SCAM OF THE YEAR: The most surprising thing about the scam that former DEA official Garrison Courtney pled guilty to last week was not that he pretended to be running a secret CIA task force – but that he was successful for quite a while and conned $4.4 million from DC area companies in the process. Courtney, who was chief spokesman for the DEA from 2005 to 2009, apparently found himself in financial difficulty after leaving government. He convinced multiple private companies that he was a covert CIA operative and they should hire him to provide cover for his clandestine Agency activities. According to court records he also got the companies to sign non-disclosure agreements and even give him access to their own business sensitive documents. According to The Washington Post, Courtney also fooled a high-ranking active duty Air Force officer and a senior retired Navy officer with his bogus outfit. Those who began to question his bona fides as he played out his act were accused of mishandling classified information and threatened with prosecution. He also is said to have created fake letters from the Attorney General granting blanket immunity to anyone who participated in his plan. Clearly, he should have kept one of those for himself. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October and faces a max sentence of 20 years in prison.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL: Former Marine Paul Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian high security prison this week on what seem to almost everyone to be very thin charges alleging he spied on Russia for the U.S. Whelan had a hand-written sign that he held up for his final court hearing which denounced the trial as a sham. TV cameras were prevented from covering the proceeding, supposedly as a coronavirus precaution. Poor Whelan appears to be cannon fodder on the global stage and despite calls for his release by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he is likely to remain in Russian custody until the U.S. has someone in the slammer the Russians deem worth a trade.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: Novelist Alma Katsu, whose bio says she “had a long career in intelligence, working for several US agencies and a think tank,” just landed a new deal with Putnam for a forthcoming book titled Red Widow. Publishing industry sources say it is a “spy thriller pitched in the spirit of Homeland and The Americans.” (We’re guessing most espionage-related books will be pitched in the spirit of those two successful series for some time.) In this case, the story reportedly is about “two women, both CIA agents (sic), who become intertwined around a threat to the Russia Division – one that is coming from inside the agency. In a tweet, Katsu says the book will come out in the spring of 2021.
FOLLOWING THE DIRNSA: General Paul Nakasone, Director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command announced on Tuesday June 15 that he was “joining social media” and would use his new Twitter count to “speak to you directory about partnerships and engagements.” Less that 24 hours later, he had about 50K followers. Seems only appropriate since people have been paranoid for years about NSA following them.
SPUTNIK STAR’S SOAP OPERA: Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who did time in the federal slammer for violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by revealing the name of a former colleague to a reporter, is in the news again. Since getting out of jail, Kiriakou has landed a job on the Sputnik radio program “Loud and Clear.” Now he has filed a lawsuit against Northrup Grumman for falsely accusing him of engaging in “revenge porn.” It’s complicated.
SEX AND SECRETS: Back in November, The Dead Drop mentioned a new museum that had opened in Bangkok that highlights the city’s red-light district and its past ties to CIA. Asia Times has picked up the story about “The Patpong Museum.” But that was so 1970’s wasn’t it? We thought so too – but then we saw a story in Military Times with the remarkable headline of: “Tinder, Sailor, Hooker, Pimp: The U.S. Navy’s sex trafficking scandal in Bahrain” about sailors importing prostitutes to Bahrain from Thailand.
HE SOUNDS NICE: Retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata, who recently has been a Fox News talking head, has been nominated to be the Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. That is one of the top civilian positions in DOD. His nomination went to the Hill on June 11. If social media is any judge, Tata is a person of strong views. In the past, he has described President Obama as a Muslim and “terrorist leader.” But Obama got off easy. In taking on former CIA Director John Brennan (no shrinking violet himself when it comes to social media) Tata said on Twitter (in a post subsequently removed) Brennan should know that it “might be a good time to pick your poison: firing squad, public hanging, life sentence as a prison b*tch, or just suck on your pistol. Your call. #Treason #Sedition #crossfirehurrican #Obamagate.” Following the revelation of Tata's Twitter tantrums, The Wall Street Journal says that at least three prominent retired Generals including General Joe Votel have withdrawn their support for Tata's confirmation. If that DOD gig doesn’t work out – Tata should probably try his hand as a diplomat.
THE SECOND BEST MUSEUM YOU’LL (PROBABLY) NEVER SEE: We’ve written in the past about the nifty museum inside CIA headquarters that most Americans will never get to see because – well, because it is inside CIA headquarters. Now we hear about the National Museum of the United States Navy which is in the Washington Navy Yard. Access to the place was made harder after the 9/11 attacks and even more restrictive following the 2013 mass shooting at the Navy Yard. You can still get in there – by appointment but don’t try to drop by when you have some free time. Newly confirmed Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite has pledged to reinvigorate the place and is apparently onboard with a plan to swap some land inside the Navy Yard fence for some outside it – so that a new museum can be built that visitors can easily get to. Of course, building a place will require some money. It took the Army 15 years to do that – and they have a spanking new museum near Fort Belvoir, VA that was supposed to open this month –but COVID-19 delayed those plans.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
RED MARCH: Apropos of nothing, Military Times provided a video of Russian military recruits marching while singing the “terrible-but-entertaining ‘90s pop: ‘Barbie Girl.’” Not to be outdone, someone posted an amended video on YouTube complete with music. We are not sure why, but it is kind of amusing.
OK, HERE’S ANOTHER IDEA: Last week, we recommended that Army bases named for Confederate generals be renamed – and some money raised by selling the naming rights. Fort FedEx anyone? But one of the arguments used against changing the names is that generations of soldiers are reportedly emotionally tied to the current names – and that they don’t think of Fort Bragg as honoring some Confederate fellow – it’s just “Bragg” to them. OK, well then let’s rename Fort Pickett for Wilson Pickett. And Fort Rucker for Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish. We were going to suggest renaming Fort Gordon for Gordon Lightfoot – but he is Canadian. We are still working on Fort Polk and Camp Beauregard.
GOT ANY NAME IDEAS OR OTHER TIPS FOR US? Shoot us a note please at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
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