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Deep state in the United States

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In the United States, the concept of a deep state is an entity which has been alleged to be involved in a coordinated effort by career government employees and others to influence state policy without regard for democratically elected leadership.[1][2][3] It has often been dismissed by numerous media outlets and individuals as a conspiracy theory.[4][5][6][7] The term, which was originally used to refer to sophisticated shadow governments in countries like Turkey and post-Soviet Russia, has also been used in American political science to refer to entrenched government institutions wielding power, without necessarily implying a conspiracy.[8][9] The term was used in numerous titles about the U.S. government written by, for example, Marc Ambinder, David W. Brown, Peter Dale Scott and Mike Lofgren.

In the mid-2010s, the term gained popularity in some circles during the 2016 U.S. presidential election in opposition to mainstream (i.e. establishment) Republican and Democratic candidates and has also been used in 2017 during the Trump administration.[10] The concept and the underlying perspective has also been discussed in political journals such as Foreign Affairs. [citation needed]

Definition in political science

See also: State within a state

Deep state has been defined in 2014 by Mike Lofgren, a former Republican U.S. congressional aide, as "a hybrid association of elements of government and parts of top-level finance and industry that is effectively able to govern the United States without reference to the consent of the governed as expressed through the formal political process."[11][12]

In The Concealment of the State, professor Jason Royce Lindsey argues that even without a conspiratorial agenda, the term deep state is useful for understanding aspects of the national security establishment in developed countries, with emphasis on the United States. Lindsey writes that the deep state draws power from the national security and intelligence communities, a realm where secrecy is a source of power.[13] Alfred W. McCoy states that the increase in the power of the U.S. intelligence community since the September 11 attacks "has built a fourth branch of the U.S. government" that is "in many ways autonomous from the executive, and increasingly so."[14]

Concerns during the Eisenhower administration

President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned in his 1961 farewell address of the potential danger from the military–industrial complex. "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."[15] Mike Lofgren said the military-industrial complex is the private part of the deep state.[16] However, Marc Ambinder says that is one of the myths of the deep state; and the parts of a deep state are "often at odds with one another."[17]

Concerns during the Kennedy administration

President John F. Kennedy's assassination has spurred many theories, some of which would involve a "deep state." University of California, Berkeley Professor Peter Dale Scott's 1993 book Deep Politics and the Death of JFK and other books claim to expose America’s deep state.

Concerns during the Obama administration

President Barack Obama's lack of success of his campaign promises relating to Afghanistan war and civil liberties has been attributed to the "double government", the defense and national security network, by Tufts University professor, Michael J. Glennon.[18][19] Glennon and Lofgren felt Obama was pushed into the Afghanistan "surge" in 2009.[20]

Concerns during the Trump administration

Donald Trump supporters use the term to refer to their allegations that intelligence officers and executive branch officials guide policy through leaking or other internal means.[21][10] According to a July 2017 report by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, "the Trump administration was being hit by national security leaks 'on a nearly daily basis' and at a far higher rate than its predecessors encountered"; in a tweet, Donald Trump Jr. cited the report as "confirmation that the Deep State is real, illegal & endangers national security."[22] The term's conspiratorial undertone has made it popular on conservative and right-wing news outlets sympathetic to the Trump administration, including Breitbart News.[23] It has also been discussed by The New York Times[24] and The Observer.[25]

Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, have both made allegations about a deep state which they believe is interfering with the president's agenda.[26][27][28] Some Trump allies and right-wing media outlets have alleged that former president Barack Obama is coordinating a deep state resistance to Trump.[26][29] The growth of this narrative within the White House has been linked to Trump's allegation that Obama wiretapped his telephone during the 2016 presidential campaign, which PolitiFact has described as being unproven.[30][31][32]

While the belief in a deep state is popular among Trump, his supporters and the Trump administration, critics dismiss it as a mere conspiracy theory[33] and argue that the leaks frustrating the Trump administration lack the organizational depth of deep states in other countries, and that use of the term in the U.S. could be used to justify suppressing dissent.[34][26] University of Miami Professor Joseph Uscinski says, "The concept has always been very popular among conspiracy theorists, whether they call it a deep state or something else." [35]

