IT'S OFFICIAL, THERE WILL BE A NEW DNI: President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he is “pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence. A former U.S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves. Dan Coats, the current Director, will....” “….be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country. The Acting Director will be named shortly.” A lot of people are left scratching their heads after the President's last comment regarding the acting, mostly because apparently there is a law designating that the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence - in this case career Intelligence Officer Susan Gordon - be named as Acting Director if there is a vacancy. Others say that the appointment just has to be someone who is Senate-confirmed. There are rumors that Peter Hoekstra, who is currently serving as Ambassador to the Netherlands, and is former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, may be asked to take on the acting role, but those rumors come with no explanation of why that would even be considered with Gordon there. There are more questions circulating among the Intel Community on this announcement, including those from Cipher Brief Expert and former member of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service, Steve Hall, who took a move from the President and posted this thoughts on Twitter:"I wonder what Ratcliffe will do the first time he sees intel (say, for example, on Russia or North Korea) that he knows Trump will hate. Will he squash it? Take it to Trump and say its BS? His comments during the Mueller hearing do not give me the sense he'll do the right thing" Stay tuned to The Dead Drop for the latest gossip as this develops. (updated 7-29)
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US: July 31st marks the fourth anniversary of The Dead Drop. Amazingly enough, this is the 209th edition of The Cipher Brief’s weekly roundup of national security and intelligence gossip, fun facts, news nuggets and predictions (one or two of which have come true.) Time flies. Among other things, of The Dead Drop told you about the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Joe Dunford. He is now the outgoing CJCS. With this milestone edition of The Dead Drop, you are probably saying to yourself: What can I get them for their anniversary? Emily Post says that for the 25th anniversaries the appropriate gift is silver…and for the 50th gold. But for the fourth? Fruit and flowers. No thanks – they’d just spoil. But what you can do to help us celebrate #4 is send us a few news tips. We promise to keep your identity to ourselves.
SNOW WHITE: Former chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White made three or four appearances in past editions of The Dead Drop. The first time was in August 2017 when she was quoted as explaining that a respected and popular Army public affairs officer who had been expected to take a senior position in DOD public affairs was turned down because “…the White House determined he was not a suitable candidate for the position.” She appeared again in The Dead Drop on January 3rd of this year when we noted that Ms. White had left her job, at least in part because she was under investigation by the DOD IG over allegations that she had used her staff to run personal errands and retaliated against them when they complained. Last week, the DOD IG released their report into the activities of White and her deputy, Charles Summers. The IG found that White did indeed misuse her subordinates time for personal services. It cleared Summers, however, of retaliating against whistleblowers. According to the IG, White tasked her staff to arrange for a makeup artist to go to her home to prepare her for the White House Correspondent’s Dinner (the makeup artist failed to show up, BTW.) and the investigation also found that she used the makeup artist to help get her ready for (infrequent) on-camera press briefings; she had her executive assistant pick her up at home on a snowy day and drive her to work and back because she “does not drive in snow” (and later sent the EA a check for $10.90 as “thanks”); had a staff member arrange for a personal Amtrak trip to New York – allegedly for a hair appointment); and more. On page 35 of the 58-page report we learned that White regularly asked her executive assistant and senior military assistant to “pick up pantyhose, gummy bears, and soft drinks from the CVS pharmacy” on the Pentagon concourse.
MAVERICK WITH CRUISE CONTROL: In May 1986, one of the iconic military movies of all time, Top Gun, was released. While the film’s hero, played by Tom Cruise, memorably said that he felt “the need for speed,” the highly successful film took 33 years to produce a sequel. Top Gun: Maverick is finally set to be released in 2020 and Cruise is back in the cockpit. The first trailer has just come out and it looks pretty good. One question in lots of people’s minds: how can it be that more than three decades later, a Navy lieutenant (as Cruise was in the first film) is still flying but has only made it up to captain’s rank? USNI News asked the Navy Personnel Command that question and was given scenarios that ran “from unlikely to far-fetched” to actually explaining how that might happen. Our favorite scenario mentioned computer science pioneer Grace Hopper who was recalled to active duty and retired at age 79 as a rear admiral. Using that standard – maybe there is a Top Gun III in the cards. While Cruise may not have given in to age, (his character will be 57 years old) the franchise appears to have surrendered to realpolitik. Observers like Business Insider have noticed that Maverick’s leather aviators’ jacket has been changed for the sequel. In the original movie, the jacket sported a patch that contained the flags of the U.S., UN, Japan and Taiwan. In the new movie the Taiwanese flag is gone – bowing to the sensitivities of mainland China which easily gets their feelings hurt. The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Chinese “internet giant Tencent” is co-financing the new Top Gun movie. As a result of Chinese money, you will rarely see China portrayed in a negative light in major motion pictures these days.
