THE BOYS ARE BACK: Long-time readers of The Dead Drop will remember that we had several items in recent years about Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a 30-something, staffer on the NSC early in the Trump administration. Cohen-Watnick was one of the “Flynn-stones” – someone brought in by the first Trump National Security Advisor, Mike Flynn. He was accused of (and later denied) inappropriately funneling information to House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes. Cohen-Watnick reportedly got cross-threaded with National Security Advisor #2, H.R. McMaster, and eventually left the NSC. Now, 34, he is back in a new role as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for counter narcotics and global defense. Another new arrival at the Pentagon is Michael Cutrone, formerly a career CIA analyst, who has spent the past three years working on the Vice President’s staff. Cutrone has taken a new political job in DOD “aimed at consolidating control over policy and messaging.” Some officials told Foreign Policy that they fear his role is to weed out civilians not sufficiently loyal to the president.
VOICING DISPLEASURE: Acting DNI Ric Grenell announced some changes to the structure of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence this week. The changes included creating a new DNI advisor for military affairs, combining several existing cyber organizations into one, and “sunsetting” some national security partnerships. Voice of America intelligence correspondent Jeff Seldin reported that Senate Intelligence Committee officials were displeased because the changes were not coordinated with them. Grenell quickly responded via Twitter chastising Seldin saying “@VOA should call US government agencies first before pushing erroneous information,” adding: “The ODNI team called and notified the Senate teams.” Just spitballing here – but could it be that the disconnect is the difference between “notifying” the Senate overseers and “coordinating” with them before a decision was made.
WELL, THAT DOESN’T SOUND RIGHT: When we first heard news reports that the Pentagon had issued a permanent ban on recruiting young Americans who had once had COVID-19. We thought that didn’t make sense. After all, we keep hearing that people who have had the disease and recovered are likely to carry coveted antibodies – and besides if this “herd immunity” thing takes off –before long there will be no one in the country eligible to serve in uniform. Turns out Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, had the same reaction. He told NPR that the initial press accounts were based on an internal memo that was in draft and was not supposed to be released. At first, the Pentagon confirmed the ban news, then they modified their response to say that only those who had been hospitalized with the disease would be permanently banned. Now, they are re-thinking that too. Milley told NPR that the bum COVID guidance “got out there by accident.” Gotta watch out for stuff that gets out by accident – it can go viral.
ABOUT VIRTUAL TIME: When all this “stay home - do not even think about going out” stuff started it made life difficult for a lot of people. For example, spare a thought for the folks who were about to start to work for the State Department. Back in April, two former ambassadors wrote in The Hill about the travails of two incoming classes of State employees many of whom had quit their private sector jobs (when offered government employment), terminated their apartment leases and headed to Washington – only to be told that their “on boarding” had been canceled and they could not get to their new job – and importantly to their new paycheck. About 175 people were in a State of limbo. But now, we hear that the State Department has figured out how to do “virtual onboarding” and administer “virtual oaths of office” and the fledgling diplomats are no longer State-less persons.
PLENTY OF POTENTIAL AMBASSADORS: Speaking of State, this week saw the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hold a confirmation hearing for four nominees to be “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary” of the United States. The nominees are intended (if they get Senate OK) to go to Uganda, Burkina Faso, Estonia and Jordan. They appeared at the hearing via video connection from the safety of remote locations. According to the American Foreign Service Association, there are 22 posts around the world with no ambassador, and no one nominated, and 19 nominees for other embassies who are awaiting confirmation. The previous confirmation hearing for ambassadors was held in December.
OH, THE PLACE YOU WON’T GO: Since we are on a State Department roll here, let us add this one additional message from Foggy Bottom. If you are thinking of overseas travel: don’t. The department has in effect, issued a Global Level 4 Health Advisory saying “The Department of State advises US citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19. In countries where commercial departure options remain available, US citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period.”
WHAT THE HEIL? If someone told you that a couple tombstones in a VA cemetery were found to have swastikas on them, you might guess that it was the result of vandals or graffiti artists. But Salon.com says that there are two marble headstones at a national cemetery in San Antonio, TX marking the graves of WWII German POWs. The markers have the names, dates of birth and death of the soldiers along with a swastika in the center of an iron cross and the phrase: “He died far from his home for the Führer, people and fatherland.” We know that the US has an obligation to respectfully take care of enemy war dead – but the shout out to the Führer seems like a bit too much.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
HAZING MARINES IS FOR THE BIRDS: Recruits at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego have a big enough challenge of dealing with drill sergeants. But recently, they have also been dealing with another challenge: aggressive seagulls. Military.com quotes a training depot spokesman as saying: "The gulls interfere with outdoor training on obstacle courses [and] confidence course, and cause damage to electrical connections on solar panels and stucco on historic facilities," the spokesman added: "During the nesting season, April to July, they become aggressive and can attack personnel and visitors aboard the depot." Now you might think that the USMC, an organization which stresses that “every Marine is a rifleman” might take up arms against the pesky birds. But instead, they took to the air. The Depot has entered into a five-year $127,440 contract to hire “Adam’s Falconry Service” to bring hawks to the base to harass the gulls. No recruits have been harmed by the gulls yet, but they are reportedly pretty tired of ducking the pests and stepping in bird poop. So, they no doubt welcome the aircover from the fighting falcons.
PRATT FALLS FOR SEALS: Actor Chris Pratt, from Parks and Recreation and Guardians of the Galaxy fame, is slated to star in a new TV series for Amazon called The Terminal List. Pratt plays a former Navy SEAL who survived an ambush in which all other members of his team were killed. Then, he learns that the real orchestrators of his ambush were upper echelon personnel in the US and he sets out to seek revenge. Sounds not quite as lighthearted as Parks and Rec. Pratt also played a SEAL in the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty.
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