ENEMIES LIST: Last Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a new list of 200 Americans who have received the Kremlin’s seal of disapproval. As far as we can tell, the penalty for being placed on the sanctions list, is to be banned from future travel to Russia. (Just as well. Visit Moscow now and walking down the street you stand a good chance of being hit by some oligarch “accidentally” falling out of a window.) Among the honorees – err – sanction-ees – were several members of the Biden family, a dozen or so senators, some administration officials and several Cipher Brief experts including: General David Petraeus, Admiral Jim Stavridis, and David Shedd. Guess they’ll just have to find other places to vacation.
FRIENDS LIST: On Veterans Day, NBC News ran a story about David Tyson, who fought alongside fellow CIA officer Mike Spann when Spann became the first American killed in Afghanistan after 9/11, on November 25, 2001. Now, Tyson, along with Spann’s widow Shannon and others associated with the first team into Afghanistan, have formed a non-profit organization to help former Afghan allies find their way out of that country. Spann and Tyson’s heroism are featured in the newly-renovated museum at CIA headquarters. While you likely cannot get into Langley to see it (unless you work there) you can learn more about it in this Cipher Brief State Secrets podcast with the curator of secrets.
PERHAPS WE SPOKE TOO SOON: Last week’s Dead Drop suggested that perhaps Edward Snowden felt safe in Moscow since he was unlikely to be called up in the Russian military. But this week, we hear Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a new decree “allowing” foreigners to serve in the Russian armed forces. But the Russians have their standards. The decree says that foreigners cannot be recruited if they have a previous conviction or are under investigation. We presume that means – under investigation in Russia – and Snowden’s investigation/wanted status in the U.S. would not be a bar for him serving his new country. Way back in May, when Putin’s war was going badly – but not as badly as now - he signed another decree allowing the military to bring in warm bodies up to the age of 65. This may be good news to actor Steven Seagal, who we have written about many times before. Seagal bears both US and Russian citizenship and has reached the ripe old age of 70. So, he is too old – at least until the next decree.
AND ANOTHER TWO BITE THE DUST: It is probably hard to get a life insurance policy these days if you are a former friend, mentor, or close subordinate to Vladimir Putin. Among the latest to meet an unexpected end, was Colonel Vadim Boyko who was said to have been a key player in training newly mobilized troops for Putin. Boyko was found dead Wednesday, at a naval college in Vladivostok from a gunshot wound to the head. Local media attribute the death to suicide. However, there are conflicting reports that suggest he received five bullet wounds to the chest — which sounds like an inefficient way to kill yourself. But wait, there’s more. There was also Colonel-General Viktor Cherkesov who reportedly died on November 8. Press accounts say that “Cherkesov was Vladimir Putin’s KGB spy mentor during his earlier days with the intelligence services. Between 1973-1975, he worked in the city prosecutor’s office as an investigator in the local KGB department.” But Cherkesov turned on Putin in 2007, accusing him of “allowing the KGB to become corrupt.” (Yeah, because before that they were a model of good government.) Apparently, the Colonel-General had continued to criticize Putin and was suddenly diagnosed with an “unexplained mystery disease.”
MOST WANTED HEADQUARTERS: The old saying goes that the FBI “always gets their man.” Catching felons is one thing, but the Bureau has had a lot of trouble capturing a location for a new headquarters building. The downtown DC J. Edgar Hoover building is decrepit, and officials have been struggling to find a place to build a new home for the G-men and women. They were reportedly close to identifying a location a couple years ago – with the thought that some of the construction might be paid for when the Hoover building site would eventually be sold or traded to developers who might create a pricey hotel or commercial space downtown. But that was derailed in the last administration. Some people said that former President Trump didn’t want another glitzy hotel close to the one he then owned and that bore his name. But now, the HQ search is back on the front burner. There are reportedly two finalist sites in Prince George’s County, MD (one near the abandoned Landover Mall and the other adjacent to the Greenbelt Metro station, for you insiders.) The third finalist is said to be next to the Springfield, VA Metro station on the site of a current government warehouse facility. That location has the advantage of being closest to the FBI’s training facility at Quantico. According to AXIOS, FBI officials and agents want to stay in DC close to the DOJ mothership – but that doesn’t currently appear to be in the cards. An announcement of a location could come in the next few weeks.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
HOW DID WE MISS THIS ONE? The Dead Drop frequently brings you news about forthcoming books that are in our wheelhouse of national security and intelligence. But we recently stumbled across an old book – that would have been an ideal entry a couple weeks ago, for Halloween – or 14 years ago, when it first came out. Why we are just hearing about it – we don’t know. We originally thought that Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult was science fiction – but apparently not. It turns out, the title character, Aleister Crowley, was quite a character in real life. The book’s publisher calls him the “founding father of modern occultism” – which we didn’t even know was a thing. Crowley had a career with British intelligence, was alleged to have had some role in the sinking of the Lusitania, and his image is among those on the album cover of the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.” Crowley, who died in 1947, reportedly considered himself to be “one of the outstanding figures of his time” which might indicate he would be at home as a politician today.
MARINES ROCK! Which is normally a good thing. But not so much for four Leathernecks who were arrested in January after being accused of causing the San Diego Zoo gondola to shut down, trapping more than 100 people aloft. Apparently, the Marines thought it would be fun to rock their gondola ride. The Zoo and the other passengers were not amused. The good news is that criminal charges have now been dropped after the accused paid $18,260 in restitution. Previously, a Deputy District Attorney in San Diego had said the Marines could each face up to three years in jail if convicted for felony vandalism.
SHAKE A LEG, BUT NOT A GONDOLA: And don’t leave us hanging. Send your best news tips to us at: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com
Read more expert-driven national security insights, perspective and analysis in The Cipher Brief
