CHOOSY SPIES CHOSE JIF: By now everyone has heard the story that broke over the weekend about the arrest of Jonathan Toebbe, a Navy civilian nuclear engineer, and his wife Diana on charges of what amounts to attempted espionage. While neither of the Toebbe’s has entered a plea in the case yet, we commend to you the 24-page Department of Justice court filing which provides delicious detail on the FBI’S case. It’s a case that’s sparked hundreds of questions – and thousands of jokes. While treason is never a joking matter, accusations of failed treason makes goofing palatable. Among the serious questions in this case – for whom did the Toebbe’s think they were spying? The charge sheet says that in December 2020, the FBI’s attaché in “COUNTRY 1” obtained a package that representatives from that country received in April of that year from an unidentified person attempting to establish a covert relationship and pass “restricted data.” So, did COUNTRY 1 knowingly turn in Toebbe? Or did the USG steal the info from them? It appears there was cooperation – since the DOJ filing says that the FBI apparently complied with Toebbe’s request to fly a signal flag from the receiving country’s “main building” in Washington, DC. It is alleged that Toebbe engaged in a series of communications with folks he THOUGHT were from COUNTRY 1 but were actually FBI personnel. In the end, a lot of crypto currency was exchanged for classified information that was provided via dead drop (not this one) hidden on a memory card – inside a peanut butter sandwich. This launched the thousand jokes — ranging from the PB sandwich leaving Toebee in a “jam,” to questions about whether inserting memory cards makes the peanut butter “crunchy” and references to the drop being a “submarine sandwich.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME? Last year, lawmakers in Washington ordered that the names of at least ten Army posts be changed since they honored people who fought against the U.S. on behalf of the Confederacy. Former President Donald Trump vetoed the move, but his veto was overridden by Congress. A commission was set up to listen to suggestions for alternative names and hear local opinions. As is the case with almost everything these days, the action stirred up heated reactions on all sides. Retired Admiral Michelle Howard, who is heading up the commission, diplomatically says that some of the suggestions on a website set up to collect new names are “quite intense.” One pundit suggested, given the nation’s budgetary mess, that the naming rights for bases should be sold to corporations just like naming rights for sports arenas and stadiums. That notion appealed to us for a minute until we reflected on the confusion caused at some venues, like the football stadium in Miami that has had eight different names…or the ballpark in Houston that was once labeled: “ENRON Field.”
STRAIGHTFORWARD NAME: Harvard intelligence historian Calder Walton has secured a book deal for a tome he plans to simply call: “Spies.” It is said to be about the West’s hundred-year intelligence war with Russia. Walton has done archival research in multiple languages and countries and plans to provide a warning for the looming Cold War between the West and China. The publisher will be Simon & Schuster. No publication date has been listed yet, however. Walton has written on a few interesting topics for The Cipher Brief over the years.
KNOWN BY THEIR ENEMIES: The folks at Bellingcat are reporting that the Russian justice ministry has named them a “foreign agent.” Reuters says the designation is part of an ongoing effort by Moscow to crack down on media outlets that they see as hostile. The Russians also labeled as foreign agents a number of reporters for the U.S. backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. But every good story has a plot twist. The announcement came on the same day that a Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Dmitry Muratov, a Russian newspaper editor, for courageously fighting for freedom of expression. In a surprise move, the Kremlin congratulated Muratov on the award.
MY WORD IS MY BOND, JAMES BOND: Amid all the hoopla connected to the release of the latest James Bond movie: No Time to Die, there has been lots of ancillary hype. A column in the New York Post recently ranked all 25 Bond flicks “from sublime to subpar.” The completely subjective piece suggests that Pierce Brosnan’s 2002 “Die Another Day” was Bond’s biggest bomb and that “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” from 1969 was the best. Your mileage may vary – but the Dead Drop always took a shine to what the Post ranked as #2, Goldfinger, which was released in 1964. From the Daniel Craig run as Bond, we like Casino Royale. What do you think? Tell us why on Twitter @thecipherbrief.
CHOSIN FUED: Western historians have debated for decades about who won or at least who lost the least, in the 1950 Korean War battle at the Chosin Reservoir. Chinese forces far outnumbered U.S. and allied troops. While the U.N. forces had to conduct a strategic withdrawal (aka: retreat) they did inflict outsized casualties on the Chinese while fighting in brutal weather conditions. There is no debate on the outcome in Beijing, however. The battle is featured in a new Chinese feature film called “The Battle at Lake Changjin” (the name the Chinese use for the fight.) The flick is reportedly the most expensive feature ever made in China, with a budget of over $200 million. That’s a big chunk of change, especially because the filmmakers likely were not paying union scale to the reported 70,000 PLA soldiers who served as extras in the three-hour-long movie. Although it just premiered October 7,th the Chinese say in the first ten days, it grossed over $633 million. The release was part of a week-long holiday timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
WE’VE BEEN TELLING YOU THAT FOR YEARS: Former CIA analyst David McCloskey published an OPED at CNN titled: “Everything you think you know about the CIA is wrong.” Not coincidentally, McCloskey’s novel, Damascus Station, came out last week. The Cipher Brief’s UnderCover book review section will feature a review of the book before long. We’ll let you know how McCloskey does in sorting truth from fiction, and we have some tough reviewers who don’t hold back. You can find proof of that in a review of Douglas London’s new book, , by former Senior CIA Officer (and Cipher Brief Expert) Rob Dannenberg.
BUZZ, LIGHTYEARS AWAY: In a story that is almost impossible to quickly summarize, CNET tells about how radio telescope arrays in Australia (known as the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder – or ASKAP) have picked up some highly unusual radio signals over the past two years. The Aussies have given the signal a name, which as you might guess is: ASKAP J173608.2-321635. OK, maybe you might not guess that. CNET says that no one knows what causes the weird buzz, but they provide some buzz kill by saying “It’s almost certainly not aliens.” The give no explanation why they are so certain.
FUR FLIES, GIFTS FLEE, AT FOGGY BOTTOM: We mentioned a couple months ago, that the State Department Inspector General was looking for a $5,800 bottle of whiskey that had been given as a gift to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan. Somehow the booze disappeared. Now, The New York Times has more foreign gift giving news. On his first overseas trip as president, the Saudi government gave then-President Donald Trump three robes that were seemingly made of white tiger and cheetah fur along with a dagger with what appeared to be an ivory handle. The bad news is that the gifts might have violated the Endangered Species Act. The good news (we guess) is that “Wildlife inspectors and special agents determined the linings of the robes were dyed to mimic tiger and cheetah patterns and were not comprised of protected species,” a spokesman for the Interior Department said. The bona fides of the dagger remain uncertain. The Times also says that the State Department prepared gift bags full of swag for G7 summit leaders for a meeting that ended up getting called off. The bags were subsequently kept in a storage room known as “the vault” but seem to have gone the way of the $5,800 whiskey bottle and may now be missing.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
THE DEVIL YOU SAY: In the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” category, former National Security Advisor, retired Lt Gen. Michael Flynn, was embattled last week. This time it was not with the FBI but with some Q-Anon supporters who claim he is a “Satanist.” How did they get that idea? Apparently, Flynn led a Nebraska congregation in prayer in mid-September and made reference to “sevenfold rays” and “legions” which, according to some folks on YouTube, are words used when praying to the devil. Flynn took to YouTube to essentially say it was a damned lie.
TURNING UP THE HEAT: In a forthcoming book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl says that while president, Donald Trump asked his Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, to look into allegations :…that “Nest Labs” wireless thermostats that were made in China for Google might have been used to manipulate voting machines in Georgia. Well, at least no one claimed the devices were built by Satanists.
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