* I also think a parallel read of Peter Dale Scott’s book on the Deep State would make a good companion piece. His view is less trusting than Lofgren’s, and focuses on Continuity of Government (COG) plans, which, while a low probability of occurring, represent the hard steel behind the expensive velvet glove that Lofgren describes.
I find the Old Right Libertarians (think Lew Rockwell and Murray Rothbard) the best on Deep State studies. Their examinations of the power elite make for excellent reading. A recent book on John Foster Dulles by David Talbot had that community a-twitter; as the head of the CIA (and de facto head after he was canned by JFK) Dulles had his hands in many pies, many of them downright nasty. These examinations deserve study by curious folks like us.
Your review to Lofgren’s books sounds like it makes for an excellent intro book for those not already curious of the Deep State’s presence, but it may a bit benign by a half. The US gov’t deep state’s foray into Iran-Contra, torture, the Bay of Pigs, JFK’s murder, etc. show it’s not all just a bunch of people w/ clearances living high off the hog; there are consequences in the form of blowback to these actions. Ask Gary Webb, for example, how things can get downright deadly when one discovers the plans of our nation’s intel/deep state services.
Finally, the idea (espoused by Mencius Moldbug) that their are factions of the Deep State that don’t always agree is a fine one, too. The red side (DoD, NSA) holds the bases and the information, the blue side (State, CIA) the diplomatic reins. One just needs to read Sy Hersh’s latest on DoD having enough of the CIA’s BS w/ ISIS and giving away their positions to “Friendly foreign militaries” to pass to Syria to see that divisions can and do occur in our apparatus.
The solution to this insanity is to defund as much of it as possible. But as Steve said, a country as rich as America w/ people as smart as we possess…well, that seems neigh impossible. I’d say congressional oversight, but LOL, come on, who the hell are we kidding. In the meantime, I’d say sunlight is the best disinfectant along with a healthy skepticism of the words that come from our media who often serve as their mouthpieces.
* Search Google News on a regular basis and her name pops up all the time in the foreign press and little, out of the way American papers. When she first popped up during the Ukraine Provocation she seemed to be assigned to eastern Europe, but now she’s involved with Syria and the European immigration fiasco.
As DCThrowback notes, the CIA and State Department are in an alliance with each other. The Iraq war, Benghazi, Operation Fast and Furious all seem to ties these two entities together. A lot of the State Department officials involved like Nuland, Stevens and Sean Smith all have murky pasts that scream CIA.
If Trump gets the nomination it will be interesting to see how the Deep State reacts. He’s the first president since Nixon who has the potential desire, strength and intelligence to challenge them. The MSM doesn’t take him seriously, even though he’s the front runner. It almost seems like they think someone will ‘take care of him’.
