As you are aware, I do this work because I am inquisitive and love to learn, particularly about socio-political topics. I have heard about the administrative state and the deep state for many years – more prolific by President Trump than anyone else. So, I set out to learn more. I am passing on those learnings to you in the form of excerpts from books I have read on the subject.
As an introduction, the following is a definition of the two states from the book PsyWar: Administrative State: A type of governance in which the executive branch and administrative agencies exercise power to create, adjudicate, and enforce their own rules. The administrative state uses non-delegation, judicial deference, executive control of the agencies, procedural rights, and agency dynamics to assert control above the republic and democratic principles. Deep State: A type of governance made up of potentially secret and unauthorized networks of power operating independently of a state’s political leadership in pursuit of their own agenda and goals.
In President Trump’s terms, this is the “swamp.” Two things of importance: First, they are two independent parts of the swamp even though the media tends to characterize them together. Second, they both take place in the departments and agencies of the executive branch of our government. In the history of both, they tend to favor the views of the liberal left and not that of the conservative right.
This series will treat them separately. The first eleven segments will focus on the administrative state. Segment 13 through 17 will analyze the deep state.
As background, there are fifteen departments within the executive branch of government – Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health & Human Services, Homeland Security, House & Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veteran Affairs. These departments employ slightly over two million people. Within the departments there are multiple agencies such as FBI, Pentagon, ICE, CDC, EPA, OSHA to name a few.
This series will commence with a look at the administrative state in mass. That will be followed by analyzing the history of two national security agencies – the FBI and CIA plus the inner workings of the Department of Defense (the Pentagon and Military). The deep state allegations will include some of those in the FBI, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Health & Human Services and the Intelligence Community.
As a clarification point the Intelligence Community is made up of the CIA and sixteen other agencies’ intelligence groups (National Security – NSA, State Department, FBI, Army, Energy Department, Coast Guard, Treasury, Marines, National Geospatial – NGA, Navy, Homeland Security, Defense Department, Air Force, Drug Enforcement, National Reconnaissance – Satellite Intelligence, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research – Diplomatic Intelligence. In addition, the Intelligence Community includes the office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) who is tasked to provide oversight and integration of the efforts of all 17 elements of the Community. The series will end with suggested changes to the Intelligence Community overall, the FBI, the CIA, the DOJ, the DOD, and HHS plus a review of Trump’s first attempt at influencing the swamp from 2016 to 2020.
The perspectives of three Trump Cabinet level appointees: Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense), Kash Patel (FBI Director), and Matthew Whitacker (past Acting Attorney General) plus Neil Gorsuch (Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) will be featured via excerpts from their recently written books. My hope is that the series will increase your understanding of the actions being taken by the Trump administration in their efforts to improve the executive branch and reduce its costs. Happy Learning, Harley