USMC – NO WORSE ENEMY: Congressman Duncan Hunter has just been reminded that hallowed Marine Corps symbols are not props. Headquarters Marine Corps wrote to Hunter on July 16 to advise him that he should not be using the Eagle, Globe and Anchor or the phrase “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy” in his political campaign and fundraising efforts. Executive orders, regulations, trademarks and the like frown on such usage. Hunter is a Marine veteran and the Marines helpfully provided him with a “Marine Veteran” logo that CAN be legally used. But they asked him to knock off the other stuff – which could, they say, give the false impression that “the Marine Corps favors (his) candidacy over another, or ‘endorses’ (his) views on a particular issue.” As the New York Times wryly put it, “The emblem issue is perhaps not the biggest of problems for Mr. Hunter, who is facing 60 federal charges including campaign finance violations, falsifying records, wire fraud and conspiracy.”
I’VE GOT 51 PROBLEMS BUT THIS AIN’T ONE: we had some alternate suggestions on how the Air Force might deal with a growing social media group that is threatening to storm area 51 in Nevada, looking for aliens. Not everyone finds the issue a laughing matter, of course. In an article on FoxNews.Com a “former CIA operative” by the name of Thornton D. Barnes says people who trespass on the property as a joke may be treated as terrorists. Barnes asks how facility security officers will know whether those arriving are jokesters or “connected to ISIS or some other adversary or enemy using them to disrupt or penetrate the national security of the United States?” We think there is a greater chance of a storming crowd finding space aliens than ISIS at Area 51 – but in either case, we recommend skipping the trip.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: Just in time for the reported million man and woman march on Area 51, the folks at Muckrock.com dug up a declassified 1964 U.S. Air Force document written to try and convince personnel to volunteer for assignment at the secret desert facility. In the document, the Air Force bragged about how close the facility was to Las Vegas, and that it had an active art league and six bowling alleys. The report was classified for 48 years. And they say there is an over-classification problem…
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
FUZZY LOGIC – USAF STYLE: In the May 31st edition of The Dead Drop, we mentioned that the Army was struggling with decisions about which soldiers to allow to grow beards required by their religious views. Some soldiers claimed their devotion to the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster” (AKA “pastafarian-ism”) demanded they be permitted to quit shaving. Well, now the Air Force is getting in the act. A recent edition of the Air Force Times carried a story with the headline “Meet this Norse Heathen airman approved to grow a beard in the Air Force.” Staff Sergeant Garrett Sopchak, a 28-year-old aerospace and ground equipment craftsman, says he has been studying Norse mythology when not fixing gear at Hill AFB in Utah. He was struck by how much figures like Odin and Thor were respected – and that they were usually depicted wearing beards. So Sopchak, wanting to get his Thor on, asked and received permission to sprout whiskers himself. Fortunately for Sopchak, the Air Force gave him permission to grow his beard before word came out that in an upcoming motion picture, Thor will be played by Natalie Portman. Apparently, this Norse heathen thing is a growing trend. Originally the Air Force Times story was titled “Meet the First North Heathen to grow a beard in the Air Force” but the article had to be updated when editors learned another airman, SSgt William Bailey, had gotten a waiver to grow a beard back in March.
HO LOOKS MARVELOUS: Vietnamese state media have announced that Ho Chi Minh is in “great condition.” Well, his remains are, anyway. Now that we have gotten past the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, the next major anniversary to look forward to is the half-century mark of the passing of Vietnam’s founder coming up in September. According to the Independent however, the final wishes of Ho, who once had complete control over his countrymen, are being ignored. Ho reportedly wrote “I require that my body be cremated.” But Hanoi leaders had him embalmed after death and preserved in a Soviet-designed mausoleum in a manner not unlike that has kept Vladimir Lenin on display for close to 100 years. Elsewhere, in frozen foreign leader news, Australian media reported recently that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is forcing penniless citizens of his country to cough up about $570,000 a year to keep his late father and grandfather’s remains frozen and on display in Pyongyang.
SEVERELY OUT OF STEP: If you are like us, you probably haven’t given a lot of thought recently to how to march. Apparently, neither has a group of Belgian Defence Force cadets featured in a video that has been going viral amongst U.S. military folks. Captured in a 20-second video, a small unit of cadets can be seen lumbering down a cobblestoned street in a parade of clumsiness. Trust us – it is worth a watch.
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