LOST IN SPACE: The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is wisely taking steps to make space for Space Force intelligence. Well, at least they are thinking about creating a separate Space Force intelligence center. This gets a little confusing, so try to follow along. According to Breaking Defense, the House Intelligence Authorization Act, which was just passed, allows the Air Force Secretary to create and fund a National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) which would be different than the existing National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). The NSIC is needed because of the Space Force’s new responsibilities with the IC (intelligence community), you see? At least initially, the NASIC and the NSIC would be located in the same place and there would be no new billets created – so we are not entirely clear on what has been accomplished – but we hope it doesn’t require new uniforms.
REVVING UP READERS: Many authors build up anticipation for their forthcoming books with things like websites and podcasts. Former CIA operative Ric Prado is leaving all of them in his dust. Prado, whose memoir, Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior, which is scheduled to be published by St. Martin’s Press on March 1, 2022, has gotten Jordan Anderson Racing to deck out their No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro in the colors of his book cover. Driver Sage Karam is set to take the Black Ops Camaro out on Saturday October 9th at the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s “Drive for the Cure 250” race.
THE FEW, THE LOUD, THE MARINES: Remember Lt. Col Stuart Scheller who made news not long ago, after calling out senior officers in his chain of command in a viral video and demanding that they be held accountable for the messy exit from Afghanistan? Scheller followed up with additional social media postings where he invited followers to “follow me and we will bring the whole f****** system down.” Unsurprisingly, the USMC was not amused, and he was directed to stay off social media. When Scheller eschewed – he was placed in pre-trial confinement – aka “the brig.” He remained there for 8 days until released, without explanation this week. Then on Wednesday, the Marine Corps referred six charges against him and said he will face Court Martial. In his initial commentary, Scheller said he was prepared to “give up everything” to be able to say his piece. That might not be as big a sacrifice as it sounds – since a Go-Fund-Me-like outfit called “the Pipe Hitter Foundation” has come to the rescue. Fox News has been aggressively reporting the story – and the Pipe Hitter angle. The 1-800-Cash-for-Colonels account had about $2 million in it as of this past Monday. Despite his support from Fox News, Scheller is an equal opportunity offender. He also harshly criticized former President Donald Trump. In a statement on September 25, Scheller told Trump: “You do not have the ability to pull us together. You may even win the next election, but your generation’s time is running out. Tell your son to stop tweeting about me. Your whole family knows nothing about us or our sacrifices. I could never work with you.”
OH BABY, CREDIT GRAB GONE AWRY: At a Donald Trump rally in Georgia in late September, the ex-president told a crowd of supporters, "We're also honored to be joined by one of the Marines who bravely served in Kabul during the withdrawal and helped evacuate children over ... the airport wall. You saw him. He did a great job." Trump was referring to a viral video taken on August 19 of a Marine reaching down to pull a sick baby over the wall at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. To cheers, Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark went on stage in Georgia and in a brief appearance said, "I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall and it's definitely probably one of the greatest things I've ever done in my entire life." At first, some critics wanted the Marine Corps to investigate the propriety of an active-duty Leatherneck appearing onstage at a political rally. But that took a back seat when a USMC spokesperson revealed that it was not Clark who snatched the Kabul kid to safety but someone else. The lance corporal’s mother told CNN her son was “one of the Marines” who helped the baby once it got to the other side of the wall. To be clear, we think every serviceman and woman (and U.S. civilian) working at HKIA during those frantic last days deserves credit. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good story?
YA GONNA BELIEVE ME OR YOUR LYIN’ EYES? We generally try to steer clear of passing judgment on theories peddled by former Trump attorney Lin Wood. The attorney usually waxes eloquent about how he believes the 2020 election was stolen. But video recently surfaced of Wood speaking to a crowd in Glynn County, Georgia on a subject more in our wheelhouse – the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Or – as Wood would have it, “the alleged terrorist attacks.” He says that the truth about 9/11 is quite different…and there were no Al Qaeda terrorists hijacking airlines – in fact – he says there were NO airliners. That was just “CGI” he says – computer generated graphics like those used in movies. "What appeared to be a plane hit one building, what appeared to be a plane hit another building, then later that night another building fell down. It wasn't hit by a dadgum thing," he explained to a crowd that listened silently. Wood says it was all about $3 trillion dollars of missing money from the Pentagon – so THEY (whoever they are) arranged for the part of the Pentagon where papers proving the heist were held got hit by a missile and the World Trade Center 7 building, adjacent to the Twin Towers, had to be taken out because the investigation was being run from them – so folks brought down the towers to cover up blowing up WTC7. Wood incorrectly says no plane parts were found at any of the attack sites. He added: “If George Bush 43 is not already in hell, he needs to go to jail before he goes to hell, because he is a criminal.” We’re not sure what that line means, hell, we aren’t sure what any of this means. But assuming Wood knows that Bush is still alive – it may indicate that he thinks living on a ranch in Crawford, TX is hell. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good story?
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
OK, SO THEY GOT A FEW FACTS WRONG: The Boulder Colorado newspaper – the Daily Camera — recently focused on a few things they got wrong in a story about residents’ recollections of 9/11. The paper retracted the story and said that 16 direct quotations in it (attributed to three people) were completely fabricated. They added that multiple other statements were “substantially wrong” and a variety of other facts were, well, counterfactual. The one that caught our eye, however, is that they say they made an error regarding the location of the Pentagon. It is a big building and kinda hard to misplace. While the newspaper says they regret the mountain of errors, they make no mention of exactly who was responsible – and whether that person or persons are still employed.
WHATEVER WERKS: The U.S. Air Force innovation incubator “AFWERKS” is fueling an idea for a high-speed hovercraft. They are seeking concepts for a “High-Speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing” (HSVTOL) flying bike. It could be operated in a manned – or unmanned mode. Unmanned is envisioned to be flown at speeds approaching 300 mph. The vehicle could be used for special ops, personnel recovery, and aeromedical evacuation. And just imagine what a civilian version might do for pizza delivery times.
BOND IS BACK: Afwerks might wanna check in with ‘Q’ to see if he already has such a device in his fictitious MI6 arsenal, especially since James Bond is back in theaters in the US this weekend. The movie’s release was pushed back by more than a year because of COVID and they say it will be Daniel Craig’s last appearance as our favorite British spy. If you go see the movie, send us a note and let us now if it was worth the wait.
ON YER BIKES: Rush any noteworthy items to the Dead Drop in a note to us at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
