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Three-quarters of Americans believe that a group of unelected government and military officials secretly manipulate or direct national policy in the United States. President Trump blames the "deep state" for his impeachment. But what is the American "deep state" and does it really exist?
To conservatives, the "deep state" is an ever-growing government bureaucracy, an "administrative state" that relentlessly encroaches on the individual rights of Americans. Liberals fear the "military-industrial complex"-a cabal of generals and defense contractors who they believe routinely push the country into endless wars. Every modern American president-from Carter to Trump-has engaged in power struggles with Congress, the CIA, and the FBI. Every CIA and FBI director has suspected White House aides of members of Congress of leaking secrets for political gain. Frustrated Americans increasingly distrust the politicians, unelected officials, and journalists who they believe unilaterally set the country's political agenda. American democracy faces its biggest crisis of legitimacy in a half century.
This sweeping exploration examines the CIA and FBI scandals of the past fifty years-from the Church Committee's exposure of Cold War abuses, to Abscam, to false intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, to NSA mass surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden. It then investigates the claims and counterclaims of the Trump era, and the relentless spread of conspiracy theories online and on-air. While Trump says he is the victim of the "deep state," Democrats accuse the president and his allies of running a de facto "deep state" of their own that operates outside official government channels and smears rivals, both real and perceived.
The feverish debate over the "deep state" raises core questions about the future of American democracy. Is it possible for career government officials to be politically neutral? Was Congress's impeachment of Donald Trump conducted properly? How vast should the power of a president be? Based on dozens of interviews with career CIA operatives and FBI agents, In Deep answers whether the FBI, CIA, or politicians are protecting or abusing the public's trust.
Show moreThree-quarters of Americans believe that a group of unelected government and military officials secretly manipulate or direct national policy in the United States. President Trump blames the "deep state" for his impeachment. But what is the American "deep state" and does it really exist?
To conservatives, the "deep state" is an ever-growing government bureaucracy, an "administrative state" that relentlessly encroaches on the individual rights of Americans. Liberals fear the "military-industrial complex"-a cabal of generals and defense contractors who they believe routinely push the country into endless wars. Every modern American president-from Carter to Trump-has engaged in power struggles with Congress, the CIA, and the FBI. Every CIA and FBI director has suspected White House aides of members of Congress of leaking secrets for political gain. Frustrated Americans increasingly distrust the politicians, unelected officials, and journalists who they believe unilaterally set the country's political agenda. American democracy faces its biggest crisis of legitimacy in a half century.
This sweeping exploration examines the CIA and FBI scandals of the past fifty years-from the Church Committee's exposure of Cold War abuses, to Abscam, to false intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, to NSA mass surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden. It then investigates the claims and counterclaims of the Trump era, and the relentless spread of conspiracy theories online and on-air. While Trump says he is the victim of the "deep state," Democrats accuse the president and his allies of running a de facto "deep state" of their own that operates outside official government channels and smears rivals, both real and perceived.
The feverish debate over the "deep state" raises core questions about the future of American democracy. Is it possible for career government officials to be politically neutral? Was Congress's impeachment of Donald Trump conducted properly? How vast should the power of a president be? Based on dozens of interviews with career CIA operatives and FBI agents, In Deep answers whether the FBI, CIA, or politicians are protecting or abusing the public's trust.
Show moreDavid Rohde is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of In Deep and three other books. He is the national security editor at NBC News and a former executive editor of The New Yorker website, where he wrote about the Justice Department, democracy, and disinformation. He is also a former New York Times, Reuters, and Christian Science Monitor reporter. He lives in New York with his family.
"Pulitzer-winner David Rohde dismisses the Deep State theory–but
also shows government does pursue entrenched interests… Under the
subtitle “The FBI, the CIA, and the Truth About America’s ‘Deep
State’”, the two-time Pulitzer-winner rejects the nomenclature of
conspiracy theorists."
*The Guardian*
"… when the author gets to Trump… the two disparate threads of his
narrative come neatly together. Here Rohde skilfully makes clear
that it is precisely by pedalling the myth of the Deep State that
the President has been able to undermine efforts at oversight."
*Lawrence Douglas - Times Literary Supplement*
"… a tour of the decades-long effort to square that most
unsquareable of democratic challenges: how to run clandestine
intelligence and security agencies in a system that is ostensibly
accountable to the people."
*Financial Times*
"David Rohde’s In Deep demolished the theory of the “deep
state”."
*2020 in US politics books - The Guardian*
"Fascinating.... The idea of the deep state, Rohde writes, is
inextricably linked to a particular view of presidential power....
After reading In Deep, one can’t help wondering how much Trump’s
suspicion of and disdain for expertise and experience (and the
so-called ‘policy elite’) has affected his response to the
coronavirus. The sad policy question is: How many lives have been
lost because of his belief in the deep state?"
*Dina Temple-Raston - The Washington Post*
"In Deep is a compassionate critique of the simmering grievance
that has now found its way to the White House, where it threatens
to upend the tenets of American democracy: truth, justice, and,
above all, the rule of law. Reported in stunning and tenacious
detail, In Deep is a wholly satisfying read—and a necessary one for
anyone wanting to understand the forces at play in our government
today."
*Andrea Bernstein, Peabody Award–winning co-host of the
WNYC/ProPublica podcast Trump, Inc. and author of American
Oligarchs .*
"David Rohde has written a remarkable book that is both urgent
reporting and sweeping history. He brings the same vitality and
precision that animated his storied reporting on war zones to this
portrait of the decades-long battle over the powers of the
intelligence community, and the erosion—under recent
administrations of both parties—of rules put in place to protect
American citizens’ rights. And he brings fresh insight to the
phrase ‘deep state,’ and the role it may play in the future of
American politics."
*Ronan Farrow, author of Catch and Kill*
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