WHAT’S UP, DOCTRINE? The Joint Chiefs of Staff published a document providing the Pentagon’s policy on the use of nuclear weapons on June 11th. And then they un-published it, striking the document from government websites. But you can’t un-ring the bell in e-publishing these days and the Federation of American Scientists captured a copy of the document and re-posted it for all the world to see. Why did JCS nuke the document? No one is saying. Maybe they found a typo. Task&Purpose.com has a lengthy story on the matter.
WHELAN WAITS: Remember former Marine Paul Whelan who has been in the Moscow hoosegow for over five months, charged with espionage? Associated Press had a story out a few days ago suggesting that he is worried he’s been forgotten. Whelan appealed to President Trump to save him from what he calls a “political kidnapping.” Intelligence veterans we talked to were pretty sure Whelan is likely to stay in Russian custody as long as Marina Butina is incarcerated here.
TIP OF THE SPEAR: A recent article on the State Department’s website caught our eye. Two Central African Republic Gendarmerie members have become the first women anywhere in the world to complete the Diplomatic Security Service’s quick response security force training for a unit known as a “Special Program for Embassy Augmentation and Response” team or “SPEAR.” Those newly obtained skills are much needed in the Central African Republic. The country was cited in an April 2019 travel warning which bluntly told Americans “Do not travel to Central African Republic (CAR) due to crime, civil unrest, and kidnapping. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, aggravated battery and homicide, is common.” While the folks at Foggy Bottom don’t want YOU to travel to CAR, some of their own personnel must do so – and now they have a SPEAR team to help keep them safe.
LIBRARIANS TO CIA: SHUSH – The American Library Association had its national convention in Washington, DC June 20-25 and, as you might imagine, a wild time was had by all. OK, we made that part up. But according to AlterNet.com, some of the attendees objected to the fact that the CIA had a recruiting booth at the end. One attendee took to twitter alerting attendees that the Agency was there and “Everything they stand for is a violation of the values of librarianship, so we protested.” “Library workers are powerful…We have a strong reputation in our local communities and across the world as being steadfast stewards of democracy, intellectual freedom, equity, and social justice,” according to a statement released by librarians trying to stifle the CIA’s free speech. We have just one question: is “librarianship” really a word? We’ll have to look it up.
MATTIS & NUNN TO GET GIPPER “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH” AWARD: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute announced that former Secretary of Defense James Mattis and former Senator and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn will be honored with the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award at the seventh annual Reagan National Defense Forum, held at the Reagan Presidential Library at Simi Valley, CA on December 7, 2019. Dead Drop congrats both.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
OWL BE SEEING YOU: According to The Moscow Times, the Russians have developed a new spy drone designed to look like an owl. The device was reportedly displayed at a military expo outside Moscow on Tuesday. The news must have lost something in translation, however. Moscow Times says the drone weighs five kilograms and is capable of identifying targets “10 meters away.” If it was 10 kilometers, we’d be impressed. But we can see 10 meters – even without our distance glasses.
“THE BOYS” GO TO TOWN: Amazon has a new series coming soon on Prime Video about a group of vigilantes with names like “Billy Butcher” “Mother’s Milk,” “The Frenchman,” and “The Female”. Apparently, the vigilantes take on a group of evil superheroes who have corrupted the planet. Well, we guess they are not super “heroes” if they are the bad guys – but the ones with the super powers in the series are apparently the evil-doers. Given that match up, we’re betting on the bad guys. The trailer can be seen here. Geek.com says “The Boys” are really “CIA Agents.” We say – of course they are.
RECYCLED PLOT LINE: USA Network is working on a new drama called Treadstone. The series is reportedly currently in production in Budapest. According to Deadline.com the story centers around a CIA black ops program called “Operation Treadstone” which is a “covert program that uses behavior-modification protocol to turn recruits into nearly superhuman assassins.” But wait, there’s more. The producers say: “the first season follows sleeper agents across the globe as they’re mysteriously awakened to resume their deadly missions.” Maybe the sleepers can call Jason Bourne for some advice.
DON’T LET IT GO TO YOUR HEAD: The folks at Muckrock.com continue to plumb the CIA’s declassified materials for interesting material. They just found one that is hard to top. In 1959, a private citizen by the name of Jack Gregersen wrote an unsolicited letter to the Agency in order to share an idea he had. “Why not hide a small anti-personnel bomb in the crown of a hat?” he asked. Gregersen said “It probably would only be used in emergencies.” Gregersen’s idea was that “this bomb could be placed under a false bottom similar to a magician’s hat and a cover story made up along this line.” It was a very short letter and thus a lot of good questions go unanswered. For example, was the target the person wearing the hat? Or was the person under the chapeau supposed to fling it at the right moment like “Odd Job” in the old James Bond movie? The letter was declassified in 2003 – meaning that the Agency kept a lid on it for about 44 years.
YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO THIN: It was the annual mess night at the Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton near Somerset, England and, as you might imagine, drinks had flowed. After a while, some of the attendees took part in what is known as the “Chimney Challenge,” which requires participants to shimmy up one of the building’s two chimneys to the roof and then slide down the other, head-first. What could possibly go wrong? Lt. Tommy Brownlee, 26, found out. He completed the first half of the mission but while descending on the second, got himself stuck. We’ll spare you some of the details which can be found in Military Times, but reportedly being confined upside down for six hours while heavily inebriated is not a pleasant thing. Fire rescue personnel eventually smashed away enough of the chimney to free Tommy. One of his mates observed: “He’s not as thin as he thinks.”
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
