It's separate in the sense that the individuals involved are mostly employed clerks, scribes, middle management, and other such "common" public servants who ser

It's separate in the sense that the individuals involved are mostly employed clerks, scribes, middle management, and other such "common" public servants who serve for practically life careers without input from anyone, as far as the Above State side of things go. In the Under State, those same people actually run the government because they are the people who do all the heavy lifting. The Above State with its Presidents and Secretaries and Legislators are all replacable and expendable, they're just an abstraction and obfuscation layer for the Under State to put their desires into action. Occasionally you might catch glimpses of them when they play their hand too strongly, like the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction(tm) narrative pushed by the Intelligence Community (the Under State) with State Secretary Colin Powell (the Above State) acting as their mouthpiece. On rare occasions a Deep State agent might turn coat and blow the secrets as was the case with Snowden.