GOOD DEAL AS LONG AS THEY DON’T PAY IN RUBLES: It has been reported that a Ukrainian defense contractor (with the melodious name of “Ukroboronprom”) has said that Russian military pilots who defect (and bring a working, fixed wing airplane with them) will be paid up to $1 million. But wait, there’s more Russian flyboys! Act now, and you get citizenship in a free country too. Initially, the offer was made on Facebook – hopefully before Russia started blocking the social media site. Sadly, if you are a Russian helicopter pilot, you only get $500,000 – but that citizenship add-on sweetens the deal.
STILL SERVING: We were pleased to see in The Washington Times that the OSS Society, which honors the legacy of the WWII Office of Strategic Services, has found a way to make a contribution to the current threat to peace. Charles Pinck, the president of the Society, reportedly had a vintage OSS document which was titled “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” translated into Ukrainian. The original 1944 booklet was intended to help “citizen saboteurs” undermine the Nazis. The translated document has already been made available in Ukraine. Pinck says they have gotten lots of “positive feedback” about the effort.
BRAZIL NUTS: Remember Jonathan and Diana Toebbe who got caught trying to pass U.S. nuclear submarine secrets to some foreign government? They pleaded guilty in the espionage case in February. When the story first broke – among the mysteries (beyond: who came up with the idea to hide the data in a memory card stuck in a peanut butter sandwich?) was what foreign government blew the whistle on them? We engaged in some speculation here at The Dead Drop at the time. Was it the French? The Chinese? We did not have on our bingo card, the right answer, which was revealed this week. It was Brazil. The New York Times says, “In some respects, Brazil was an odd choice…” We’d might have said “In every respect.” The Times also says Brazil began working on nuclear submarines in 1978, and now hopes to launch their first one in 2029. No wonder they needed help. If things go as expected, Mrs. Toebbe may be out of prison by then and perhaps she can attend the commissioning ceremony. Despite that, authorities say the Toebbe family espionage played no role in the Brazilian project. Toebbe’s husband may be out of the slammer by the time the boat is decommissioned.
YACHTS INCREDIBLE: Around the world, governments have been trying to track down and seize mega-yachts owned by Russian oligarchs. It has become quite a sport. Among those promoting the ‘game’ is author and former CIA officer Alex Finley. We have interviewed her for our podcast and quite her satirical literary efforts in The Cipher Brief in the past. Finley is currently living in Barcelona, Spain and seems to have picked up an avocation of tracking and exposing the oligarch navy. Alex was on CNN’s Smerconish program last week, and described tracking the vessels and the challenge of learning exactly who owns them. She also posts updates on Twitter, keeping score of international yacht snatching.
BLUE ANGELS REACH FOR THE STAR (WARS DIRECTOR): The U.S. Navy’s Flight Demonstration Team, better known as the “Blue Angels,” are working with Hollywood director J.J. Abrams to produce a documentary that will cover the life of the team over a year. Abrams directed several of the Star Wars films and also worked on a Star Trek reboot. The Blue Angels film is set to be released in late 2023. Abrams is producing and Paul Crowder is directing. Military.com says this is the first Blue Angels flick that will be filmed in IMAX format. That may mean that airsickness bags will need to be under every seat in the theaters.
SAY WHAT? We know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover – so that probably goes for its title too. But we understand that a journalist by the name of David Lindorff has landed a deal with Prometheus books to publish, “The Spy with No Country: The Story of Ted Hall, The Teenage Atomic Spy Who May Have Saved the World.” Hall was a brilliant 18-year-old Harvard physics graduate who went to work for the Manhattan Project right out of college. He was later accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets but was never prosecuted. He admitted to CNN in 1998, (shortly before he died) that he had taken it upon himself to share the info with the Soviets because he figured there should be no monopoly on atomic weaponry. The author is going to have to work some magic to convince us that giving the Soviets nuke secrets, “helped save the world.” The book is slated to come out in the fall of 2023. No word on whether anyone has purchased Ukrainian rights.
PEOPLE WHO DID HELP SAVE THE WORLD: Elyse Graham, a college professor, has landed a deal to write: “Book and Dagger,” which is described as “a secret history of a small, interconnected group of mild-mannered professors, oddball archivists, and data doyennes whom the U.S. government pulled out of their libraries during World War II, trained as spies, and sent to fight the Nazis—and who, in the process, became the scholars who invented modern spycraft.” Harper will publish the book. We don’t know when, but we look forward to reading it.
MONUMENTAL STORY: Also of interest is a forthcoming book called “Our Right To Serve: The Black Cadets Who Challenged A President, Changed West Point, And Inspired An Army,” by retired Brigadier General Ty Seidule. The publisher, St. Martins, describes it as “the story of one of the most successful protests in military history, led by a cadre of African American cadets against President Nixon's plan to erect a Confederate monument at West Point.” The book will look at the leaders, generals, and media who rallied around the protestors and is said to be an inspiring story of principle and the true meaning of moral authority set against a turbulent time in America.”
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
PROBABLY MEANT TO SAY: “LANCE COLONEL”: Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) posted a video recently to defend herself from criticism for shouting “13” during President Biden’s State of the Union speech. Boebert says she was unhappy that the President did not mention the 13 service members killed in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. In her video, she read a letter from the mother of one of the fallen and, reading from written notes, referred to him as “Lieutenant corporal…” which, as far as we know, is not a rank (although we aren’t sure about the Space Force.) But who among us hasn’t made a slip of the lip? No reason to call out the gazpacho on her.
NAME NOT WITHHELD PENDING NOTIFICATION OF NEXT OF KIN: A woman in Israel sued the local police, the Mossad, the Shin Bet, the Israeli Heath Ministry, and the Central Intelligence Agency. What did all those outfits do to earn her ire? She claims they murdered her. The Israeli High Court of Justice, noting that the woman appeared to be very much alive – tossed out her suit in which she claimed to be the “number one murder victim in the world.” The Jerusalem Post says that the petitioner’s name was not released. We are sorry the case will not go to trial. It would have made for some interesting testimony.
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