BEWARE OF THE MILITARY/ELECTORAL COMPLEX: With the election fast approaching, a lot of people feel that our electoral process is under siege. And if you are under siege, who are you going to call? The cavalry. Every four years there are allegations of some candidates stretching the rules and subtly trying to weaponize the imagery of the military to win supporters. But this there is nothing subtle about the year 2020. This week, the Trump administration released an online advertisement with the headline: “President Trump wants you to request your ballot.” The ad includes a photo of four stern-faced men: The President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Critics wasted no time pointing out that including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley in the advertisement was a clear violation of DoD regulations prohibiting uniformed personnel from participating in campaign activities. While not quite as line-crossing perhaps, the inclusion of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also violated long-standing practice – if not regulation. An unnamed JCS spokesman was quick to point out that Milley was unaware that his non-smiling face would be used in the ad. Having already earned presidential ire for apologizing for taking part in the Lafayette Park Bible-toting photo op, Milley is probably grateful that he is currently quarantined in his quarters due to COVID-19 exposure. Another discordant note was heard when the administration deployed the U.S. Marine Corps band at a campaign-like event on the White House grounds on Saturday October 10. Despite political tee-shirts, hats and banners displayed by what some described as a “rent-a-crowd,” the administration insisted it was an official event and not an electoral one – therefore use of the band (known as the “President’s Own”) was justified.
WE’LL GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT: A couple of Democrat Congress members (former CIA officer Elissa Slotkin and former Navy officer Mikie Sherrill) wrote to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf asking for assurances that their personnel would remain apolitical. According to Politico, Esper “stopped short of committing to keep troops away from polling stations next month.” And, in the “you can’t make this stuff up” category, DHS said they would respond to the questions “after the election.”
CAREER POLITICIAN? Former Acting Director of National Intelligence, Ric Grenell was on Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning Futures show on Fox and accused unnamed career DOJ, FBI and CIA officials of having covered up the fact that (according to him) there was no ‘there-there’ in the Russian collusion story in 2016. Grenell said “somebody needs to go to jail” and he quickly added that they should be “prosecuted first, obviously.” And this is a slam dunk.” Bartiromo doubled down on the allegations saying that “career politicians like a Gina Haspel” don’t want to declassify and disseminate this information because it will embarrass the CIA.
ROBO ROVER: We didn’t see this one coming. A contractor working for the Army is exploring the possibility of fitting military working dogs with “augmented reality goggles.” The thinking is that the devices might someday help steer the dogs through dangerous rescue operations or explosive device searches. It is a little unclear how this might work – but apparently the idea is to get the dog to go where their handlers want them to by giving them a visual cue through the goggles. Maybe they will make the target look like a T-bone – or fire hydrant.
UBER BOOM: The gig economy is exploding. Everywhere you turn there are outfits like Uber Eats, Door Dash, Instacart and the likes making essential deliveries. What will they think of next? RT (formerly known as Russia Today) says Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Transportation Command to explore ways to rapidly provide military cargo around the globe. The TRANSCOM commander, General Stephen Lyons says DOD envisions “moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour.” We kinda like the slogan, ‘Weapons within an hour – or your next order is free’.
MUSEUM MOVES: On its birthday, October 13th, the U.S. Navy announced plans to build a new $450m museum in Washington, D.C. While they didn’t say exactly where it will be located – one place it won’t be calling home is at the Washington Navy Yard in Southeast DC. That is where the current museum resides. That one has been closed since March due to coronavirus but even before that, it was hard to get access to due to security on the installation. The Navy hopes the new place could open by 2025. The Army picked the Navy’s birthday to announce that their new “National Museum of the U.S. Army” will open on Veterans Day this year. It was supposed to open five months ago, but was also kept closed due to COVID. The Army museum is listed as being at Ft. Belvoir, VA but it is actually outside the fence, so visitors should have no trouble getting in. The Marine Corps National Museum is located at Triangle, VA – not far from Quantico. No word yet on where the U.S. Space Force Museum will be built. Hopefully visitors will not have to rely on Elon Musk’s SpaceX to get there.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: A couple weeks ago, we told you about the State Department tweeting happy birthday wishes to the U.S. Air Force and including a picture of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. We pointed out that State had a chance to make good since the Navy’s birthday is October 13 and perhaps they would tweet out an Air Force photo to mark the event. Instead, they posted a happy birthday tweet which sported a montage of Navy ships, planes, submarines and landing craft…each image with a clearly visible photo credit for U.S. Navy petty officers. Initially, we thought dissing the Air Force was a simple screw up – until we spotted another tweet from State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus wearing a Navy uniform and wishing her shipmates a happy birthday. So maybe they DID know what they were doing.
BE A GOOD SHIPMATE, SEND US SOME NEWS: Got any scuttlebutt that needs sharing around the waterfront? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
