CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: With The Cipher Brief HONORS Dinner just two weeks away, we thought we’d have a little fun introducing you to one of this year’s honorees. But we can’t make it too easy for you to guess which one we’re talking about. So, this week, your mission (should you chose to accept it), is to let us know which honoree partnered with Steven Spielberg to produce the 2002 movie Catch Me if You Can, starring Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. But there’s a step two to this mission.
This week’s Dead Drop is being compiled from the back corner, black-leather clad booth at the end of the bar at J. Gilbert’s (insiders know exactly where that is). By the time you read this, we’ll be long gone. Word is though, that we left a hand-written note about the HONORS Dinner somewhere close to where we were. Find it and email us a photo of the hand-written note along with the name of the honoree we’re talking about in the subject line – and send it to info@thecipherbrief.com We would ask you to send it over Signal but that hasn’t seemed to work out so well lately.
SIGNAL FAILURE: Don’t know if you’ve heard or not – but apparently, there was some flap this week over a little issue about a journalist accidentally being included in a group chat with senior administration officials about some upcoming – whadya call it? Yeah – war or attack or something. Now that we think about it – there is a pretty good chance you did hear about it since, according to Axios, it was the single biggest viral news story in the world so far this year. Just about everything that can be said – has been said about it – and just about everybody has said it. So, what can the Dead Drop add? Perhaps some tea leaf reading. On day one of the crisis, the President told reporters that he knew nothing of the matter and was hearing about it for the first time and promised he’d look into it. Early on day two of the crisis – unnamed Washington insiders predicted that someone’s head would have to roll over the mess – and speculation centered on National Security Advisor Mike Waltz (who many Cipher Brief readers tell us is a good guy). Then later, President Trump spoke to the press, praising Waltz and saying he had been treated very unfairly. So – a little history. Remember the flap in the Trump ’45 administration when reports surfaced that National Security Advisor Mike Flynn had lied to the FBI about contact with the Russians? On February 10, 2017 the President was asked about it and said he was “not aware” of the reports but would “look into it.” Three days later, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway assured reporters that Flynn had Trump’s “full confidence.” A few hours later – Flynn resigned. The next day, the president held a press conference saying Flynn was a “wonderful man” who had been treated “very, very unfairly by the media.” Nonetheless, he accepted Flynn’s resignation and three and a half years later, pardoned him. Our point…in administration crises – it ain’t over till it’s over – and even then, it ain’t over.
AND THEN THERE’S SECDEF: While Waltz was catching most of the heat in D.C., Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was in Hawaii insisting that “nobody was texting war plans.” Wednesday’s release of screen shots by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg (the reporter who was accidentally added to the chat) included the time of upcoming attacks and the types of aircraft that would be used. Maybe this is all somehow our fault for not understanding the proper definition of “war plans”?
LEADERSHIP CHANGES ON THE CIA’S 7TH FLOOR? The Washington Post reported that Cipher Brief Expert Ralph Goff, a retired senior CIA clandestine service officer is going back to Langley to head up the Agency’s Directorate of Operations. Goff is a highly respected six-time former station chief. At last check, the CIA had not made any formal announcement of Goff’s selection – but we think the rumor is pretty solid. There are also rumors that a new head of the analytic side of the CIA – the Directorate of Analysis – may be in the offing. One frequently mentioned candidate is Rob Greenway, currently Director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation and a retired Army Special Forces Officer. Greenway was a contributor to “Project 2025.”
SEA CHANGE AT THE TOP? THE HUNT FOR THE NEXT CNO: Over a month has passed since the Trump administration tossed Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Chief of Naval Operations, over the side. You might have thought they had someone in mind to take her place at the helm of the Navy – but so far, no signs of a nominee. One rumor is that Admiral Samuel Paparo might be a candidate – although one could argue that given his current position as Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the CNO job might not be a promotion. We heard from a couple of sources that there are rumors of another, surprising candidate. Some say retired Rear Admiral Keith Davids could be the choice. This would be interesting – and odd – for a half dozen reasons. To start with – he’s retired – and a two-star at that. But the Trump administration has already shown a willingness to discount the counting of stars and active duty status with the nomination of retired LTGEN Dan “Razin’ Caine to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Why might Davids get the CNO gig? Well, for one, he is a Navy SEAL – and we know how the Commander in Chief and SECDEF like warfighters. Also, Davids was director of the White House Military Office for just about the entire Trump 45 administration – making him well known to the president. But here is another interesting factoid: Davids’ wife is Vice Admiral Yvette Davids, currently the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, the first woman to hold that post. No word on whether this administration considers her a DEI hire. In case you are wondering – should Keith Davids get the CNO job – he would be the first retired officer to be recalled for the post – but the second two star to get the four- star CNO billet. The last time was Rear Admiral William V. Pratt, who got the job in 1929 and went right from two to four stars in the process.
