Dead Drop: March 29

HOW SUN TZU OF YOU:  Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu once said, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”  The Cipher Brief is taking notes and just released a new video on disinformation that shows just how adversaries are using the strategic tactic to destabilize western democracies one social media user at a time, especially as elections approach. How clever to use Sun Tzu’s tactics to recruit an unwitting army of ‘Uncle Bobs’ or ‘Cousin Larrys’ to help spread divisive messages on your social media feed. It seems that China’s Sun Tzu was on to something here.

FINGER POINTING OLYMPICS:  The horrific terror attack at a Moscow concert hall last week launched countless conspiracy theories – with every Vlad, Dick and Harry rolling out explanations of how the murderous assault could have happened and who was behind it. ISIS-Khorsan says “We did it! It was us!” and U.S. intelligence reportedly agrees.  But Russian President Vladimir Putin was quick to drop hints that the perpetrators were really working for Ukraine and were captured on their way to that embattled country where “a window had been left open” for them. Former CIA officer (and current Cipher Brief expert) Mark Polymeropoulos was quoted in The Hill as saying that Putin casting blame on Ukraine was “nonsense” and suggested the assertion might be intended to deflect attention from the incompetence of Russian security forces. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials declared that the claim had “nothing in common with reality.” Others darkly suggested that perhaps the attack was planned by the Kremlin. A British colonel with the wonderful name Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun newspaper that the attack had all “the hallmarks of Russian false flag attacks.” Word that the U.S. had previously warned the Russians – and the public to stay away from large public gatherings due to terror threats added fuel to the fire that suggested that perhaps the Russians had a reason to ignore the warnings. Another Cipher Brief expert, Glenn Corn has an excellent and quite detailed piece which ends with this advice: “Russian citizens should understand that, at the end of the day, there are two parties responsible for the murder of the victims of the Crocus City Hall attack – ISIS-K and their own President.”