DEAD DROP DROPS DEAD: This edition of The Dead Drop comes on the heels of The Cipher Brief’s just concluded annual Threat Conference in Sea Island, Georgia which kept us kind of busy this week. The four-day conference (despite great odds that started with threats of a government shutdown) turned out to be an incredibly insightful event as events in Israel were unfolding. When CIA Director Bill Burns understandably had to send his regrets so he could remain in Washington, public and private sector attendees found themselves sitting in a room of experts – all with unique and in-depth experiences – to help make sense of how this new war will impact an already complicated global landscape. Spies tell us that among the speakers filling in for the CIA director, were former National Intelligence Manager for Iran at ODNI, Norm Roule, Admiral Jim Stavridis (Ret.), VADM Mark Montgomery (Ret.) and CIA’s former senior CIA Officer with experience in Beirut and with Hezbollah, Glenn Corn. We couldn’t imagine better company to be in for anyone trying to make sense of what this all means.
THE PERILS OF A LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP: It sounds like the romance between Russian agent of influence, Maria Butina, 34, and her ex-boyfriend, American conservative operative Paul Erickson, 61, is over. You will of course recall that Butina confessed to having tried to “establish unofficial lines of communications with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics” back in 2019, but she was quickly deported back to Mother Russia. The Daily Beast says Butina told a podcast interviewer that she belatedly learned that Erickson is “a monster” who spent thousands of dollars on himself out of her Russian bank account while she was imprisoned in the U.S. While Erickson was not charged in the case that put Butina in prison – he did have his own legal issues involving allegations of fraud relating to home-building projects in North Dakota. He pleaded guilty and got a seven-year sentence but was pardoned by then-President Trump. We hope these two crazy kids can patch things up. Sounds like they were made for each other.
GETTING OUT WHILE THE GETTING IS GOOD: The Kyiv Post reported recently that a Russian combat pilot defected to the U.S. by turning himself over to officials at the U.S. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates. According to a report that first surfaced on Telegram – the pilot, Senior Lieutenant Garichenko (call sign “Gavr”) was allowed to take his family on vacation to the UAE in late September and used that opportunity to switch sides. “Gavr” is said to have disagreed for some time with Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine – but his decision to defect may have been motivated by word that he was about to be ordered to undertake a new combat duty assignment. Garichenko is not the first Russian helicopter pilot to fly the coop.
SPEAKING OF CALL SIGNS: “Gavr” seems like a kinda boring call sign to us but maybe it sounds better in Russian. A few weeks ago, Ben Kohlmann, a veteran F/A-18 pilot penned an interesting item in The War Zone explaining how fellow U.S. Navy pilots earned their call signs. In Kohlman’s case, he says he earned his moniker “Professor” by putting on classical music and getting caught reading a book about the history of law as a junior officer administrating a squadron party room at a Hong Kong hotel. In the Navy, call signs are imposed on new guys – so you don’t get to dub yourself something sexy. Kohlman gives some fun examples – like a Royal Navy exchange pilot who was called “LOTHAR” – which sounds good until you learn that it was an acronym for “Loser of the American Revolution.” Another was a guy called “PETA” who (so the story goes) hit and killed a deer on the runway when landing one of his first flights in an F-14. There are dozens more examples – almost all of which are better than “Gavr.”
PUTTING A FORK IN PRANKS: Another story we stumbled across not long ago from The War Horse, centered on pranks pulled by sailors aboard U.S. Navy submarines. Apparently, things can get somewhat monotonous on a long-submerged deployment – so sailors reportedly amused themselves by spreading false rumors that the boat is running out of toilet paper – and by stealing and hiding most of the submarine’s forks. OK, maybe that’s a laugh riot if you haven’t seen sunlight for a couple months.
TATTOO ARTISTS LEAVE A MARK ON TROOPS: Military.com recently paid a visit to the Baltimore Tattoo Museum for a podcast and sat down with a bunch of skin art aficionados who told some tales about military members getting inked up. They laid out the differences among the services about what is currently allowable. We hear the Navy now allows hand and finger tattoos but the Space Force allows just one tattoo on the neck or behind the ear as long as it is no larger than one inch. You might need the Hubble Space Telescope to see that one. Just sayin’.
MARINE LEAVES HIS MARK ON CHALLENGE COINS: We knew (even if we didn’t entirely understand why) a lot of military organizations create challenge coins. But it was news to us (until we read about it in The Marine Corps Times) that it is possible for individuals to forge their own businesses making memorable coins. For example, see Staff Sgt Spencer Garvin whose company “Sven Smash Designs” features a number of memorable mementos. The most colorful are a pocketful of coins that double as a bottle-openers and the designs evoke the trope of Marines being crayon eaters. You can check out the array of coins here.
SHAMELESS (PLUGS) for what’s happening at The Cipher Brief:
CAPTURE THE FLAG AT THE CIPHER BRIEF THREAT CONFERENCE: Among the guests making appearances at this year’s Cipher Brief Threat Conference was Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova, who posted about it on Facebook. The Ambassador may not have known that just outside the venue of this year’s event in Sea Island, GA. were eight flagpoles proudly flying the flags of each of the countries that participated in the G8 Summit back in 2004. All but one, that is. It seems that shortly after Russia illegally invaded Ukraine in February 2022, someone removed Russia’s flag. The flagpole has been empty ever since, that is until this past week. Spies tell us that a rogue group of clandestine operatives launched a mission under the cover of darkness to hoist Ukraine’s flag in its place. The Dead Drop can neither confirm or deny this mission.
SIX CHIEFS: The Cipher Brief Threat Conference is hands down (in our book) the most consequential national security conference in the country. Don't believe us? Just ask the six former chiefs of station Moscow who were there. If we would have known they would all be there, we would have made sure the venue had enough vodka on hand. Somehow, we think it all worked out.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
ANDREW NAPOLITANO HAS HIS SHORTS IN A KNOT: Former Fox News contributor, Judge Andrew Napolitano penned a column last month, kvetching about reports that the CIA is “spending millions in tax dollars to get into your underwear next year.” This is based on the Director of National Intelligence recently telling Congress that the IC has spent $22 million to develop cotton fibers that (Napolitano says) “will enable the CIA and other federal spies to record audio, video and geolocation data from your shirt, pants, socks and even your underwear.” While Judge Nap is spun up about what he sees as their newly revealed governmental excursion into your undies – he apparently did not read the January 14, 2022 edition of The Dead Drop in which we “briefed” our readers on the program.
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