U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR HAS CORONAVIRUS — President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has tested positive for COVID-19. An unnamed person told Bloomberg that O’Brien “came down with the coronavirus after a family event and has been isolating at home while still running the National Security Council, doing most of his work by phone.”
NO QUESTIONS ASKED: Word came out this week that Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has offered to appear before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in August for the annual worldwide threat hearings. Tradition has it for the past several decades at least that senior intelligence officials show up for both open and closed sessions before Congress. This time, however, Ratcliffe indicated that he did not want to take questions in the public session. His public appearance would basically amount to making a speech to the assembled members. And if they desired, the members could make speeches back at him. Then, they would adjourn to a closed session where the members could ask questions and presumably get answers. The unusual proposal follows the public January 2019 threat hearings which displeased the president. Trump eventually blamed the media for misinterpreting the comments of then-DNI Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel. In the immediate aftermath of the hearing, however, the president tweeted that “The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naïve when it comes to the dangers of Iran” adding “They are wrong!” and “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” Apparently, they have gone back to school and have found the answer to their problems is not giving answers in public.
TOO SOON? It looks like things are gearing up for the presidential election. The one in 2024. And reading the tea leaves, it appears Mike Pompeo is interested in being a player. Back in the old days, the U.S. Secretary of State spent most of his or her time focused abroad. But observers have noticed that Secretary Pompeo recently has been bringing his brand of shuttle diplomacy to the exotic land of Iowa. In addition to thinking about middle east peace – Pompeo seems to be focused on the (U.S.) middle west. And he is not shy about it. Pompeo tweeted about how thrilled he was to be in Iowa “engaging with business and community leaders on ways we can keep America’s economy strong, advance religious freedom around the world, and support American families.” His schedule looked more like that of a potential presidential candidate Bloomberg said that while Pompeo has “repeatedly rejected suggestions that he’s laying the groundwork for a post-Trump administration political future,” not everyone is buying that. The Washington Examiner went so far as to say that Pompeo was launching a 2024 presidential bid with his presence in Iowa.
ARMY NAME GAME: In last week’s Dead Drop we talked about the Space Force adopting names for its components from popular culture – for example calling one organization “SPoC.” Not to be outdone, the Army is conducting a survey seeking a name for a new Stryker vehicle variant. Officially it is called “Initial Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD) Stryker vehicle” – so clearly it desperately needs a nickname. The Army offers eight options to pick from – the likes of “Banshee” and “Vigilante” etc. But also on the list is “Manticore.” The name comes from the “Warhammer 40,000” miniature wargame. In that game, the Manticore is a fictional missile launching tank named after “a legendary animal with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion.”
SEMPER GUMBY: Speaking of the Space Force, it’s not resting on its laurels. This week, the fledgling service launched its new logo and motto. The logo was no surprise – a Delta – which was seen on the flag they unfurled in the Oval Office a few weeks ago. But the motto was fresh. “Semper Supra” – Latin for “Always Above.” We trust some of the spacemen and women are working on a service song as well. “Off we go into the jet black yonder” probably won’t work. We were going to suggest something based on “Fly me to the moon” but decided that would be hard to march to. Maybe something inspired by Mary Poppins? “Supra-Caliber Fragilistic Expialidocious”?
SCHWIMMER IN THE STREAM: It is hard to keep up with all the video streaming services these days: Netflix, Hulu, Apple +, Disney-something, and launching just last week — NBCUniversal’s new “Peacock TV.” In addition to offering a lot of familiar old TV series and movies, Peacock is displaying some newer content including a six-segment comedy series called “Intelligence.” Clearly, the network did not expend a lot of effort on coming up with a title for the show which originally aired on Britain’s SKY TV. Former “Friends” star David Schwimmer plays character Jerry Bernstein, who works for the NSA. Here’s a trailer for the series which Peacock describes as: “the U.K.'s geeky, labyrinthine Government Communications Headquarters, a maverick American NSA agent (sic) enlists the help of a junior systems analyst in a workplace power grab that threatens to disrupt the team's cybersecurity directives.” The Dead Drop sampled several episodes and found the lead character entirely unlikeable. We were unable to break the code on the humor. So far, most reviews have also found “Intelligence” kind of dumb.
THE INTERCEPT GOES THROUGH THE TRASH: Glenn Greenwald first came on many folks’ radar when he facilitated Edward Snowden blowing the lid off of truckloads of NSA secrets. Since then, Greenwald launched a website called The Intercept to do more investigative journalism. You can’t count on disaffected ex-government officials handing you the family jewels every week – as illustrated by a story in The Intercept on Sunday which examines what high-ranking U.S. military officials do with the protocol-driven gifts they receive from foreign governments. General Thomas Waldhauser, former chief of the U.S. Africa Command reported eventually putting a lot of the gifts like plaques, a Tunisian “peace tree,” and a ceremonial sword from Djibouti in the trash. Fair warning – if you are going through the trash at AFRICOM be careful. Apparently, there are sharp objects in there.
AMARYLLIS FOX ON ‘THE BUSINESS OF DRUGS’: Loyal readers of the Dead Drop will recall several items over the past few years about Amaryllis Fox, a former CIA officer, who is famous for (among other things) writing a memoir that perhaps wasn’t cleared by her former employer (and includes stuff that would be classified if true – but probably isn’t.) She is also famous for having made Robert Kennedy III her “III” husband. Now, Newsweek tells us that the “former CIA Agent” will be hosting a documentary series on Netflix called; “The Business of Drugs.” Her co-host on the series is former Navy SEAL Kaj Karsen.
AS IF THE NAVY DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS: In a week that the U.S. Navy finally put out the blaze aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (and found out that some of its firefighters came down with COVID-19 possibly as a result of sharing gear) comes word of a forthcoming novel by former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb and collaborator John David Mann called Steel Fear about a SEAL who tries to track down a serial killer aboard a Navy aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Sounds entirely plausible the way things have been going for the Navy. No publication date has been announced. Webb, by the way, has been somewhat controversial in the past. A story in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper back in 2015 said that he had been accused of embellishing combat stories and friendships with fallen SEALS in a book he wrote called Among Heroes. The Virginian-Pilot cited a story that had appeared in The Cipher Brief which quoted a Gold Star SEAL widow as objecting to books “leveraging” her loss for personal gain. Although Webb was not mentioned by name in the article, the Virginian-Pilot said they confirmed the widow was talking about him.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
ALL NEWS IS LOCAL: The tabloid news outfit Mirror in the UK has been digging through declassified CIA files and found a report about a “mysterious incident” in 1957 in which a UFO “dove and circled” between 60,000 and 14,000 ft above Wigtownshire, Scotland. The document was declassified and released over 19 years ago….but we can understand it can take a while to catch up on your reading.
TATS THE PRIZE, MATE: Videogame developer “World of Warships is inviting their fans and followers to submit photos of their naval-themed tattoos. They even have an animated video explaining the origin of tattoos in naval lore. If your body is adorned with some really good ship shaped ink, upload a picture to World of Warships and you might be the winner of the grand prize: a $1,000 gift certificate to the tattoo shop of your choice.
MAKE A SPLASH IN INK: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Want to needle the high and mighty? Shoot us a note at TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
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