OTHER VACANCIES: As far as we know – the Pentagon also hasn’t nominated anyone to fill the three service Judge Advocate General slots which were vacated in the same Friday night massacre that sent Admiral Franchetti and other senior leaders ashore. The JAGS did not even merit having their names mentioned in the announcement from DOD that they had been fired. Perhaps the Pentagon is searching around for retired JAGs who can be recalled to active duty. Maybe former Trump personal attorney Tim Parlatore is a candidate. He also was the personal attorney for Pete Hegseth and previously successfully defended Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher who had been accused of war crimes. A 2002 Naval Academy graduate who left active duty in 2005 to attend law school, Parlatore was recently given a reserve commanders commission in the Navy JAG Corps. If you can make a two-star admiral CNO…you can probably promote a commander to Vice Admiral JAG. Some press accounts say that Hegseth has already tasked Parlatore in coming up with a “sweeping overhaul of the judge advocate general’s corps as part of an effort to make the US military less restricted by the laws of armed conflict.” Although he might also now be needed to defend Hegseth over allegedly putting classified war plans in an unclassified SIGNAL chat.
WHO LEAKED THAT FAKE NEWS? Color us confused. Late last week, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk would be going to the Pentagon where he would be briefed on top secret war plans which might be used if the U.S. ever had to go to war with China. This caused some enormous angst around D.C. – in part because of Musk’s deep financial ties to China. But fear not – within hours, a spokesman for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared the reports “100% fake news” and President Trump told reporters that Musk visited the Pentagon for DOGE purposes only – although he seemed to concede that it would not be wise to give someone in Elon’s position (or lack thereof) a peek at the Beijing war plans. Then shortly thereafter, the Pentagon launched a probe to find out who leaked word that Musk might been in line to see the war plans. Bloomberg news said DOD had launched a vigorous investigation including the use of polygraph tests. Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, signed a memo to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security demanding an immediate and thorough investigation. He instructed that he should be “informed immediately” if the leaker(s) were identified and that “such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.” You can tell he is serious when he worked the word “criminal” into the final sentence – twice. But does Kasper have a ghost of a chance to bring the miscreant to justice? It would seem to us that if, as Hegseth and the president assured us – there was never any plan to brief Musk on the war plans – lying about that to the NYT and WSJ would be odd but wouldn’t exactly be…what’s the word? You know, criminal.
“INACCURATE BUT NEVERTHELESS CLASSIFIED” MATERIAL: In keeping with that theme, the Justice Department released a statement from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying: “The Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation relating to the selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified, information from the Intelligence Community relating to Tren de Aragua (TDA). We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at The New York Times. The Alien Enemies Proclamation is supported by fact, law, and common sense, which we will establish in court and then expel the TDA terrorists from this country.” “Inaccurate but nevertheless classified” information is a new one on us. C’mon leakers. If you are going to go to jail – you might as well leak ACCURATE information, huh?
PART TIME JOB WHILE WAITING FOR CONFIRMATION: Former Green Beret Joseph Kent has been nominated to be head of the National Counterterrorism Center. But we all know that it can take a while for the paperwork to flow, hearings to be held, and confirmation votes to happen. So, in the meanwhile, according to the Washington Post, Kent has been filling in as acting chief of staff to Director of National Security Tulsi Gabbard. It is probably a good fit in that they share similar views – for example somewhat favorable positions on Russia. Kent said in 2022 that Putin’s demands on Ukrainian territory were “very reasonable.” He also has said that the FBI and Intelligence Community were involved in “planning/directing” the January 6, 2022 riot. After leaving the Army, Kent joined CIA. He later left the CIA and twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CIA: Given the Signal snafu recently – a lot of national security agencies might be in a bit of trouble with the president for the distraction to his agenda. But we have found a possible way for the CIA to get back into Trump’s good graces. The President’s preference for things gold is well known – and we just saw a story in the U.K. Daily Mail tabloid which (somewhat misleadingly) says “Secret CIA files claim Ark of the Covenant has been found.” The ark – believed to be a gold-covered wooden chest created around 1445BC and allegedly containing the Ten Commandments and has been missing for about 2500 years. But back in the 1980s the CIA and other U.S. agencies were experimenting with psychics who through remote viewing could ascertain information about distant things. And one remote viewer – generally described the whereabouts of an object that some folks thought might be the Ark of the Covenant. So, we figure, if the Agency could follow up on the lead and provide the container for display in the Oval Office – or Mar-a-Lago — they would earn big credits with the boss. The downside is that the document describing the work of the psychic has been declassified and available to the public since August 2000, and no one has yet found the ark. We have a hunch it might be in Greenland.
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