FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: Looking for a mate in Moscow? You’ve got a partner – the FSB. The Associated Press reported this week that Russia is requiring “Tinder” and other dating apps to share data on their users – including messages and photos, with the FSB security service. According to the Moscow Times, Tinder denies that they have shared any data (yet) with Russian authorities – but new regulations require that it and other social media sites store users’ metadata on servers inside Russia. CNN says that three other popular Russian dating apps already share user information with authorities. Those sites (and we are not making this up) are named: Mamba, Wamba, and Badoo.
STEALTH SHIP: On several occasions, President Trump has told audiences of the wonders of F-35 fighters which he claims can’t be seen because they are “stealthy.” Perhaps the White House believes that capability has been extended to ships as well. As first reported in the Wall Street Journal, some unnamed White House Military Office staffer reportedly ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to keep USS John S. McCain “out of sight” during the President’s recent visit to the U.S. Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan. The Navy’s new Chief of Information, Rear Admiral Charlie Brown, had been in his job for less than a week when the story broke. Initially, he tweeted a “non-denial denial” saying on May 29th that “the name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit” and that the service is “proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage.” This led the next day to the President tweeting that “The Navy put out a disclaimer on the McCain story. Looks like the story was an exaggeration or even Fake News – but why not, everything else is!” A day later, RADM Brown officially admitted that a “request was made” to "minimize the visibility” of the McCain. Shortly thereafter, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan order his chief of staff to launch an informal inquiry into what happened (an unusual step since investigations are normally the province of the Inspector General.) The President’s acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, appearing on Sunday news shows minimized the incident saying that “some 23- or 24-year-old person on the advance team” was responsible for asking if someone could look into moving the McCain – which he said was “not an unreasonable thing to ask.” Shanahan reportedly asked his chief of staff to reach out to the White House military office “and reaffirm his mandate that the Department of Defense will not be politicized.”
SEARCH ME: Does anyone know why the “search” function on the CIA’s official website is down? It is not uncommon for websites to have temporary glitches, but someone pointed out to us that for nearly two months, if you try to find something on CIA.GOV you get a message saying: Search is Temporarily Unavailable. Search is undergoing maintenance and is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later. Posted: Apr 18, 2019 11:41 AM Last Updated: Apr 18, 2019 11:41 AM. If you can solve this mystery – drop The Dead Drop a note.
“DOWN TO EARTHA” UP ON BROADWAY: About a year and a half ago, The Dead Drop told you about a story on a Vice Media's website regarding the late singer Eartha Kitt who created a stir while visiting the LBJ-White House by making anti-Vietnam war remarks in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Seymour Hersh, in the New York Times, reported that the CIA had circulated rumors that Kitt had “a very nasty disposition” and acted like “a spoiled child” and “had a vile tongue.” Sounds like she would fit it with today’s pop stars. Well, now we hear that Kitt’s life and alleged blacklisting by the CIA are the subject of a one-woman Broadway show called “Down to Eartha.” It is a very limited engagement – just 10 shows in August — so if you want to see it you better plan accordingly. It is not exactly on Broadway – but appropriately, the anti-CIA show is at the Gene Frankel Theater which is on “Bond Street” in New York.
SHEDDING LIGHT ON BAD DIA CHOW: Three years ago, The Washington Post reported on an IG investigation about whether then-DIA Deputy Director David Shedd had used a Pentagon-provided vehicle a little too often. The story noted that Shedd sometimes used the vehicle for trips to local restaurants because “the DIA cafeteria food is poor.” Apparently having too much time on their hands, the folks at Muckrock.com used FOIA to get to the bottom of the question: Just how bad was the DIA's cafeteria food? After a three-year wait – they got their answer: pretty darn bad. Muckrock published 110 pages of documents they just got via FOIA, containing workforce complaints about the cafeteria food. Raw egg sandwiches, bits of plastic in the breakfast food, rumors of roaches in the ice machines, chicken-less chicken nuggets, and (Mein Gott in Himmel!) running out of Bratwurst during Oktoberfest were among the complaints.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
WHEN CONSPIRACY THEORIES COLLIDE: The online British “news” magazine “The Week” is out with a short, wacky item that combines a couple familiar off-the-wall notions. The piece is titled Marilyn Monroe ‘killed by CIA in Roswell cover-up. The three-sentence story says that an American “ufologist” by the name of Dr. Steven Greer says a wiretap summary of a phone conversation between Monroe and then-Attorney General Bobby Kennedy featured code words that somehow reveal the conspiracy. We’ve seen “CIA killed Marilyn” stories before and “CIA hides extraterrestrials” too. But this is the first time we’ve seen someone smush the two together. Jolly well done, The Week.
OH, THAT OLD LINE: An Ohio woman was recently woken up around 3 a.m. by a strange man in her bedroom. He told her “Call the police, ex-CIA operatives are chasing me.” She followed his instructions and called the cops – but her late-night visitor departed by a bedroom window before they could arrive. The perp must have been in quite a rush as he reportedly left his shoes behind in the self-defenestration process.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
