Only a small number of Americans understand the relationship between the U.S. State Dept (DoS) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). However, as more people understand how these two agencies operate, then people have a much more accurate context for how both agencies are viewed by the rest of the world.
Almost every deployed CIA operative has a cover profile within the State Dept. The foreign service missions of the DoS and CIA are so enmeshed there is literally no way to separate the functions of their agencies. [Go back to the Benghazi Attack for an operational reference] CIA/DoS have to be viewed through the prism of connection.
To better understand this concept, I use the following metaphor:
♦ The U.S State Dept and CIA operation is like a restaurant. The Dept of State is the front of the restaurant, with the Secretary as the Maitre D’. The CIA is the back of the restaurant, the kitchen. The Director is the Chef. The consulates are the wait staff. USAID are the food runners. The Dept of Defense are the bus boys.
The tables and chairs are assigned by the Maitre D’ according to their value. Countries viewed as more important get the best tables. The menus offered to each nation are completely different. Israel has a table in the kitchen. To get the best experience, tips (bribes) are required for everyone, from the parking valets outside, to the sommelier, to the server. Currently, Ukraine is the biggest tipper.
On the oversight aspect the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is the control mechanism to approve/install the Secretary of State. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is the control mechanism to approve/install the CIA Director. Everything therein and thereafter is a system of pretending it is something else.
The Dept of State (DoS) is so large there’s no way of addressing the inherent institutional corruption. The Secretary of State can control a small portion of DoS operations, but that’s usually only the geopolitical stuff we see discussed on television, in print media or in press conferences. The business functions of the DoS take place within a network of carefully guarded silos.
Perhaps, the first step in advancing an American-First policy, is to just stop the various administrative offices within the Dept of State from doing anything, literally anything. The challenge within DoS is massive, complex and complicated. I’m genuinely not sure what the Executive Branch mechanism is to do it, but we need to close the restaurant for a few months and do a deep cleaning.
On the back of the operation is the kitchen, the CIA.
It is a popular DC sentiment to say the CIA Director is the most powerful person within the intelligence apparatus. As the viewpoint is shared, it is the established secrecy within the mandate of the institution that gives them power.
Essentially, the CIA was created to be a place where dark arts (lying, spying, manipulation, tradecraft) would be approved and used at the discretion of the institutional leadership. As a consequence, there is no check on the CIA operational agenda. They are permitted by function and mandate, to lie to everyone about what they are doing; this includes the Office of the President.
Because they are essentially an unchecked intelligence silo within a government that has allowed the institution to hold unilateral power and self-policing, the CIA has a power within the apparatus unlike any other member. Inside the business model of foreign policy as a restaurant, the CIA are in control of the kitchen.
Together the DoS/CIA operate a shadow government, looking out for their best interest while generating power through large multinational institutions (corporations), spy agencies (5-eyes), banks, non-governmental agencies (NGAs) and various influence operations.
The activity of the CIA/DoS construct takes place regardless of who is president. Any hope of busting up this corrupt system is going to take a lot of strategic pounding while confronting the supportive element within the Senate at the same time. [Note this is why repealing the 17th amendment would make the work infinitely easier – and also why the 17th amendment was created by banking interests.]
When you stand back and look at the challenge of confronting the DoS and CIA, you can easily see why the Emissary was the first most important person I noted. If you are going to confront the domestic corruption within the DoS, you need the Emissary as a contact for specific foreign government leaders.
Under my sketch, the foreign policy of the USA shifts away from Foggy Bottom and directly back to the White House. This provides space to destroy the system through domestic confrontation. A new State Dept Secretary is going to have to push intensely and forcefully to support the goals of President Trump while understanding the internal effort is going to be much less glamorous, but historically far more important.
♦ The Secretary of State needs to have an understanding of the scale of the system underneath them, a comprehensive understanding of the opposition they will face from within that system, and the fortitude to keep playing whac-a-mole until the heads of the sub-silos are slowly removed. The person in this role needs to be a ‘high energy, smart, multitasker.’ The odds are all against them.
♦ The CIA Director needs the same type of understanding, and an impenetrable ability to put the USA interests above the interests of anyone else who has a table in the kitchen. Given the relationships within the aligned Western Intelligence Services, this is going to be a nerve-wracking challenge. As much as I want the CIA candidate to know the scale of the problem they will face, in one important way it might be more beneficial if the person didn’t know the scale of opposition they will face. This is a dark place.
This is a four-year plunge into one of the most corrupt enterprises at the heart of the DC swamp. The DoS/CIA are the guards of the drain. The drain is underneath decades of bile, silt, muck, scum, filth and horrible stuff.
Our candidates for these jobs need to be high-energy and full of equal parts determination, fortitude, piss and vinegar.
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RESOURCES:
Understand The Fourth Branch
Understand The Trump Doctrine
Introduction to the 2025 Series
The Emissary – First Position
NatSec Advisor – Second Position
White House Counsel – Third Position
ODNI – Fourth Position
