CHANGE IS IN THE AIR: On Tuesday, Fox News was the first to report that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard removed the top two officials from the National Intelligence Council. There was no official explanation, which of course creates lots of space for rumors. One of those rumors was that the DNI believes the acting Chairman of the NIC, Mike Collins, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof were working to undermine the Trump administration. While we’ve seen zero proof of that, some media organizations speculated that recent reports that the NIC had reaffirmed an intelligence community assessment that the Tren de Aragua criminal gang was not working at the direction of the Venezuelan government, got them in trouble because the administration insists otherwise. In addition to the leadership changes, the DNI also reportedly ordered that the NIC, (which is under her prevue), will be moved from CIA headquarters to ODNI headquarters at Liberty Crossing. And the New York Times reports that the staff that puts together the President’s Daily Brief will also be moved from Langley to ODNI HQ. We’ve heard some rumors of impending personnel changes at CIA, too but officials there say they have nothing for us on that. We may just have to keep an eye on Fox News.
OUR OWN DOGE CONTRIBUTION: Current and former senior defense officials recently told Defense One that Navy Vice Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley may be in line to lead the U.S. Special Operations Command taking over from Army General Bryan Fenton who has had the gig since 2022. Bradley, a Navy SEAL, is currently head of Joint Special Operations Command. One thing standing in the way of his getting the SOCOM job though is that he is reportedly also a candidate to become Chief of Naval Operations, a job that was vacated when Admiral Lisa Franchetti was fired by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for – well, no official given. We were thinking that maybe since Marco Rubio is dual hatted as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, maybe Bradley can serve both roles. Consider it our DOGE suggestion of the week.
(If you have a DOGE suggestion of the week, send it to us at thedeaddrop@thecipherbrief.com. We can’t promise anything, but we might just publish it.)
DON’T INCLUDE US IN YOUR NON-INCLUSION: It’s become quite common for U.S. government agencies to receive directives from the federal government to weed out practices and language that seem to support diversity, equity and inclusion policies. This stems from a January 21, 2025 Executive Order. But now, the Associated Press is reporting that the Stockholm City Council (that’s Stockholm as in “Sweden”) was quite surprised when they too got a demand from the U.S. embassy that they certify that they don’t engage in DEI programs – otherwise the U.S. government will not be able to purchase goods and services from them going forward. The Swedes were asked to fill out a form attesting to the fact that they “do not operate any programs promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that violate any applicable U.S. Federal anti-discrimination laws.” Swedish officials called the demand “absurd” and said they would not sign it. The request seemed so odd that the fact-checking outfit Snopes dug in to see if this was some urban myth – but they came back with the receipts and declared the story true.
IN OTHER SWEDISH NEWS: Taking some heat off of Mike Waltz for his relatively short stint as U.S. National Security Advisor, Tobias Thyberg who held the equivalent job in Sweden quit his post after less than 24 hours. The Swedish National Security Adviser (they spell it with an “e” instead of the U.S. “o”) stepped down after some old “suggestive photographs” he had reportedly previously posted on a gay dating app came to public attention. Turns out Thyberg’s predecessor in the role, Henrik Landerholm, also left the gig unexpectedly when a police investigation was opened into allegations that he had “left confidential documents in an unlocked hotel safe.”
LOST IN TRANSLATION: We know the Trump administration is working hard to downsize the federal government but we didn’t know things had gotten this dire. NBC News reported last weekend that when President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff met in the Kremlin with Vladimir Putin, he ended up using a Russian interpreter to facilitate the conversation. Former U.S. Ambassador Mike McFaul called that “a very bad idea.” Normally, the U.S. insists on having their own interpreters translate for American officials in important discussions. In this case, Witkoff may not have known who his intermediary was. A video of the start of the meeting shows him pointing at a woman and saying “Interpreter? From the embassy? OK.” Putin and the Russia side seem to confirm that. But the folks at Bellingcat did some facial recognition research and they say the woman shown in the video was, Matalia Koshkina, a Russian who, in the past, has interpreted for figures like Putin, Lavrov and Medvedev…and even the head of the SVR, Naryshkin.
