PARDON ME? Rumors floating around that the President may pardon WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange in exchange for information that would attempt to demonstrate that Russia did not collude with Team Trump during the past election – has gotten current and former U.S. intelligence officials spooked. So says The Hill, which reported that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) is trying to set up a meeting with the President to discuss such a deal. Oddly, Assange has yet to be charged with anything in the U.S., even though WikiLeaks is widely believed within the intelligence community to have done enormous damage. One CIA veteran told us, “While he is at it – the WikiLeaks founder might also want to provide Rohrabacher with evidence that Assange isn’t a Russian tool.”
TURNABOUT: Speaking of WikiLeaks, it seems their homepage was hacked this past week. Not by the CIA or NSA, apparently, but by an outfit calling itself “OURMINE.” WikiLeaks says their servers were not affected… just the landing page.
WATCHING THE WATCHDOGS: The McClatchy News Service ran a lengthy story this week that exposed an outrageous practice of the Congressional intelligence oversight committees—hiring staff who actually know something about intelligence. Crack McClatchy investigative reporters uncovered the fact that lawmakers rely on people who spent time working for intelligence agencies to help them keep an eye on the intelligence community. McClatchy apparently thinks it would be better if staffers were unfamiliar with the agencies they are monitoring. The Dead Drop, however, thinks cluelessness is more appropriately the role of the elected Members.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
NETWORK NEWS: Not a day goes by when members of The Cipher Brief Network aren’t making news. Here are just a few examples from this week:
WHAT’S ON THEIR NIGHTSTAND? (Our contributors tell us about what they’re currently reading)
Jim Jeffrey, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Iraq:
“I am reading H.W. Brand’s The General and the President on President Harry Truman’s removal of General Douglas MacArthur. I did my college thesis on the subject and thought I knew it, but Brand introduces many new elements of what was almost a constitutional crisis—and military catastrophe. My conclusion: Our nation will never know what it owes to a little known general, Matthew Ridgeway.
SECURITY QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Kim Jong-un has made up his mind and is hell bent to create an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead capable of targeting the United States. The question is not whether he can be deterred but whether the elite of North Korea can be convinced that Kim is taking a path that does not lead to peace and stability but rather leads to the destruction of the North Korean state.”
– Dennis Wilder, former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asian Affairs
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at [email protected].
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