User:Archon0112
I believe there exists within the US federal executive a clandestine government called, by name, "Continuity of Government" (COG). This government is, in form, a federal democratic republic. It exists within the federal executive but is not identical to it. It contains its own legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It is formed according to its own constitution.
The secret COG government is the sovereign which administers what Ola Tunander calls the "security state". The security state is legislated, adjudicated, and executed by COG according to COG's own constitution, whereas the democratic state is legislated, adjudicated, and executed by the US Federal Government according to the US constitution. In brief,
Security State = COG
The Security State = COG is identical to the US Deep State. Contrary to Peter Dale Scott, I do not believe the US Deep State is a system of contesting forces vying for sovereignty. The common modus operandi of US deep events points to a structural form for the US Deep State. Use of force between constituents of the US Deep State are explained as party conflicts within the COG legislature. The COG constitution may itself allow for murder of one's political/military/business rivals.
The three branches of the COG government are administered by military, political, and business elite--not all of them citizens of the United States. It may be partially composed of members of the democratic state, but it also includes the military, political, and business elite of other states. Within the business elite, it includes international drug traffickers (which may intersect with the military and political elite of some state). Indeed, drug trafficking may be a primary source of revenue for this secret government.
COG government has not always existed. Its inception occurs after WWII, and the cause for its constitution seems to lie in the inability of the legislative branch of the democratic state to rapidly and effectively respond to threats which arise from the advancement of military technology, primarily nuclear weapons. The US constitution stipulates that the legislative has sole discretion to authorize use of military force. However, the legislature contains too many legislators. It requires tremendous time and energy to react to national threats using the democratic process. The COG legislature, by contrast, is reserved for a small, exclusive clique. Democratic processes within this structure allow for swift reaction to external threats. The successes of the COG government gave reason for the democratic state to cede more and more power to COG until, in November of 1963, COG gained complete sovereignty over the democratic state through the assassination of John F Kennedy.