WALL OF HONOR: Every year around Memorial Day, the CIA holds its annual ceremony honoring officers who have died while serving their country. The names of those individuals are then enshrined on the Agency’s “Wall of Honor.” Four new stars were added to the wall this year, two of them were honoring individuals who worked for the Central Intelligence Group – the Agency’s predecessor. Apparently, officials have reviewed the criteria for inclusion on the wall and determined that service – and death – for the CIG was worthy of inclusion. The Agency said in a press release that the names and contributions of the honorees “remains classified even after their deaths.” Our spies did tell us that among the attendees at this year’s ceremony were Senator Richard Burr (R, NC), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Congressman Adam Schiff, (D, CA) chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
UPDATE YOUR RANK: BTW, if you know anyone on Congressman Schiff’s staff you might tell them that his official online biography still refers to him as a “ranking member” of the HPSCI, a job he held until moving up to chairman after the 2018 elections.
ALTERNATIVE VIEW: The day before the CIA’s memorial event, the Washington Post ran a page-one story in which retired CIA historian Nicholas Dujmovic criticized a decision by former CIA Director John Brennan to authorize a star to be added to the wall in 2014 honoring Ranya Abdelsayed, a CIA officer who committed suicide at a CIA firebase in Kandahar, Afghanistan the previous year. Dujmovic argues that the wall should honor deaths that are “of an inspirational or heroic character” and that Abdelsayed’s star “must absolutely come off the wall.” The public comments attached to the story (about 700 the last time we checked) run heavily against Dujmovic’s point of view. The Post also ran an OPED a few days later by Jeremy Butler, chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America arguing that honoring Abdelsayed with a star is an important step toward stopping the stigmatization of mental health injuries suffered by those we send to war.
AMERICAN TALIBAN FREED: Among the stars on the CIA’s Memorial Wall is one for Johnny Micheal Spann, the first American to die in Afghanistan after 9/11. Spann died during a prisoner uprising at Qala-i-Jangi prison. Among the captives there, was John Walker Lindh, an American who had joined the Taliban and reportedly remained silent when Spann questioned him – moments before a prisoner riot broke out, which ultimately led to Spann’s death. Lindh was returned to the United States and was sentenced to 20 years in prison – but has just been released three years early – for good behavior. Spann’s family is not happy. His daughter Allison wrote a letter to President Trump asking him to intervene in Lindh’s early release.
DON’T CRY FOR ME, MARIA BUTINA: Maria Butina, sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to register as a Russian foreign agent, may have been locked up, but it hasn’t kept her silent. CBS News reports that Butina recorded a video of herself speaking on a phone from the slammer. The video, posted on social media, includes pleas (in Russian) from Butina for people to chip in to help pay her legal fees. A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on State TV recently that her government is “doing everything so that (Butina) will be afforded all rights as a Russian citizen.” But that does not include paying her lawyer, it seems.
NOT A (ISIS) BEATLES FAN: The UK publication The Mail on Sunday caught up with former CIA and DIA officer (and Cipher Brief expert) Doug Wise and asked him about two former British citizens (dubbed the ISIS Beatles) who “were captured by Kurdish forces in January 2018 and locked up in northern Syria on suspicion of being part of an Islamic State-led kidnap and execution group that killed several western captives.” The captives apparently gained notoriety by narrating grisly hostage beheadings in their native British accents. Wise told the paper that bringing the duo back to the UK for trial would be “a disaster of epic proportions.” Instead, Wise said they should be dealt with in Syria or Iraq where, if convicted, they would face the death penalty.
THANKS FOR THE ADVICE: Back on April 5th, we told you that former CIA officer Valerie Plame was thinking of running for the Senate from New Mexico. Then a week later, we shared that she was considering lowering her sights to run for the House of Representatives. Well, she finally decided that her place is in the House and is running for a vacant seat in Santa Fe and voters are beginning to get a sense of where she stands on the issues. AP reports that during an interview on SiriusXM, Plame warned against going to war with Iran.
POMPEO’S BATTLE BUDDY FINALLY ONBOARD: This week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted out how pleased he was to swear in Brian Bulatao as the new Under Secretary of State for Management. The President nominated Bulatao for the job almost a year ago. Bulatao was a U.S. Military Academy classmate of Pompeo’s and served as the CIA’s chief operating officer during the time Pompeo was CIA director. Bulatao’s nomination had been held hostage by Senator Bob Menendez (D, NJ) who had placed a hold on it until the State Department agreed to provide the Senate documents relating to allegations of political retribution with the department. Pompeo agreed to turn over the docs and Menendez lifted the hold. And they say nobody works together in Washington.
WHAT’S THE BIG SECRET?: This past week, the President named two new officials to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. On May 17, a White House press release announced the appointment of “Mr. Michael Hagee” of Texas. If we are not mistaken, that is General Michael Hagee, former Commandant of the Marine Corps. Then on May 20th, the White House announced the appointment of Ray W. Washburne (also of Texas) for the same panel. The White House provided no other biographical data on either appointee. We’re guessing Washburne is the former president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC.) We’d like to tell you more about the attendees, or what the board is up to, but it seems that they are pretty tight-lipped about their activities.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
THE ART OF ESPIONAGE: ABC News was invited to CIA headquarters for a tour of the Agency’s art show recently. Check out some of the handiwork on display in this six-minute video. Some of the art is really good. Maybe these people need an agent.
THAT FLEW? Air Force Times carried an amusing article this week about the 13 all-time ugliest airplanes. Do yourself a favor and check out the photos. You will not believe these things ever “slipped the surly bonds of earth.”
CATS AND KALSNIKOVS: We are indebted to the Guns.com website for pointing out that (for no known reason) members of Russia’s National Guard, the Rosgvardia, have produced a calendar with the masked and heavily kitted out soldiers posing with cats. The guardsman we’ll call “Mr. March” stares menacingly at four kittens he has managed to squeeze into his helmet.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
