Here's just one example. The FBI is a key part of the Deep State. It's one of the member agencies of the Intelligence Community, and the lead counterintelligence (CI) agency. As such, it is supervised by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who is a cabinet level appointee who reports to the President. At the same time, the FBI is an agency of the Department of Justice, and the FBI Director reports not just to the DNI but to the Deputy AG. As such, the FBI is the federal government's lead law enforcement agency--a role which is fully compatible with its CI role, despite what you may hear to the contrary.
Does this give some idea of the complex web I referred to? The AG, for example, may not be a formal member of the IC, but the crucial role of the FBI in CI means that the DNI cannot afford to ignore DoJ. After all, the FBI may end up investigating other IC members and and answering in that regard to the AG!
And that's just one partial example.
So, who are members of the IC, and therefore at the center of the Deep State? Wikipedia can provide us with a handy list:
United States[edit]
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- Independent agencies
- United States Department of Defense
- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
- National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
- Sixteenth Air Force (16th AF)
- Military Intelligence Corps (MI)
- Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA)
- Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)
- United States Department of Energy
- United States Department of Homeland Security
- United States Department of Justice
- United States Department of State
- United States Department of the Treasury
Notice that all these agencies fall under a Department--all except the CIA, which is an "independent agency". What's that, you ask? If you follow the link, above, you'll find that Wikipedia has an answer for that, too:
Independent agencies of the United States federal government are agencies that exist outside the federal executive departments (those headed by a Cabinet secretary) and the Executive Office of the President.[1] In a narrower sense, the term may also be used to describe agencies that, while constitutionally managed by the executive branch, are independent of presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.
Established through separate statutes passed by the Congress, each respective statutory grant of authority defines the goals the agency must work towards, as well as what substantive areas, if any, over which it may have the power of rulemaking. These agency rules (or regulations), when in force, have the power of federal law.
Once again, if you followed the link above, you'd get a list of these agencies, including such familiar entities beyond the IC and the CIA as: EPA, FTC, GSA, NASA, and on, and on, and on. How does all this fit within our constitutional order? Please, don't ask!
Imagine any president trying to ride herd over that alphabet soup of agencies, especially when their career bureaucrats are recalcitrant, or outright members of a Resistance!
And then there's the National Security Council. Check that out, to see who belongs, who attends regularly, etc. Some IC agency heads belong, others have department heads who attend and, presumably represent their interests--for example, the AG attends, so you can bet that the FBI Director wants to have some input into deliberations through the AG.
As if that weren't complicated enough, all these agencies undergo "oversight" by House and Senate committees--which means confirmations, budgets, priorities, etc. Can you say divided loyalties?
So this is what Trump is dealing with--or trying to. And it doesn't stop there. Check out this twitter feed by Greg Rubini. The Deep State doesn't stop where the boundaries of government agencies stop, because there's a revolving door of political appointees, whose careers in government span administrations.
By the way:
Christopher Steele is a good friend of Michael Hayden,
fmr CIA & NSA Director (NeverTrumper).
Hayden met Steele in London, in 2008.
Hayden & Brennan are friends.
Connect the Dots...
Christopher Steele is a good friend of Michael Hayden,
fmr CIA & NSA Director (NeverTrumper).
Hayden met Steele in London, in 2008.
Hayden & Brennan are friends.
Connect the Dots...
2. Hayden is a VERY important player in this WAR against Trump.
(Spy Operations, Impeachment Hoax)
VERY important.
And he stays behind the scenes...
(Spy Operations, Impeachment Hoax)
VERY important.
And he stays behind the scenes...
3. This is what John Brennan thinks of Michael Hayden:
(from the RabidDoggg mouth):
(from the RabidDoggg mouth):
4. if you want to understand how important Hayden is,
consider this:
Michael Hayden was NSA Director from March 1999 to April 2005,
during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations,
and CIA Director from May 2006 to February 2009.
consider this:
Michael Hayden was NSA Director from March 1999 to April 2005,
during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations,
and CIA Director from May 2006 to February 2009.
