Deep state

The deep state, state within a state, shadow government, or permanent government is a network of individuals and groups which are in actual charge of a national government. The democratically elected government works as a front, providing a level of plausible deniability and allowing the deep state to operate in secret. On matters of deep political importance, the public machinery of government is routinely subverted by agents of the deep state.

Deep state
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The deep state, state within a state, shadow government, or permanent government is a network of individuals and groups which are in actual charge of a national government. Many "democratically elected" governments work as fronts, providing a level of plausible deniability and allowing the deep state to operate in secret. On matters of deep political importance, the public machinery of government is routinely subverted by agents of the deep state.

In contrast to the publicly visible structures of the nation state, the phrases deep state, shadow government or permanent government refers to the faceless influences who influence and/or control them from behind the scenes. The term is a translation of a Turkish phrase (derin devlet) which evolved as a response to the 1996 Susurluk incident which dramatically unmasked the Turkish deep state.

Official Narrative

The official narrative of deep states used to be that they simply do not exist. This position was modified in the last few years to the claim that they don't exist here. In 2013 the New York Times defined the deep state as "a hard-to-perceive level of government or super-control that exists regardless of elections and that may thwart popular movements or radical change. Some have said that Egypt is being manipulated by its deep state." Since the New York Times (like the rest of the commercially-controlled media) is more or less a under the control of the deep state, such a mention is very interesting. The implication of the second half of their definition is clear:- other countries are not being manipulated by a deep state. A 2012 blog post at the World Bank takes the same line, "You think your country has undergone a transition to democracy... You realize that there are powerful elite formations bequeathed by years, even decades, of authoritarian rule still able to block progressive change and protect their interests." By stating that "deep states that exist in many youngish ‘democracies’", it neatly skirts the sensitive topic of deep state control over governments which have long claimed to be 'democracies'.. A 2013 book entitled "Deep State" attempts to soften the term, mentioning only minor infractions, making no mention of false flag attacks and poopooing 9-11 "conspiracy theorists".

Problems

The term "deep state" has experienced something of a surge in popularity in the last few years, not in the context of so called developing nations, but the US. This may reflect a disillusionment with the kleptocratic state of the US regime, which is an increasingly thinly disguised police state. Misleading metaphors such as "bad apples in government" of "deadlock in congress" are still used by the commercially-controlled media, but as the revolving door between government and private industry becomes ever clearer, more and more people are seeing the bloody fingerprints of the military industrial complex on the levers of 'democratic' government.

There is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. The former is traditional Washington partisan politics: the tip of the iceberg that a public watching C-SPAN sees daily and which is theoretically controllable via elections. The subsurface part of the iceberg I shall call the Deep State, which operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power.
Mike Lofgren

Peter Dale Scott approves of this 'iceberg' metaphor for giving an impression of the size of the deep state, but emphasises that it fails to reflect the fluid nature of the deep state.

Behaviour

As powerful and self-interest groups (probably even more dominated by psychopaths and sociopaths than other large hierarchies), deep states seek to frustrate radical and progressive change, so as to preserve their own power, and that of the establishment in general. In contrast to overtly authoritarian rule, deep states must operate more or less secretly, like terrorist groups, so preserving secrecy is a high priority. Control of the commercially-controlled media is essential to the effective preservation of secrecy need for the deep state to work effectively. In the US this is effected through deep state control of the CIA. With the apparatus of nation states under their control, their subterfuges can be elaborate and complex. The deep states of the world have a natural common interest in hiding their existence, which predisposes them to mutual assistance. As a Turkish cartoon put it in 1997 "Deep state protects its own."

Composition

While the exact composition of particular deep state groups and deep state milieux varies, they appear to be more or less centered upon what Dwight Eisenhower referred to as the "Military-industrial-congressional complex", although intelligence agencies are essential to their functioning. They are made up of:

• The leadership of intelligence agencies;
• Deep politicians, i.e. individuals who broker agreements between other members of the deep state.
• Some senior or longstanding non-elected officials within government (e.g. top civil servants);
• Selected individuals with effective control of key commercial, military and/or criminal groups in:
  • The "defence" and "counter-terrorism" industries;
  • The financial sector;
  • Corporate media

Supranational Nature

Full article: Supranational Deep State

The name "deep state" suggests an immediate parallel with nation state, which is not altogether misleading, at least historically, since these groups often evolved as secret cabals to control nation states. However, although originating in particular localities, deep state factions are highly interlocked in the 21st century deep politics. Peter Dale Scott refers in a recent essay to "A Supranational Deep State", noting how their international integration effectively allows deep states to evade even the limited control national governments had in the early 20th century.

Fluid nature

Power relations between deep politicians remain fluid, so deep states should not be be seen as alternative power structures to the visible organisational structures which they dominate. Relationships between Mafia families offer a suitable parallel, combining an often uneasy cooperation with occasional violent and sudden change. All deep state groups share share a common interest in preventing exposure of the real goings on behind the facade of electoral politics, so even violently opposed factions can cooperate to hide the true nature of deep events.

Deep Politics

Full article: Deep Politics

"Deep Politics" is a term used to describe the topics and processes of importance to the agents of the deep state. These might or might not be recognisable as connected to the concerns called "politics". Since (by definition) deep politics are concerns of which the public are ignorant, they are generally presented instead as politics. In most countries of the world today, party politics is basically a veneer used to obscure the real, deep political, considerations. In contrast to multiple levels of superficial political considerations, deep political motives are sometimes much simpler; Charlotte Denett, for example, suggests that the deep politics of WW1 and WW2 was actually centered on control of the Middle East's oil and gas supplies.

Deep Events

Full article: Deep Events

"Deep Events" are the footprints of the deep state. Low level deep events are typically unnoticed at the time, and discovered only as part of later investigations. Mid level deep events have a set of cover stories which are made available to a supine or venal commercially-controlled media to steer attention away from their deep political significance. The assassination of David Kelly, for example, is often presented as suicides. Sometimes a planeload of other victims are used to obscure their deep political significance.

Deep state groups use structural deep events to try to change entire societies, sometimes without them even knowing it. The JFK Assassination, for example, was actually a coup d'etat that radically changed the US political scene, but corporate media successfully presented it to US citizens as the work of a "Lone Nut" devoid of deep state connections.

The defining deep event of the 21st century, the 9/11 attacks, helped launch the era of perpetual war known as the "War on Terror". While the broad outline is increasingly understood, many of the details remain obscure even to researchers. Larry Silverstein's multi-billion dollar windfall and the insider trading are widely known, but evidence is accumulating that these were but minor parts of much larger suite of financial frauds carried out deep political insiders who capitalised on the opportunity.