an 8 for 10. Admiral Jim Stavridis has been rated several times – and topped the charts in May observing “Getting 4 stars from Navy: nice. Earning 10 out of 10 from Room Rater: priceless.”
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
BLOWN COVER: The Biden Administration, like its recent predecessors, often holds “background” briefings on the phone for the media and posts the transcripts with the name of the briefer redacted and replaced with the moniker “Senior Administration Official.” Why they go through this charade is unclear. It is usually pretty easy to guess who is doing the briefing – but sometimes it gets ridiculously easy – for example a recent briefing where the “Senior Administration Official” asked if he could be heard and, according to the transcript, the moderator replied “Jake, we can’t hear you if you’re saying anything. Jake, are you there?”
YOU’LL BE JAKE WITH US: If you send Dead Drop-worthy tips to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