5. That is 10 years at the Top Levels of the US Intelligence Agencies.
6. Hayden is the guy who DESTROYED the NSA, and transformed
the NSA into a MONSTER.
Ask the Hero - and fmr NSA Technical Director William Binney...
correct, Dr. Dave Janda? @docdhj
the NSA into a MONSTER.
Ask the Hero - and fmr NSA Technical Director William Binney...
correct, Dr. Dave Janda? @docdhj
7. Michael Hayden is the guy who started the ILLEGAL NSA spying
on American citizens.
The guy who used the NSA against us.
on American citizens.
The guy who used the NSA against us.
8. Now re-read the whole Thread, and tell me:
Between Hayden and Brennan, who do you think is calling the shots?
Between Hayden and Brennan, who do you think is calling the shots?
9. btw: the CNN interview of the screenshots at #1 and #8 was on
Aug 9, 2016
What was going on, at that time?
Aug 9, 2016
What was going on, at that time?
10, I would like to tell Devin Nunes @DevinNunes, to Sen. Lindsay
Graham @LindseyGrahamSC, and to AG Willam Barr to keep an
eye on Hayden, not just on Brennan & Comey, and also on
Michael Chertoff and on Michael Morell (frm CIA Deputy Director)
Thank you
Graham @LindseyGrahamSC, and to AG Willam Barr to keep an
eye on Hayden, not just on Brennan & Comey, and also on
Michael Chertoff and on Michael Morell (frm CIA Deputy Director)
Thank you
11. Michael Chertoff:
Former Secretary of Homeland Security;
Former Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, DOJ
Michael Hayden works for Chertoff
Former Secretary of Homeland Security;
Former Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, DOJ
Michael Hayden works for Chertoff
Mr. Wauck,
ReplyDeleteVery nice summary. There are so many comments I want to make that my mind almost descends into chaos as I try to make cogent statements. Just a few.
As a non-SES employee, I have to take an annual ethics class that addressed standards of conduct. A perennial topic covered is post-retirement employment. The focus is on peons like myself. Look at how many agency directors retire and sit on corporate boards.
That's a big one. Look at Clapper when Rumsfeld fired him. He went into the corporate world. Next thing you know, he's back in government as DNI. Between stints as NGA Director and DNI, he's on the board for GeoEye, a major commercial satellite operator! Per Wikipedia, "From 2006 to 2007, Clapper worked for GeoEye (satellite company) and was an executive on the boards of three government contractors, two of which were doing business with the NGA while he served as director."
There is an incestuous culture and it's a revolving door of big shots going back and forth between Big Government and Big Business. Didn't Ike talk about the Military Industrial Complex?
A common mantra in the IC is that diversity is our strength and there is so much talk about 'diversity and inclusion', 'equality' and 'equity'. I've said it before in the comments section but you don't dare buck the prevailing wisdom and the group think. Yes men are in no short supply.
There is more focus on leadership than on tradecraft. For non-govvies, tradecraft is a government word for the nuts and bolts of one's occupation. The tangible and intangible skills, knowledge and abilities to be successful in a profession.
This profession pays well. There is a lot of emphasis on getting promoted to the next level. There are fluffy training opportunities out the wazoo. Since 9/11, job security has been all but guaranteed.
Real reform is needed. Look at how much the DC Metropolitan Area has expanded since the 1980s. The elite live there. They look down on the rest of us. As Sundance rightly says, "It's a big club and you ain't in it."
P.S. Clapper and Hayden are buddies, too.
Rubini asks, Don't you think the NYT, Google, Facebook and all the rest are CIA assets?
DeleteThe expression "Swamp" doesn't come close to adequately describing the mess you just laid out for us.
ReplyDeleteDanny Casolaro's expression "The Octopus" comes closer.
That's barely the half of it.
DeleteAnother factor in our culture running from at least the 1950s is this whole BS to trust the "experts."
ReplyDeleteDoctor Spock authored a book on parenting and did tremendous damage to the family. I believe that he and others advocated that parents not spank their children. Look at how the AMA has turned into a liberal organization that backs transgenderism, abortion, gun control, etc.
Any parent who publicly spanks his children risks arrest by the police. This isn't God's way as found in the Bible.
