OUT OF CHARACTER: The subject of character is a big issue this week (and most weeks) in Washington. Not only did Cipher Brief expert, Admiral James Stavridis, (Ret.) talk about it in his newly-released book Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, but Admiral Bill McRaven, (Ret.) took a direct shot at the White House in an Opinion piece published in The New York Times titled ‘Our Republic is Under Attack From the President’. The decision by the President to make it easier for Turkish troops to launch a military mission targeting U.S. allies in the region has most Republicans and Democrats scratching their heads, and asking WTF that character in the White House was thinking.
POLL DANCE: There is a new Fox News Poll out measuring public confidence in the FBI, CIA, and Supreme Court. According to the poll, confidence in the FBI is now at 69% (down from 80% two years ago), the CIA is at 66% down from 73% in 2017, while the Supreme Court is at 68% having dropped 15% in the past two years. While confidence ratings in the mid-60’s is not brilliant – it beats the ratings for some other institutions and individuals looked at in the same poll. Congress is at 45%, the news media at 47%, and President Trump at 43%.
COUPS ARE US: Keeping up the calm discussion of our political differences, Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro delivered her verdict last week when appearing on Fox & Friends. Discussing the whistleblower complaint against President Trump, she said this was evidence of the CIA “attempting a coup against” the Commander in Chief and asked why this person wanted to remain in the shadows. “Who is this guy?” she asked. “Number one, he is a CIA person, OK? What we’re experiencing right now is the CIA, an intelligence agency, attempting a coup against the United States president. And that is what is going on here. This is intelligence agencies trying to take out a president.” In a timely posting, the fact-checking outfit Politifact.com looked this week at a supposed quotation from President Kennedy that pops up frequently on Facebook. Allegedly, JFK once said that if the United States ever suffered a coup “it will come from the CIA and not the Pentagon.” Politifact says the claim that Kennedy said that is “false.”
FALL FESTIVAL OF FOX FLACKERY: Former CIA officer Amaryllis Fox seems to be everywhere flogging her new book Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA. There is an extensive excerpt in The Washingtonian in which she described in great detail, her training at “the Farm” and ultimate assignment as a “NOC” (someone who operates under non-official cover.) The book was featured in The New York Times and Fox was interviewed on publication day by Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Mika asked Fox about reports that she failed to get CIA approval of her manuscript before publishing. The author said that she knew what details to avoid and “it’s fine.” Glad that’s cleared up.
PLAME GAIN: Speaking of formerly undercover CIA officers, Politico tells us that Valerie Plame, who was famously outed during the Bush ’43 administration, raised nearly half a million dollars during the third quarter for her run for Congress. Politico advises that that is a pretty healthy amount of cash for a non-incumbent in an off-year election.
BRINGING HOME THE BACON IN UKRAINE: Here’s a news nugget from a couple weeks ago we missed. Unian, a Kiev-based news organization, reported that the Trump administration is considering appointing Michael Kostiw to fill the role vacated by Kurt Volker as special envoy for Ukraine. Unian reminds readers that Kostiw was a former CIA officer who reportedly resigned from the Agency in the early 1980s after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting some bacon from a McLean, VA Safeway. The incident made news decades later when then-CIA Director Porter Goss wanted to appoint him as the third-ranking official in the Agency. The controversy of that matter caused Kostiw to be assigned another less highly visible position. The Executive Director slot was given to a fellow by the name of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who subsequently was sentenced to 37 months in prison for defrauding the government. Interestingly, according to our sources, Kostiw turned out to be one of the most effective and respected officials appointed by Porter Goss – individuals who collectively were known as “the Gosslings.” We have heard nothing else about a possible Ukrainian gig since Unian first reported their scoop. We doubt the bacon caper would have derailed the appointment – more likely the president found out that Kostiw was a longtime aide to Senator John McCain.
TWEET TYPO? About a week after the United States’ precipitous withdrawal from Syria, the Department of State elected to post on twitter an interesting quote from Secretary Mike Pompeo’s interview with a Nashville, TN TV station. The quote was: “We’re leading from the front, to build out coalitions that can effectively deal with some of the most difficult challenges facing the world today – and most importantly, the most difficult challenges that present risk to the American people.” One observer speculated that the Department just mis-heard what their boss said. “Maybe he really said: ‘We’re LEAVING from the front,” our source guessed.
ONWARD CHRISTIAN DIPLOMATS: On that same trip to Tennessee, Pompeo gave a speech to the American Association of Christian Counselors. The State Department’s website homepage this week featured a photo of Pompeo with the speech title “Being a Christian Leader.” Newsweek and others were quick to find critics who thought that promoting his Christian faith on his department’s website was a potential violation of the separation of church and state.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S. (S.R.) NAVY: This past Sunday was the 244th birthday of the founding of the United States Navy. Lots of folks took to social media to salute the sea service. Among them: President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and others. Also joining in was Congressman Brian Mast (R., FL) who posted a heartfelt “Happy Birthday, U.S. Navy” message on twitter along with a nice photo of a ship. Unfortunately, sharp eyed individuals noticed that the ship in question was the Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy. While there were some tell-tale signs (like the Russian flag flying from the ship’s stern), we don’t blame Mast. He is a decorated U.S. Army veteran and we don’t imagine he comes up with the graphics for his tweets by himself. This was probably a Mast staff error.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
A SUCKER FOR SATIRE: The former inspector general of the Malaysian Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, apparently cannot take a joke – or understand one. It seems he took offense at an item that appeared in the humorous website The Onion which alleged that the CIA had made a posthumous apology to Osama bin Laden in light of new evidence which cleared OBL of responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. Musa initially said: “If the news is not true, the U.S. government must deny it.” When told that The Onion was a joke, the former Malay cop said: “If it was not broadcasted then no one would spread it around? Is it a freedom to spread false news or slander? If the answer is yes, it is an illogical freedom.” Musa added: “No wonder the world is in such chaos, for allowing such false news.” The Dead Drop learned of this matter on the website MalayMail.com. We are hoping that Malay Mail is not the Kuala Lumpur version of The Onion. If it is – we apologize for not recognizing their joke about an official not recognizing a joke.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
Read more national security news, analysis and insights in The Cipher Brief.
