Heads of many agencies are appointed, but all of the institutional knowledge of say the NSA, CIA, FBI, etc is buried within the organization. If you want anythi

Heads of many agencies are appointed, but all of the institutional knowledge of say the NSA, CIA, FBI, etc is buried within the organization. If you want anything done you must work within those organizations. Places like the OMB and the layers that support congress. Power brokers from their day like Karl Rove and Grover Norquist. The lobbyists that actually write the laws congress signs, the “negotiators” they use to horse trader. The military more directly serves the president, but these other agencies have accreted tremendous power. I don’t think it is some grand conspiracy, but the US government is a massive organism and some of its organs are harder to control than others. In simple terms: were they elected and do you pay for their salary?