Tag Archives: The Deep State

Jon D. Michaels CONSTITUTIONAL COUP: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic

Professor Jon D. Michaels’ scholarly and teaching interests include constitutional law, administrative law, national security law, the separation of powers, presidential power, regulation, bureaucracy, and privatization.

After a very distinguished education including Oxford and Yale Universities, he clerked, first for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court. Immediately prior to his appointment at UCLA, he worked as an associate in Arnold & Porter’s National Security Law and Public Policy Group in Washington, DC.

We discuss his book, CONSTITUTIONAL COUP: PRIVATIZATION’S THREAT TO THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, which is both a history and an analysis of privatization, and the rise of what he calls ” Pax Administrativa.” It is published by Harvard University Press.

We begin with an article by Matthew Cole & Jeremy Scahill in The Intercept:
“Trump White House Weighing Plans for Private Spies to Counter ‘Deep State'”

Trump White House Weighing Plans for Private Spies to Counter “Deep State” Enemies

We also referred to Professor Michaels’ essay, “First Tragedy, Now Farce”:
https://takecareblog.com/blog/first-tragedy-now-farce

Ray McGovern, Veteran CIA Analyst Co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

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Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, from 1963 to 1990, where he chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s five most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985.  He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, but he returned it in 2006 to protest the CIA’s involvement in torture.  In 2003 he co-found Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He speaks fluent Russian and has studied Russia for more than 50 years.

In this interview originally broadcast on January 18, 2017, he discusses Obama’s commutation of Chelsea Manning’s sentence, the ethics of whistle-blowing, comparing her case with those of General David Petraeus, who became CIA Director, and General Cartwright.

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Pre-emptive leaks by government agencies.

The Stuxnet Virus used against Iran, destroying 100s of their centrifuges, introducing a whole new kind of warfare: cyberwarfare. Russia’s proposals for a treaty to govern cyberwar, which have been rebuffed ever since.

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Allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 elections vs. wikileaks revealing the efforts by the Democratic National Committee to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ campaign.

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Director Colby’s testimony that the CIA controls just about everyone in the US media & his subsequent firing.

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The popular vote vs the Electoral College.

Donald Trump’s relationship with the “Intelligence Community” & the rise of “The Deep State”.  “After 9/11 everything changed…” Syria as a proxy war… and more