BUT LEE PERSISTED: The disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has sparked enormous news coverage – perhaps nowhere more than in the Washington Post (where he was a contributor.) On Thursday, we counted six news stories in the WaPo’s “A” section, plus two opinion pieces that centered on the story. The matter also helped drive home some points at the daily State Department press briefing on Wednesday. As Politico noted, veteran AP diplomatic writer Matt Lee asked deputy spokesman Robert Palladino “Who again — what’s the name of the ambassador in Turkey right now?” Palladino replied: “I don’t have that in front of me right now and I — Matt —” but Lee persisted: “What’s the name of the ambassador in Saudi Arabia right now?” Palladino answered: “I see what you’re getting at. OK. We are confident in our diplomatic —” Interrupting, Lee said: “The answer is that you don’t have an ambassador in either place, right?”
WHO ARE THESE GUYS? Our new favorite online investigation team, Bellingcat, continue to run up the score on the GRU – showing the Russian military intelligence outfit to be like the “Get Smart” spy agency, “CONTROL,” except with more KAOS. In recent posts, Bellingcat has revealed in great detail, screw ups committed by Russian agents. We’ve gone well past the “perhaps they are being intentionally sloppy, to let us know they were behind it” point – to reaching the “what were they drinking?” stage. In recent days, Bellingcat revealed that documents released by the Dutch, that charged four Russians with attempted cybercrimes, included the names of 205 individuals who have their personal automobiles registered to the same address – which happens to be the GRU’s cyber warfare department. Doh! Then, Bellingcat came up with the true name of the second suspect in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal. Turns out, the accomplice in the botched operation is Dr. Alexander Mishkin. Apparently, unlike American MDs, GRU docs make house calls. The Bellingcat scoops have riled up Russian media. Julia Davis, who monitors news from there with a sharp eye, tweeted that on Russian state TV, one talk show panelist opined that Bellingcat clearly got it right in identifying the Salisbury perps as GRU officers. The host of the show apparently didn't like the comment and told the panelist he was “no better than Skripal, and should get out of Russia.”
DER FÜHRER FUROR: Various British news organizations including the Daily Mail and Daily Star are out this week with reports of a long-classified OSS report from 1943, telling U.S. wartime leaders that Adolf Hitler had a “homosexual streak,” “loved teenaged boys” and had a “sadomasochistic nature.” The Daily mail says the 70-page report claims that Hitler was “sexually attracted” to his deputy, Rudolf Hess, who (according to the report) was a “known transvestite.” The Daily Star says they uncovered the report in CIA files – but they don’t provide a link. They DO helpfully provide a biographical link to the name “Hitler”presumably, in case some of their readers have not heard of him.
OFF SHE GOES? INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER? ForeignPolicy.com reported recently that President Trump is considering firing Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson for being insufficiently over-the-moon about his plan to create a Space Force. FP said Trump might eject the former New Mexico congresswoman from her seat in the Pentagon after the mid-term elections. The White House has denied the report saying: “There is no discussion by the president to oust” Wilson, adding” “all reporting to the contrary is simply false.” As Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could tell you, whether the White House is, or is not considering firing you, can change from moment to moment.
FLOPPING FISH: Imitation is the sincerest form of copyright infringement. Apparently, the Russians are getting their gills up as a result of China swiping one of their aircraft carrier-based fighter designs. We learned from the Task& Purpose website that it seems Beijing built their J-15 fighter by reverse engineering a version of Russia’s SU-33 – which they reportedly accessed through Ukraine. It seems the designs lost something in the translation and the J-15 has gone over as somewhat of a lead balloon. Asia Times says that Chinese media refer to the plane as a “flopping fish”, because of its inability to operate effectively from Chinese carriers. The authorized nickname for the J-15 is the “Flying Shark” which, we must admit, is a scarier moniker. The first rule of stealing intellectual property is: steal good stuff.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
- People in Motion: Former CIA Deputy Director for Intelligence, Jami Miscik, has been elected to the Board of Directors of General Motors. Miscik is currently CEO and Vice Chair of Kissinger and Associates.
- Start (Man)Spreading the News: What do the Russians do when not busy poisoning emigre’s and messing around with foreign elections? Well, it appears they amuse themselves by creating fake viral videos. An EU website devoted to fighting disinformation reports that a viral video of young woman pouring liquid bleach on the crotch of a man she thought was taking up too much space on a subway – was staged, and circulated by “In the Now” an English-language social channel owned by RT (Russian Today.) We hadn’t seen the video – but apparently 6.9 million people (and counting) have. Why would “In the Now” do such a thing? That, like a lot of stuff these days, goes unexplained. One guess, beyond getting clicks, is to stir up division in the west.
- Spies, Lies & Nukes: An eclectic collection of former national security and intelligence figures are coming together in Santa Fe, NM on November 3-4 for a conference coordinated by Valerie Plame, who gained unwanted fame in 2003, when her cover as a CIA officer was blown. Among the speakers are James Lawler who was “Chief of the A.Q. Khan Nuclear Takedown Team,” at the CIA and two Cipher Brief experts, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Mary Beth Long and former CIA CTC WMD chief Rolf Mowatt-Larson. Also participating will be former CIA officer Glenn Carle whose online bio suggests that as a Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threat on the National Intelligence Council he reported “directly to the President” – which is, from what we hear, kind of a stretch.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