Other "experts" are climatologists. Anyone who dares dissent is a denier. Listen to the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC. They are "know nothings."
Entertainers spout off about everything during the Golden Globes, the Oscar, the Emmys, etc. What is their pedigree to speak about life matters?
My parents were raised in Catholic schools, never attended college and successfully raised eight children. Bad stuff happened when I was coming up in the world but I felt safe because of my family, neighborhood and the church. My parents were inculcated with a solid moral foundation and they passed it on to their children.
Today’s people have been turned into zombies. Most can’t reason for themselves and we “need” Big Government, Big Media, Big Business, etc. I call it Big Mother instead of Big Brother. We’ve gone from a patriarchal society to a matriarchal one.
I hope that I’ve successfully pulled the thread between the erosion of the family and the government has stepped in to take its place.
It all goes back to the "progressive" era, Dewey and Wilson and TR and the cult experts.
DeleteMark, the bookshelves to the right are blocking part of the text.
ReplyDeleteShld work now.
DeleteIn case anyone has forgotten, Hayden tweeted a picture of Aushwitz clainmed as analguous to separating adults and children at the border, due to the use of random children (child trafficking) as family proxies.
ReplyDeleteThat anyone making such as despicable comparison has any remaining public standing is an embarrassing joke.
What a coincidence...
ReplyDeleteChertoff worked as a senior council for Covington. Covington seems to have had a lot of involvement with anti Trump activities...
https://theduran.com/covington-and-burling-the-secret-conspiracy-undermining-michael-flynn/
The thing is, once you find an end of the thread and start pulling, the process can go on almost indefinitely. For reasons I can't fathom, Flynn seems to have thought he didn't have enemies. In reality he was surrounded by them. Or maybe he thought they weren't serious.
DeleteYes, naive hardly covers it. He was swimming in a swamp of inequity and should have been on guard for 'gators.
DeleteTom S.
So much of the Flynn story...as publicly disclosed to date...just doesn't add up...why in the world would he ever hire Covington in the first place?
DeleteThanks for doing all the work! I certainly could not have managed it. I come away informed. Overall, it's depressing.
DeleteThe interlocking carousel theory of government, where the high salary gravy train, public and rent-seeking private, never stops, is one of the things killing what Mike Pompeo (your latest post) glibly refers to, given the context, as the American Experiment. What a tool.
Lord bless us and save us, as my favorite nun used to say in 5th grade.
My assumption was that he naively viewed them as connected and influential on behalf of their clients--rather than on behalf of an establishment that was out to get him. But that's purely assumption. I go back to him trying to create an alternative CIA at DIA. How naive was that? And now he knows.
DeleteWhile technically the ATF (and IRS) may not be part of the D.S., their propensity to arbitrarily probe into the private affairs of the general public, and to wield their deadly powers against the general public (e.g. at Waco), should earn them at least an asterisk in this list.
ReplyDeleteAnd, this propensity to arbitrarily probe into citizens' private affairs can involve undercover Ops (e.g. Rodriguez at Waco) is akin to powers of outright D.S. agencies.
Delete"For reasons I can't fathom, Flynn seems to have thought he didn't have enemies"
ReplyDeleteWith my limited knowledge, I also can't understand Flynn, esp since he's supposed to be this master intelligence officer, with how many years in the business - 20? 30?
Maybe he's just such a straight shooter, and doesn't see the evil in people, therefore sees other's actions as honorable even though they might go against his own goals. ie he just doesn't see their words and actions as coming from a bad place, so leaves himself open to attack. I dunno, doesn't make sense.
It would seem to me that your third paragraph pretty well demolishes his "master intelligence officer" cred.
DeleteWhile believing that the people we associate with want to do right, generally, we have to be aware of the reality that quite possibly, in a particular situation, their behavior may indeed derive from a bad place.
Call it the Smiley Corollary of the Stockdale Paradox, applicable to counter-intelligence specifically and personal relationships generally. ;-)
Tom S.
Let me add that I've known people who worked for him in the past. Perhaps not the best guy at understanding how others are viewing him. Missing that he was a target.
Delete