Contacted Again by the Fiasco Podcast Folks

I have previously blogged about being contacted by the Fiasco folks here.  This morning I got another email from Leon Neyfakh.  The subject line was "Brandon Bryant" and the message read:

Dear Rick,

I hope you are well. Last week I interviewed a sensor operator named Brandon Bryant. I am wondering if you might agree to speak to me, off-the-record, about your experience with him. I just need to know how to assess some of the things he told me. 

I would be most grateful for your help. 

Leon

 

I responded:

 

What I will tell you about Brandon Bryant is that he is a mythomaniac and he is severely mentally ill.  So whatever claims he's making about me (and he has a habit of making false claims about me), if you simply require him to provide evidence for his claims that should prove helpful.  If he cannot, then they're false claims.  Sadly Bryant is adept at finding "journalists" who don't require evidence and who don't ask follow up questions.

You can feel free to share with me what claims he's made about me and I'll consider responding.

You might also want to check out: https://youtu.be/HDU9Icy_E9wk

And also: https://youtu.be/y8gO1jBykPY

Cheers.

 

I followed that up with this response:

While hopefully you won't sacrifice your podcast's credibility by including Brandon Bryant in it, here is another video you may find useful.  It'sf Bryant talking about me.  You might consider his claims in this video while evaluating whatever claims he has made about me now in case it's useful.  Cheers.

https://youtu.be/NqOn-9uDUPY

19 Feb 23 Update:

Leon followed up with another email stating:

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your response -- writing you back from my work email to keep things straight. 

Brandon actually didn't mention you by name in our interview. He did talk about someone he referred to as "the major," who he says informed him of the order to kill al-Awlaki. According to Brandon, the major said he believed the order was unconstitutional because the target was an American citizen.

This struck me as something you could provide context for. Having watched the video you sent, and the longer documentary you posted, I'm hoping to convince you to speak with me by phone or video chat. (You would be free to record the conversation even if you don't want me to use it in our podcast.)

My purpose here is to figure out, as best I can, how the killing of al-Awlaki happened, and to better understand the events that led up to it.

Leon

 I responded:

"He did talk about someone he referred to as "the major," who he says informed him of the order to kill al-Awlaki."

If Bryant was referring to me, then he made a false claim.

It's possible he is referring to some unidentified "flight operations supervisor" that he claims, in a TedX talk, told him that.  See 20:43 in this video: https://youtu.be/HDU9Icy_E9w?t=1243

I was not Bryant's "flight operations supervisor" and have never had a physical conversation with Bryant.

I suspect the story Bryant tells in his TedX talk is made up, but you could simply ask him to name the "flight operations supervisor" he was referring to if you want to track down the veracity of his claim.

You should have more than enough information to make it clear that Bryant is a serial liar who makes up claims, but if you choose to investigate his claims, simply require him to provide evidence for them.  Good luck.

 Leon responded:

Thanks Rick. Sounds like you're not the person he's talking about. 

Is there anything you'd be willing to tell me about your own experience being ordered to target an American citizen?

I responded:

As I stated previously, I am not interested in participating in your podcast but I wish you the best with your journalism.  It's an important discussion.

Leon responded:

Can I ask you why you don't want to participate? I accept your decision, I just want to understand it... 

I did not respond.  He then followed up with:

Haha, just saw your blog post. Hello to all your readers! If any of them want to help me, I'll await their outreach :)

If any of my two, possibly three on a busy day, readers want to assist with this story, Leon is easy to find on Twitter.