SPACE SHOT: On Friday August 30th the President decided to use his cyber bully pulpit and tweeted “best wishes and good luck” to Iran as they try to figure out what caused a catastrophic accident at their Semnan missile launch site. Knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, the president also included what appeared to be a U.S. intelligence surveillance photo. Within hours, the Twittersphere lit up with experts and amateurs suggesting that it appeared that the president had taken a cellphone photo of what normally would be a highly-classified image and posted it for the world to see. The president told reporters later that afternoon that he had every right to release the photo. “True,” one intelligence veteran told us. “The president could legally take the nuclear launch codes and post them on the internet. But that wouldn’t make it wise.” What’s the big deal with the photo release? Around the world, experts soon were analyzing it concluding which classified reconnaissance satellite it came from, when, and what the capabilities of that platform might be. An astronomer in the Netherlands suggested the surveillance photo was taken by the classified spy satellite USA 224, at about 09:44:20 on August 29th from a distance of 382 km. The story was on page one of the August 31 New York Times. Even Fox News covered it. If anyone other than the president tweeted out a classified satellite photo, there would be hell to pay. For example, in 1985, Samuel Morison, a former Navy intelligence analyst, was sentenced to two years in prison for giving three satellite photos of a Soviet nuclear-powered aircraft carrier under construction to Jane’s Defence Weekly. We asked DNI public affairs if their agency had launched a damage assessment regarding the unexpected release of classified information – we'll let you know when we hear back.
HOLY UNSUBSTANTIATED: When The Daily Star calls something a “bizarre conspiracy theory” you know the allegation is pretty wild. The publication recently repeated allegations that Mother Teresa was “a CIA agent used to stop India from falling under the influence of the USSR during the cold war.” The Macedonian-born woman who has been canonized by the Catholic church and is now officially known as “Saint Teresa of Calcutta,” reportedly traveled to the Soviet Union in 1989. The theory is that she was carrying back channel messages from the United States. Why do some folks hold that theory? It seems someone filed a Freedom of Information request with the National Security Agency in 2015 and was told then and in subsequent appeals that the records NSA holds mentioning her are “TOP SECRET” and “SECRET.” Of course, if Mother Teresa WAS an agent of the U.S., the records showing that would much more likely be held by CIA rather than NSA. What are our chances of finding out? We don’t have a prayer.
WHOLLY UNSUBSTANTIATED: Chinese media continue to try to hang blame on the CIA for the Hong Kong protests. Following major demonstrations on August 31, Chinese media reportedly focused on the arrest of a western-looking man who they said was the “CIA commander in Hong Kong.” According to The Epoch Times (a Falun Gong affiliated publication) the suspected spook was Martin Svenningsen who works for Sweden’s public radio outlet.
TOLD YA SO: Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis has been everywhere this week flogging his new book Call Sign: CHAOS: Learning to Lead. To the surprise of none of his friends and the disappointment of many of his interviewers – Mattis has been reticent about saying anything too pointed about President Trump. About the most pointed thing he said was to deem Trump “an unusual president.” We thought we’d remind you – that the day after Mattis resigned as SECDEF in December, the Dead Drop was the first to report that he had an old, unfulfilled contract with Random House to publish a book and we figured with a lot more free time on his hands – he would finish it soon.
WHIPPING PROTOCOL INTO SHAPE: We missed the announcement a couple weeks ago when the State Department named Cam Henderson as Chief of Protocol. Ms. Henderson “brings 20 years of experience in politics and fundraising” to the job. She previously was Special Assistant to the President in the Office of Presidential Personnel and before that worked for former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. About two months ago, as we reported in the July 5th edition of The Dead Drop, Henderson’s predecessor was “suspended indefinitely” for (among other things) intimidating employees by carrying around a whip in the office.
R ANYONE HOME? They may have filled the Protocol slot but there are plenty of more openings at the State Department for aspiring diplomats. For example, the post of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Within State, Public Diplomacy is cryptically known as the “R Bureau.” Whatever you call it, the top position has been vacant for more than 530 days. We’re not entirely sure what “public diplomacy” is – but we know it when we don’t see it. This administration holds the record for keeping “R” vacant – but they are by no means alone. The position was created in 1999 and since then has been vacant for 36% of the time. One of the guys who held the post during the Obama administration, Richard Stengel, has a book coming out saying the U.S. is losing the battle with Russia over “information space.” Not surprising, we guess, since no one is in charge on our side.
INSIDE THE SCIF: WTOP's J.J. Green is digging into the assassination of a Chechen man in Berlin this week. There’s reportedly “very strong” evidence that this was a Russian intelligence hit. The implications are troubling. Green is promising more on this story in the next edition of his newsletter. You can sign up for it here.
SPOOKSTOCK: If you don’t know what it is, that’s probably because it’s mostly covert, but the annual Spookstock rock concert featuring a clandestine battle of the bands and a top-secret celebrity headliner is happening in a few weeks time. If you want more information, you’re going to have to email samculper@spookstock.org – for real, that’s the address. Information about this ticket is pretty closely held, but we can tell you what the organizers do with the money they raise – they provide support to the children of CIA, U.S. Special Operations and DoD Intelligence agencies who gave their lives in support of the country. Hard to find a better way to give back than this.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
ICING PENALTY: Duncan MacPherson, a Canadian hockey star, went missing thirty years ago. Then fourteen years later his body was found “encased in glacier ice with several broken bones and a crushed leg in the Austrian Alps,” according to TheCourier.co.uk. Sometime before going missing, MacPherson reportedly told people that the CIA wanted to recruit him as a spy. Sounds like the kind of stuff lots of young men say in bars. But MacPherson’s family thinks that may explain his disappearance (rather than the fact that he had gone snowboarding in the Alps and appears to have fallen in a crevasse.)
PUMPKIN SPIES: The CIA’s active social media team created a stir last week by tweeting out a picture of disembodied arms holding Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts cups of pumpkin spice lattés. Not everyone was amused. For example, the Putin-powered propagandists at RT wrote about it. In their version they included a photo of two lattés with sculls drawn in the foam. As might be expected, RT also included a sampling of negative comments from tweeps – “Don’t you have someone to kill? A government to topple? Secrets to steal?” and “You’re gonna waterboard some people aren’t you?” Some comments may have slipped past the quality control folks at RT, however. Like this one: “Unless this is a ‘secret’ signal for all your agents to meet for coffee, I would think stopping our elections from being hijacked would take priority!”
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any hot tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Don’t keep them on ice. Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
