FINAL FILM FRONTIER: Among the things we learned this week, is that there is a cinematic space race going on. According to The Hill, the Russian space agency Roscosmos has announced that they are sending Russian actress Yulia Preselid and a filmmaker named Kilim Shipenko to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 5th to shoot scenes for a movie called “Challenge.” Not one to back away from a challenge, NASA which previously announced that it is working with actor Tom Cruise to film a separate movie on the ISS, is trying to get Cruise aloft in October too. According to The Hill, Cruise is hoping to get a lift from Elon Musk to the ISS and start filming. Who will make movie magic first? We don’t know – but someone should tell Cruise that we feel the need for speed.
UNEXPLAINED ENTERTAINMENT PHENOMENA: UFOs or UAPs or whatever you want to call them have been getting a lot of attention lately. The mysterious objects got the full 60 Minutes treatment last week with former naval aviators saying that they spotted inexplicable airborne stuff on almost a daily basis. The Pentagon and Office of the Director of National Intelligence are obliged to submit a public report by next month trying to answer some of the hovering questions about the mysterious subject. Former DNI (and Cipher Brief Expert) James Clapper told CNN he welcomes the new transparency but says you should expect the report to be “full of ambiguity.” With all this new openness, will the government ever really share what it knows about UFOs? They may need help – and help is on the way. Singer Demi Lovato is getting a four-part series on the Peacock network to “uncover the truth about UFO phenomena.” Lovato will not be alone in this quest and is bringing sister Dallas and best friend Matthew along – so, no doubt the mystery will be solved. We’re guessing that Lovato does not enter the project without some preconceived notions having been quoted in Salon saying one of her goals is to “make peace with the aliens, and ultimately save ourselves.”
YOU DON’T KNOW JACK: We resisted the temptation last week to include anything in The Dead Drop about an open letter from a group of retired generals and admirals (who call themselves “Flag Officers 4 America.”) The letter gets all political – accuses the current administration of bending toward Marxism and questions the mental and physical health of the commander in chief. We resisted because we try to stay away from political stuff. Also, the list of signers was largely folks we had never heard of – mixed with a few “is he still alive?” kind of guys. Some news organizations estimated that those signing the letter averaged 80 years old and were 100% white male. Initially, there were about 120 signatories – but another 30 or so later added their names. While we passed on mentioning it last week, that all changed when word came out that some joker convinced the group to add one more name to the list, that of a “Rear Admiral Jack Meehoff.” Pity the poor Navy spokesman who had to confirm to media there is no record of a “Jack Meehoff” being an admiral.
WE DON’T THINK THAT IS HOW IT WORKS: Since we’re tiptoeing around sensitive subjects – we’ll throw in this one: former Donald Trump attorney, Lin Wood, was campaigning to lead the Republican Party in South Carolina recently (he lost) but while on the campaign trail, told an audience that Trump is still president and that the military would call on him “for the code if they need a first strike.” Exactly why Trump would possess the current code went unexplained. Wood also did not reveal who might get nuked. But if we had to bet, we’d say: RADM Meehoff.
BOOK REPORT: There is always lots of national security, foreign policy, and intelligence book news to report – and this week is no different. This week, we hear that former CIA officer Ilana Berry has landed a deal with Atria books for her novel “Our American Friend” which is said to be about a “world-weary CIA officer” who is stationed in Bahrain and gets caught up in the events of the Arab Spring. No word on a publication date. Then there is former National Security Council Chief of Staff, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg who is working on “War by Other Means: A General in the Trump White House” which publisher Regnery says will be Kellogg’s account of Trump’s “America First” policies and why he thinks the Biden administration is “courting disaster.” Look for that one in October. And finally, we were excited to walk into a bookstore and thought we saw a new novel by Cipher Brief fave, Alex Finley. Finley, as you may recall, wrote the satirical novels Victor in the Jungle and Victor in the Rubble. And she gave an interview for our Under Cover newsletter in 2019. So, when spotting the new book, “Every Last Fear,” we quickly picked it up. Alas – it turns out that the new book is by Alex Finlay – ending with “LAY” rather than “LEY.” In addition to having nearly identical names – both Alex’s use pseudonyms. We don’t know who Finlay really is – although we’re pretty sure he/she is not the same person as “Alex Finley” – but wouldn’t that be a great prank if it were true?
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
FAX FREE INTELLIGENCE: A carrier pigeon arrived with a note informing us that the Central Intelligence Agency is about to retire the last of its secure fax machines. Margaret Augustine, the CIA’s procurement executive, recently revealed that the classified fax machines that have been used to allow the Agency to communicate with private contractors will soon be on the scrap heap of (classified) history and will be replaced with an email network called “Gray Magic.”
ULTIMATE PHOTO BOMB: A Navy couple recently got married on the beach in Pensacola, Fl. The groom was in his service dress white uniform, the bride in her white gown. At the exact moment the groom’s sister filmed them kissing on the beach, the Navy’s flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, flew overhead. Apparently, it was just coincidence and the Navy assures folks that they do not accept requests to perform at weddings, gender reveal events and the like – but for this couple – their timing was about perfect.
TAKE A FLIER ON THE DEAD DROP: Print out your tips of national security and intelligence news and gossip, fold the document into a paper airplane and launch it to TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com. Gray Magic mail not accepted.
Read more expert-driven national security insights, perspective and analysis in The Cipher Brief