MS MI6: The UK version of The Sun (the publication, not the celestial orb) has reported that the Secret Intelligence Service (aka MI6) will soon be led by a woman. Which woman is unknown – but only three candidates are reported to be female. The current head of MI6, (traditionally referred to as “C”) Sir Richard Moore, is set to stand down this fall. Only one of the women believed to be in the running to replace him has been named – and that is Dame Barbara Woodward, who is the current UK ambassador to the UN. According to The Sun, in some circles, Woodward is called “Beijing Barbara” – because, when she was ambassador to China from 2015 to 2020, she was perceived to have been “too sympathetic to China.” Could be grousing from the Old Boys Club. Ambassadors are often accused of coming down with “client-titis.” In any case, history will be made with the selection of the new “C” – as all 17 of the previous MI6 heads have been men.
NO SPYING AGAINST ALLIES: Last week’s Dead Drop mentioned Wall Street Journal reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies had received a “collection emphasis message” from DNI Gabbard telling them to ramp up collection efforts on Greenland. Well, Prime Minister Mette Freeriksen of Denmark told the Associated Press that “you cannot spy against an ally.” We’re guessing she means “should not” rather than “cannot” – but maybe that was lost in the translation. Frederiksen said reports of the ramped-up collection were just “rumors” although the fact that Gabbard was quoted in the WSJ story as threatening whoever leaked the matter to the paper with possible prosecution – seemed to raise it about the rumor level.
ANOTHER ONE FOR THE BOOKS: We’re not sure how much progress the Department of Defense is making in its efforts to ramp up their warrior ethos and increase “lethality” – but their attacks on military libraries is racking up quite a body count. First there were reports of the libraries at the service academies being thinned out by removing books that carried the hint of diversity, equity and inclusion. Now there is word that military libraries at bases and installations around the world have been ordered to do the same. CBS News reported that instructions to the military demanded that “Military leaders must identify any library materials at their educational institutions that are ‘potentially incompatible with this core mission’ and "appropriately sequester those materials" by May 21.” It would be one thing if service personnel had been ordered to quit doing stuff like – say, learning how to move F/A-18’s around an aircraft carrier deck and instead were forced to read books about affirmative action and critical race theory but apparently the offensive books have just been sitting in libraries – in case someone wanted to check them out.
WHAT’S UP, DOC? Also in the previous edition of The Dead Drop was an item about Dr. Terry Adirim, the top doctor at the CIA who was fired for unexplained reasons. Her lawyer speculates that it was due to being targeted by right-wing activists who objected to Dr. Adirim’s previous stance on COVID-19 vaccines. But late last week, a federal judge in Virginia turned down the doctor’s request for a temporary restraining order and allowed the Agency to pull the plug on Adirim’s employment. The government argued that the CIA has broad authority to fire employees and said her axing was not related to comments from folks like Laura Loomer.
NO PROMOTIONS UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES: The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), a 101-year-old professional alliance and labor union representing U.S. career diplomats, issued a press release this week decrying the State Department’s “abrupt postponement of the Foreign Service Selection Boards (FSSBs) which were scheduled to begin May 27.” It’s unclear why the Department cancelled the boards – but AFSA says those people previously slated to serve on the boards were told their services would not be needed this summer. “This delay will have profound consequences for the entire workforce,” AFSA said. Adding “The indefinite nature of the delay adds to their uncertainty and sends a troubling message about the department’s commitment to professional advancement.” With government-wide efforts to slim down staffing due to attrition – the promotion board cancellation (whether intended or not) may cause many diplomats to re-consider their career choices. In (probably) unrelated news – Politico reported this week that more than 100 U.S. ambassador positions are currently unfilled.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting/weird stuff we discovered:
IT TAKES A WHILE TO MAKE A BILLION: About a decade ago, a book called The Billion Dollar Spy by David Hoffman was published. The book was about a real-life Russian engineer, Adolf Tolkachev, who became one of the most productive spies ever recruited by the CIA. He was eventually caught by the Soviets in 1985 and executed in 1986. The book was quite favorably reviewed in The Cipher Brief and we also interviewed the author about the complex and compelling case. It 2021, it was announced that the book would be made into a movie…and then the project died for a while (as projects do in Hollywood.) But a couple months ago, it restarted production with Russell Crowe starring as Tolkachev. Spies tell us that principal filming has begun in Budapest. The film may be released in 2026, which would mark 40 years since Tolkachev’s death.
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