NEWS FLASH: Media All Over Map About CIA Director’s Public Comments, According to Headlines The Dead Drop can’t help but poke fun at the media headlines that emerged after CIA Director Gina Haspel’s first public remarks delivered at her alma mater, The University of Louisville, on Monday. If you’ve ever wondered why it’s impossible to get the whole story from one media account, consider these headlines from some of the best in the business:
New York Times: Gina Haspel is Skeptical of North Korea’s Willingness to Give Up Nuclear Arms
Wall Street Journal: U.S.-North Korean Relations Have Improved, CIA Chief Says
Voice of America: U.S. CIA Director: Indications N. Korea Serious About Giving Up Nukes
OK, so the new CIA Director is skeptical about North Korea giving up nukes, but she believes they are serious about giving up those same nukes…. And hey, relations are improving. Anything we missed?
NBC News: CIA Director Gina Haspel pledges to target opioids entering the U.S.
Washington Post: The CIA is returning its central focus to nation-state rivals, director says
Further proof that you need to read more than one story to get the story...
PRIOR BRIEFINGS:
THE SPY MISTRESS WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD: Even by past CIA Director standards, Gina Haspel has been maintaining a very low profile. But the cloak of secrecy will be lifted (at least a little) on Monday September 24th when she is scheduled to appear at her alma mater, the University of Louisville. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, Haspel will be on stage with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel and university president Neeli Bendapudi and will be interviewed by Courier Journal Columnist Scott Jennings.
VLAD’S ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS: London’s West End theaters are known for their broad farces. But the zaniest performance last week came from Russia, where the two lads accused of poisoning former Russian intelligence operative Sergei Skripal and his daughter appeared on RT to proclaim their innocence. Accused attempted assassins, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Bohirov went on the Russian-backed broadcaster to claim they were mere tourists who traveled from Moscow to Salisbury, England in March to see the (not particularly) famous church spire there. They say they quickly returned to Russia after encountering a dusting of snow in Salisbury. While the Russian government claims the men are just “average citizens” – they seem to have devoted little effort to hide their connections to the Kremlin’s security services. The ham-handed denials seemed intended to send a: nudge, nudge, wink, wink message to Putin’s other enemies – present and future – “we are coming for you.” Want to know what the professionals thought about it? Check out TCB’s perspective from a former Senior Member of the British Foreign Office and another from the CIA’s former Deputy Director of Counterintelligence for the National Clandestine Service…
THERE’S A LOT OF THAT GOING AROUND: After the denials, word came that Pyotr Verzilov, 30, an anti-Putin activist and member of the Russian group “Pussy Riot” came down with a mysterious illness. Verzilov lost his sight, speech and mobility. When evacuated to Berlin, German doctors said it was “highly plausible” that he had been poisoned. Verzilov was among those activists who interrupted the World Cup final in Moscow on July 15 and had been sentenced to 15 days in jail. There are some who believe that Kremlin officials thought the punishment too light and, again, wanted to send a stronger message.
MESSAGE RECEIVED: Late last week the New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence services are ramping up security for Russian defectors who have been resettled in the States. The concern is not exactly new – according to the report, about four years ago, a suspected Russian hit man approached the Florida home of an important Russian defector giving his protectors the willies. While killing or attempting to kill former Russian spies in the U.S. has long been considered extraordinarily provocative – the Skripal poisoning has caused American officials to reconsider the boundaries Putin’s folks might be willing to cross.
GREAT TIMING: There is a new book coming out on October 2 called “Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War.” It is the tale of former CIA officer Jack “Cowboy” Platt and former KGB operative Gennady Vasilenko. Vasilenko was imprisoned by the Russians and was released in 2010 as part of the Anna Chapman spy swap – a swap that also resulted in the release of Sergei Skripal, by the way. “Best of Enemies” authors Gus Russon and Eric Denzenhall are scheduled to speak at the AFIO luncheon on November 2nd – and ex-KGB man Gennady Vasilenko is scheduled to be in attendance. Given his association with Sergei Skripal – we recommend that if you are planning to attend the event, you avoid touching any door knobs. Speaking of “Best of Enemies” – look for a review of it in The Cipher Brief’s new “Under Cover” book section in early October.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
- Is 5G a CIA Plot? That is the question that Forbes.comasked this week. Apparently, there are folks who believe the new high-speed “5th generation” of wireless technology is hazardous to your health. And not only to your health – but to the birds and bees too. Those who espouse such theories have their views described in Forbes as “fruitloopery.” So we will save you time and let you know that Forbes answers their own question: NO.
- Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me: We didn’t hear it ourselves, but NBC News correspondent Ken Dilanian posted on his twitter feedlast Friday that he had just heard a shout out on National Public Radio to the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, referring to them as a financial supporter of NPR. All things considered, this probably makes some sense. NPR has a fairly worldly audience and young listeners might be good candidates to become undercover operatives. Plus, the Agency probably scored some NPR mugs and tote bags with the deal. We reached out to the Agency to ask about it, but we didn't hear back...guess they took our 'Wait, wait, don't tell me literally'...
- Secret Superstitions: After being hidden for six decades, a CIA report on Soviet superstitions has been declassified and uncovered by the folks at Muckrock.com. For reasons that go unexplained – the Agency had a Soviet defector compile a list of omens in Russian folklore. Some would have been familiar to American readers – e.g. that black cats crossing your path are bad luck. Others seem to be invented for a purpose – such as if your nose itches – you must take a drink of vodka. Apparently itchy noses are quite common in Mother Russia.
- Semper Bambi: The U.S. Naval Institute’s twitter accountoffered up a fun fact last Friday that we did not know. A jarhead by the name of Donnie Dunagan, who had been the youngest Marine drill instructor and served three tours in Vietnam, managed to keep a big secret during his USMC career. As a boy, Dunagan was the voice of Bambi in the 1942 Disney film by that name. IMDB.COM confirms the story and offers more detail.
- Makasi Flies Again: Back in the mid-1960s, the CIA operated a clandestine Air Force which had the mission of helping drive out Russian, Chinese and Cuban operatives from the Congo. Many of the Agency’s pilots were Cuban veterans of the Bay of Pigs. Miami’s CBS TV affiliate has a storyabout one of the T-28 planes that had been damaged and abandoned at the end of a runway in Congo that has now been restored and is flying again in the U.S.
- Fake Art: There is something called “The Art Newspaper”which is published internationally and covers – as you might imagine – art. A recent edition focused on an exhibition at the Metropolitan Breuer Museum of Art in New York about artists exploring “the hidden operations of power and the symbiotic suspicion between the government and its citizens that haunts Western democracies.” There is a short video about the exhibit and how artists look at conspiracy. As far as we can tell, there is nothing in the exhibition about 5G.
