CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Joshua Schulte is a former CIA employee now residing in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. Schulte is facing charges in connection with one of the most serious leaks of technical information in the Agency’s history, accused of handing Wikileaks sensitive technical tools CIA used to monitor bad guys. Schulte says he’s not guilty and according to the New York Post, he wrote to a judge complaining about the living conditions in the federal lockup, while he’s awaiting trial. Schulte compared his situation with that of the U.S. college student who died following mistreatment at the hands of the North Koreans. “Otto Warmbier received better treatment and more justice in North Korea that I have received in America,” Schulte penned. That being the case, we were going to suggest that President Trump outsource the case and ship Schulte to Pyongyang. But on Wednesday, Federal prosecutors said they planned to beef up charges against Schulte, saying that he has leaked classified national defense materials while incarcerated. Prosecutors told the court that earlier this month, they learned that Schulte had been using one or more smuggled cellphones to communicate clandestinely with individuals outside the slammer. Meanwhile, it looks like the guy accused of leaking CIA documents dubbed “Vault Seven” is staying in one Metropolitan Correctional Center – like it or not.
GOOD RECRUIT: Diosdado Cabello, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has accused Angelina Jolie of being a “CIA agent.” The charge was made shortly after Jolie made a visit to Peru as a special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency and met with some of the 400,000 people who have fled Venezuela seeking shelter in Peru over the past three years. Exactly why he thinks she is a clandestine operative was unclear. If criticizing Venezuela’s treatment of their own citizens is all that is needed to earn Agency credentials – Langley is going to have to build a bigger headquarters.
UNLIKELY RECRUIT: According to crack Russian media watcher Julia Davis, Russian state TV host Kirill Kleymenov has invited ousted NBC host Megyn Kelly to move to Moscow and co-host a program with him. In a tweet this week, Davis also said that another Russian state TV anchor described Kelly as a “victim” and said she was dislodged from her job “like a cork.”
BAD RECRUIT: An alleged operative for activist James O’Keefe’s “Project Veritas” apparently infiltrated (for a while) the congressional campaign of former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger. A woman who went by the name “Monica Nelson” volunteered to work on the Spanberger campaign, but drew suspicion when she kept peppering staffers with questions about where the candidate really stood on issues. According to The Daily Beast, campaign staffers confronted “Nelson” (who turned out to be someone named Marisa Jorge) and asked her to leave. When asked to leave, The Daily Beast quotes sources saying she “walked about a half mile down a busy road and ran swiftly across traffic in order to evade campaign workers.” Maybe Monica/Marisa who claimed Spanberger was a role model for her – should have asked the candidate for tips on maintaining cover and a viable disguise.
MISTER, WE COULD USE A MAN LIKE HERBERT HOOVER, AGAIN: Russian media watcher Julia Davis also reported this week that on Russian state TV, the deputy dean of world politics at Moscow’s State University said “Unfortunately, Trump didn’t reach the level of Abraham Lincoln & didn’t drive the U.S. to civil war. That’s sad. Hopefully, he’ll become Herbert Hoover, and at least drive them into a Great Depression.” Must have lost something in the translation.
G-R-U KIDDING ME? Not since Maxwell Smart’s CONTROL have we seen a more gaffe-prone intelligence Agency than Russia’s GRU. In the latest illustration of apparent ineptitude, ABC reports that Russian journalists have discovered that “the Russian Defense Ministry sought to conceal the identities of dozens of children of alleged GRU officers living in a Moscow housing complex by adding 100 years to their ages in administrative registries.” So, if you come across any 100+ year-old Russians still living with their moms and dads – good chance at least one of their parents is a GRU officer.
FAKE NEWS! The Moscow Times reports that polling shows that only 3% of Russians believe that their government was behind the Skripal attack. Apparently, 28 percent of Russians think British intelligence did the deed – and 56 percent believe “it could have been anyone.” In other words, it might have been some 400-pound guy on his bed in New Jersey.
TERRORISM CLOSE CALLS: There is a new 10-part series streaming on Netflix called “Terrorism Close Calls.” The series explores narrowly averted terror plots and features interviews with some of those who helped snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Former CIA Deputy Director for Counterintelligence (and Cipher Brief expert) Mark Kelton helped develop the series. The Dead Drop hasn’t had a chance to watch all ten episodes yet – but can recommend episode 5: “Operation Overt” Seven Planes – Seven Bombs” about a plot that almost succeeded in bringing down multiple trans-Atlantic airliners flying from the UK to North America in 2006. Former CIA Director Mike Hayden and former head of the National Clandestine Service, Jose Rodriguez, figure heavily in the story. The official trailer for the entire series is at this link.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
Hell, Razors? Speaking of close shaves, we learned this week from Military.com that a Marine First Sgt. is facing an Article 32 investigative hearing over charges that he was involved in stealing $1.5 million worth of razors and razor blades from a warehouse at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina. Apparently, investigators caught the perps in the nick of time.
Skol: We’ve heard of drinking “Canada Dry” – but this is a new one. Iceland Magazine reports that during port calls in Iceland as part of the ongoing NATO exercise “Trident Juncture,” U.S. sailors and Marines wiped out beer supplies in Reykjavik bars. Bar owners sent out emergency requests for additional stock, but were fighting an uphill battle. Local blogger Eirikur Jonsson said “they were fighting an overwhelming force.”
Intergalactic Warming: The Express newspaper in Britain has dug up old documents from the CIA’s remote viewing “Stargate” adventures years ago – and presented them as new, in an article titled: “Secret CIA documents claim evidence for Martian race – wiped out by environment disaster.” Probably a good thing the Martians were wiped out. If they ever decided to move here we’d have to build a heckuva big wall to keep them out.
That’s a lot of malware: Bad actors struggle to find clever ways to slip malware onto U.S. government computers. Nextgov.com tells us that the Russians found just such an avenue with the help of one leering Fed. A U.S. Geological Survey inspector general report claims that a lone, (and perhaps lonely) unnamed, USGS employee used a government computer to visit 9,000 adult porn sites. On some of the sites there were reportedly links to Russian websites containing malware which eventually was downloaded to Fed’s computer – and then spread throughout his entire agency. No word on what happened to the employee. At a minimum, we hope the IG directed them to a cold shower.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com
