YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BALLROOM: Our spies tell us that after a couple year COVID hiatus, the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation held its biggest ever annual fundraising dinner at an undisclosed location in Northern Virginia last week. More than 800 former and current intelligence officers and their supporters packed the place and heard remarks from CIA Director Bill Burns, former Director George Tenet and Foundation president (and Cipher Brief expert) John Edwards. We’re told that the honoree, former Director Gina Haspel, spoke movingly about men and women she knew during her career who had lost their lives in the line of duty. The Foundation provides scholarships and other support for the families of fallen officers. We hear the dinner raised more than $1.5 million in support of that worthy cause. Also, among those present were DNI Avril Haines, former CIA and NSA Director General Mike Hayden, several current and former members of congress and about 95% of The Cipher Brief’s Expert Network.
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT: It may come as a shock to some, but you can’t always expect precision reporting from tabloid news outfits like the UK’s Daily Star. A recent illustration of that comes from an article headlined “US deploys world’s most expensive military ship to Atlantic carrying 9,000 troops.” The subhead is even worse – claiming “The US Navy is set to launch the world's most advanced aircraft carrier into the Atlantic ocean today - it will house 9,000 troops from nine countries as well as 20 ships and 60 aircraft.” The Daily Star’s correspondent clearly doesn’t understand the concept of a carrier strike group. All those troops (or “sailors” as most are called) are not on FORD alone – but, according to the U.S. Second Fleet, a total of 20 ships from nine nations are participating in exercises as part of the deployment. About half of the 9,000 sailors cited by the Daily Star are aboard the FORD, (which left its homeport a day late due to weather) and on its first deployment about five years after commissioning due to a lot of mechanical problems.
WE HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS: There must be something in the air that causes people to want to betray their country in new and bizarre ways. Earlier this year, there was the case of Navy civilian Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana, who prosecutors say tried to pass information to a foreign government via secrets hidden in a peanut butter sandwich. (The Toebbe’s recently pled guilty.) But now, comes a story equally odd or more so. A loyal Dead Drop reader reached out to make sure we didn’t miss this one. Army Major Jamie Lee Henry, an MD, and her wife, Dr. Anna Gabrielian, were indicted and arrested on charges of trying to share confidential information about U.S. military patients with the Russians. Prosecutors said the duo were determined to help Russia "gain insights into the medical conditions of individuals associated with the US government and military." According to the indictment, Dr. Gabrielian said she was “motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant being fired or going to jail." And Major Henry, who worked at Fort Bragg, allegedly told an FBI agent (who was posing as a Russian) that she was also committed to Russia, and considered volunteering to join the Russian army. Given all the problems Putin and his pals have these days, you would think medical information on U.S. service personnel and their families would not be a big priority for them. That’s odd. But wait, there’s more. Apparently, this is not the first time Major Henry considered changing teams, at least metaphorically. According to press accounts, Henry was the first known active-duty US Army officer to come out as transgender, after the army granted her permission to officially change her name and gender in 2015, the same year the couple were married. If you are a bit confused – you are not alone. We note that the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, released on September 29th, on the charges refer to Henry as Gabrielian’s “husband.”
TATS HARSH: Perhaps Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was giving the needle to Russian troops the other day. Some of the comments he made in a video address are sure to leave a mark. He urged Russians who are being called up to active duty to stop off on their way to the front to “get a tattoo with your name and surname so that we know how to find your relatives when you are killed.” Military Times says the practice of getting ID ink, known as a “meat tag,” was very popular with troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the case of the Russians in Ukraine, however, it may be less of a macabre joke and more a battlefield convenience.
SNL IS STILL LIVE? If you were old enough to stay up late to watch the first season of NBC’s Saturday Night Live 48 years ago, you may now be too old to stay up late to watch the newest season. And you are also probably too old to have ever heard of most of their guest hosts and “special musical guests” these days. But not to worry, The Dead Drop crew stays up on your behalf on the lookout for anything funny. Hopefully, we’ll have something to report before Season 49. This past week’s season opener: as part of their “Weekend Update” segment, faux anchor Michael Che noted in this clip that “CIA is marking its 75th anniversary by launching a podcast.” And then Che added: “Because it’s the CIA, they are launching it directly into an Afghani wedding.” As Dead Drop readers know (and SNL writers apparently do not) “Afghanis” are the basic monetary unit in Afghanistan and not the proper term for people who live in that country. By the way, we’ve listened to the new CIA podcast, The Langley Files, and we find it (unlike SNL these days) entertaining. Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” had a longer (and only slightly funnier than SNL) crack at the CIA podcast recently. You can see it here.
GRAND (RE) OPENING: The CIA’s newly renovated museum at Agency headquarters has been getting a lot of ink and electrons lately (like this CBS Sunday Morning tour with Director Bill Burns as a guide.) And these glimpses are fortunate because we’re sorry to say, you’re unlikely to be able to get to see it in person since it’s behind the ultimate pay wall. But one museum you CAN see is the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) outside NSA’s turf and it happens to be having a grand opening on Saturday October 8. We find it a little odd that NSA is calling it a grand opening since the place was first opened in 1993. But it’s been closed for a couple of years due to COVID and has been completely re-done. NSA offers a sneak peek on their website and they say the museum is “NSA’s gateway to the public and educates visitors about the role of cryptology in shaping history. The NCM collects, preserves, and showcases unique cryptologic artifacts and shares the stories of the people, technology, and methods that have defined cryptologic history. We may not understand it all, but at least we can get into it.
RYAN’S RETURN: Season three of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” returns to Prime Video on December 21. Military.com says there are 8 episodes – all of which will be posted the same day, so you can binge if you have nothing better to do over the holiday season. John Krasinski returns as Jack Ryan. We’re told the storyline involves Jack being falsely accused of something and having to go underground while simultaneously trying to prevent “a massive global conflict.” Military.com says this “innocent man becomes a fugitive to prove he didn’t do anything wrong” is one of the “sturdiest” Hollywood plots – which is a nice way of saying “shopworn.”
GRAY HOUSE ON HORIZON: Actors Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman are both involved in producing a planned six-hour Civil War spy drama for Paramount called “The Gray House” based on a true story of three women credited with helping turn the tide for the North by spying on the Confederate high command. No release date has been revealed.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
GUARDIANS GET TO PROVE THEIR MEDAL: We didn’t know it would take an executive order from the president to do this – but President Biden signed an E.O. expanding the eligibility for certain military awards. For example, language was changed so that Space Force Guardians are now eligible to earn the “Air Medal.” If we are not mistaken, space by definition, doesn’t have air – but “No Air Medal” would have sounded weird. The Executive Order changed some other language we don’t entirely understand – for example the words “any person” have been removed from the qualifications for certain medals and replaced with the words “those individuals.” We are not sure why – perhaps you don’t need to be a “person” to earn the No Air Medal but could be a Space alien.
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