In Foreign Affairs, an American political journal (September 2017), Jon D. Michaels discusses Trump and the Deep State, and argues that the concepts relevance is quite limited in United States. He is of the opinion that its a much more useful perspective in developing countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, but in United States the governmental power structure is much more transparent, egalitarian and rule-bound. [36]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ambinder, Marc; Grady, D.B. (2013). Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Wiley. ISBN 978-1118146682.
  2. ^ Michael J. Glennon (2014). "National Security and Double Government" (PDF). Harvard National Security Journal. 5.
  3. ^ Jordan Michael Smith (October 19, 2014). "Vote all you want. The secret government won't change". The Boston Globe.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Michael Hafford (March 9, 2017). "Deep State: Inside Donald Trump's Paranoid Conspiracy Theory". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  6. ^ Oliver Willis (March 9, 2017). "The Alex Jones influence: Trump's "deep state" fears come from his conspiracy theorist ally and adviser". Salon. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  7. ^ "'Deep State' is the latest US conspiracy theory you need to know about". New Zealand Herald. March 10, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  8. ^ The State: Past, Present, Future Bob Jessop, page 224, December 2015 John Wiley & Sons
  9. ^ New Directions in Criminological Theory Steve Hall,Simon Winlow page 229
  10. ^ a b Amanda Taub (February 16, 2017). "As Leaks Multiply, Fears of a 'Deep State' in America". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State". BillMoyers.com. February 21, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  12. ^ The State: Past, Present, Future Bob Jessop, page 224, December 2015 John Wiley & Sons
  13. ^ [The Concealment of the State] Jason Royce Lindsey, 2013 pages 35–36
  14. ^ Scahill, Jeremy (July 22, 2017). "Donald Trump and the Coming Fall of the American Empire". The Intercept. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
  15. ^ "Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation". mcadams.posc.mu.edu. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  16. ^ ""Deep State" Truthout Interview -". February 22, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  17. ^ Ambinder, Marc; Ambinder, Marc (March 10, 2017). "Five myths about the deep state". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  18. ^ "Vote all you want. The secret government won't change. - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. October 18, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  19. ^ "Background Briefing with Ian Masters". FD Media. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  20. ^ Lofgren, Mike (February 21, 2014). "Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  21. ^ Ishaan Tharoor (February 1, 2017). "Is Trump fighting the deep state or creating his own?". The Washington Post.
  22. ^ Crowley, Michael (September–October 2017). "The Deep State Is Real". Politico Magazine. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  23. ^ [2]
  24. ^ Taub, Amanda; Fisher, Max (February 17, 2017). "As Leaks Multiply, Fears of a 'Deep State' in America". The New York Times. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  25. ^ Rebellion Brews in Washington—But American ‘Deep State’ Is Only a Myth, John R. Schindler, The Observer, 22 February 2017
  26. ^ a b c Julie Hirschfeld Davis (March 6, 2017). "Rumblings of a 'Deep State' Undermining Trump? It Was Once a Foreign Concept". The New York Times.
  27. ^ Phillip Rucker, Robert Costa, Ashley Parker (March 5, 2017). "Inside Trump's fury: The president rages at leaks, setbacks and accusations". The Washington Post.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ A memo prepared in an unofficial capacity by a member of Trump's National Security Council (NSC)—Rich Higgins—and eventually seen by Trump himself warned of a conspiracy against the Trump administration led by several factions, including "'deep state' actors." In the memo, Higgins defined "The Deep State" as follows: "The successful outcome of cultural Marxism is a bureaucratic state beholden to no one, certainly not the American people. With no rule of law considerations outside those that further deep state power, the deep state truly becomes, as Hegel advocated, god bestriding the earth." See Winter, Jana; Groll, Elias (August 10, 2017). "Here's the Memo That Blew Up the NSC". Foreign Policy. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  29. ^ David Weigel (March 7, 2017). "Trump and Republicans see a 'deep state' foe: Barack Obama". The Washington Post.
  30. ^ Allison Graves (March 5, 2017). "Why the White House defense of Trump wiretap accusation is misleading". Politifact.
  31. ^ Sabrina Siddiqui, David Smith (March 8, 2017). "Top Republicans refuse to back up Trump's unproven wiretapping claim". The Guardian.
  32. ^ Benjamin, Daniel and McCloy, John J. (March 2017). "Why Steve Bannon Wants You to Believe in the Deep State". POLITICO Magazine.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Stanage, Niall (June 5, 2017). "THE MEMO: Is Trump a victim of the 'deep state'?". The Hill.
  34. ^ David A. Graham (February 20, 2017). "Why it's dangerous to talk about a deep state". The Atlantic.
  35. ^ "How the "deep state" conspiracy theory went mainstream". Newsweek. August 2, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  36. ^ Michaels, Jon D. Trump and the Deep State. Foreign Affairs. September 2017.
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