I think you're getting at something very different, and I don't disagree. But the US is perhaps unique in that it has a massive lesion caused by the tumorous gr

I think you're getting at something very different, and I don't disagree. But the US is perhaps unique in that it has a massive lesion caused by the tumorous growth of the "military–industrial complex" — or whatever other name you want to give it — and this is entirely different from the civil service type of appointee you mention. Someone who heads the CDC or NIAID, though perhaps identified as a member of the "deep state" by some on the fringe right, is not the deep state. I'm talking more about the high-powered lobbyist who works for a private-equity-owned, $24 billion valuation, silent giant kind of company that manufactures surveillance and missile equipment.