Blaming Government Surveillance on the Government Ignores the Plutocrats Behind the Curtain

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http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/blaming-government-its-surveillance-programs-ignore-plutocrats-behind-curtain-who

Both the Obama and Bush administrations have displayed astonishing continuity with regard to national security policies that sanction measures like mass surveillance, pervasive secrecy and covert operations. According to Tufts professor Michael J. Glennon, a leading critic on these matters, this is the result of government bureaucracies like the Department of Defense consolidating so much clout and autonomy that they essentially answer to no one, not even the President.

Yet careful scrutiny of the public record reveals the exact opposite. Far from being out of control, the apparatchiki of the military-industrial complex dutifully follow mandates transmitted on behalf of profound sources of influence outside of government. What ostensibly appears to be a conspiracy of government officials is actually the broader systemic problem of state capture by a Deep State. The United States government is beholden to a corporate ruling class and the national security apparatus is a logical expression of their power.

Michael J. Glennon is a professor of international law at Tufts University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He’s written a book, National Security and Double Government, which has garnered the attention of news outlets like the Boston Globe. The book is an expanded edition of a journal article which is available online.

Glennon’s thesis is based on the ideas of Walter Bagehot, an English writer from the 19th century who was an editor-in-chief of the Economist. The Economist is currently owned by the Economist Group, a private company whose primary shareholders include“the Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder and other family interests.”

Back in 1867 Bagehot wrote a book titled The English Constitution where he coined the phrase “double government” to argue that the British government had stopped being receptive to external public pressure. Instead Bagehot proposed that policy was formulated largely in response to less visible internal forces. Specifically he claimed that, “The old notion that the Government is an extrinsic agency still rules our imaginations, though it is no longer true, and though in calm and intellectual moments we well know it is not.”