EYES ON DISGUISE: Former CIA chief of disguise, Jonna Mendez, has given a fascinating critique of Hollywood’s hits and misses when it comes to changing identity. In a 27-minute video on Wired.com Mendez shows brief clips from TV shows and motion pictures and explains which ones come close to proper tradecraft – and which ones blew it. Who knew “Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles” would do so well in demonstrating quick change. Mendez says: “…the bigger the crowd, the more forgiving they are if you want to change your clothes in public.” She also reveals that masks made from the head of actor Rex Harrison were used on multiple real-world operations. Mendez, in case you didn’t know, is the co-author (along with her late husband Tony Mendez) of The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War. The book will be published on May 21. Look for a review of it in The Cipher Brief that same day.
SWEARING OFF WHISKEY: We’ve told you in the past about the ABC TV series “Whiskey Cavalier” a so-called 'dramedy' about an FBI agent named “Will Chase” (code named “Whiskey Cavalier” who works with a hard-hearted CIA officer “Frankie Trowbridge” who also has a code name: “Fiery Tribune.” Before the show aired, we said the concept sounded absurd to us – and it turns out the viewing public might agree. Or maybe that is the “non-viewing public.” In any case, ABC announced this week that they are cancelling the show after one season. Media accounts say it was one of the network’s lowest rated programs. 'The Enemy Within' an NBC series about a good-hearted male FBI agent and a female imprisoned former CIA officer which was slightly less absurd than “WC” was – at last report – still in limbo about the possibility of a second season.
SOME DEEP STATE: Conspiracy theorists believe that the FBI, CIA, and other parts of the intelligence community were working together to try to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president. Well, it turns out that some of those suspected of plotting “a coup” against Trump had conspiracy theories of their own – about each other. The Washington Examiner reported last week that former FBI agent Peter Strzok sent a text message in 2016 to his then-girlfriend, Lisa Page, accusing the CIA of leaking information about Russian election meddling. According to the Examiner, the text read:
“Think our sisters have begun leaking like mad. Scorned and worried and political, they’re kicking it in to overdrive.” (“Sisters” we are told was Strzok-code for CIA.) Then in another text message, Strzok told Page in April 2017 that he was “beginning to think the agency got info a lot earlier than we thought and hasn’t shared it completely with us. Might explain all these weird/seemingly incorrect leads all these media folks have. Would also highlight agency as source of some of the leaks.” At the Dead Drop, we don’t know who knew what when – but are strangely comforted that if there was a conspiracy on the part of the deep state – it sure was a lousy one.
AWESOME CON JOB: Where do you go to recruit candidates to potentially take on heroic missions? NPR says that CIA recruiters recently attended a comic book festival called 'Awesome Con', where representatives handed out games to attendees (some of whom were dressed as Batman and the Joker.) The game requires players to come up with ways to get Albert Einstein to spy for the U.S. while he was in Nazi Germany – without getting him arrested or killed. Hopefully, when Einstein’s mission was done – the candidates could exfiltrate him from Germany without his having to wear a goofy costume.
DIDN’T GET THE SAME BUZZ FROM HER OLD JOB: AOL.COM says that Tara Chapman really likes her new career beekeeping. "There was nothing I'd done in my life as an adult that I loved as much as I when I started my two hives. That's all I wanted to talk about," Chapman says. What else has she done that paled in comparison? Well, her first job out of college was working in operations at CIA. She says she liked her Agency time since it was “mission oriented,” but despite – or perhaps because of – multiple trips to Afghanistan, Chapman decided to turn in her trench coat for a beekeeping suit. Sorry CIA recruiters. That’s gotta sting.
THE PLAY’S THE THING: Dead Drop readers in the Chicago area may want to check out a new play at the Riverfront Playhouse in Aurora called “Sin, Sex & the CIA.” It is a two-act farce set in a CIA safe-house where a meeting takes place regarding newly-discovered oil reserves in the Chagos Islands. According to the Chicago Tribune, one CIA officer “is a bit incompetent, the other a nymphomaniac, and no one seems to know who the representative of the Chagos Islands is.” That last part comes as no surprise to us – since without Google - the Dead Drop would not have known WHERE the Chagos Islands are – let alone who represents them.
MAKING CRIME PAY: Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who did a few years in prison for leaking classified documents (before having her sentence commuted by President Obama) and who recent did a couple months in jail for refusing to testify before a Grand Jury (and who may be back in jail by the time you read this) just landed a book deal. Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux has inked a deal for Manning’s memoir to be published in 2020. Manning told the New York Times that she is trying to avoid having to submit the manuscript to the government for classification review. Why? “You’re probably going to learn more about my love life than about the disclosures,” Manning told the Times.
INTELLIGENCE FAILURE: The International Spy Museum has been getting a lot of good ink since re-opening at its new L’Enfant Plaza location in Washington this past weekend. But like any complex operation, there can be glitches. Some of our spies tell us that they hoped to visit the new $162 million home to spy gear on Wednesday but were turned away. The reason was not a sellout – but rather a computer failure which not only rendered the ticket-selling apparatus useless – but also rendered mute many of the museum’s high-tech displays. We’re not sure how long the blackout lasted – but we blame the North Koreans.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
