Terminology Usage Varies
This section on terminology usage is the same as this section of Deep State & U.S. Shadow Government Intro.
There are differences and overlap in how these terms are used:
- Deep State
- Shadow Government
- Secret Government
- Permanent Government
- Administrative State
- Military Industrial / Intelligence Complex (MIC)
- The Cabal
- The Elite / Illuminati / 1%
- New World Order (NWO) / One World Government / Globalist Order / Globalist Agenda
- The Committee of 300, Council of 13, The Round Table
To be sure you’re correctly interpreting reports from various sources, seek clarification on their intention. Here are some ways these terms may be used.
Deep State / Shadow Government
- The terms Deep State, Shadow Government, Secret Government, Parallel Government, Permanent Government and Administrative State typically mean the same thing: A large number of government agencies and closely-related organizations (listed here) which operate in secret, working behind the American government, without accountability to elected officials.
- However, the term Deep State is used widely by many sources and in a variety of ways, making it potentially confusing when comparing research. Here we describe how Kevin Shipp differentiates the Deep State from the Shadow Government, with the Deep State being the control system that extends to the economy, military and congress. Most sources who use the term Deep State, however, will mean — at minimum — all the organizations listed here.
- Some sources use the term Deep State to mean the NWO. Based on Shipp’s comments about a globalist agenda, he appears to use it in that way. In such cases, the source may distinguish the Illuminati “bloodlines” from the NWO or may not refer to them.
The Military Industrial / Intelligence Complex (MIC)
- The MIC may refer to a subset of the Shadow Government or Deep State (as Shipp does here ).
- Or, it may be used as a synonym for the Shadow Government or Deep State.
Elite / Illuminati / New World Order (NWO)
- The Elite, Illuminati, New World Order (NWO) and Globalist Agenda are typically used interchangeably.
- Other terms that may refer either to the NWO as a whole or to some portion of it are The Committee of 300, Council of 13 or The Round Table.
- They are described below.
The Cabal
- Some use the term Cabal to mean the Deep State.
- Some use it to refer to the NWO.
Overview
Kevin Shipp, ex-CIA counterintelligence officer and whistleblower delivered an hour-long presentation explicitly defining the components of The Shadow Government and The Deep State.
There is a global economic order going on right now [existing] outside of the constitution and running American economics. You want to call it the New World Order? The Globalist Order?… You can call it whatever you want, but this global order exists and it’s running our country.
– Kevin Shipp
Shipp’s testimony provides a clear picture of a monolithic control structure. Here we break down his presentation for close analysis. Using his clear outline, we have a framework on which we can add other testimony that provides further detail.
In common usage, the terms Shadow Government and Deep State are used interchangeably and usually refer to all of the groups noted below. Therefore, we summarize Shipp’s statements on both here (but below we keep his distinctions for more clarity based on his expertise).
- The Shadow Government is made up of over a dozen large groups operating in secrecy and without accountability to elected officials.
- These are not “political holdovers” from previous administrations. Both the Shadow Government and the Deep State are traced back to 1947.
- Nor is this referring to the “hard-working civil servants,” the bureaucrats who keep the government running while the political appointees come and go. While civil servants (some of whom become whistleblowers) are of course entangled in these powerful groups, they are controlled by people working outside of public accountability.
- “The currency of the Shadow Government is the power of secrecy, fear and intimidation.”
- The Deep State is the power system operating behind the American government. It controls the economy, military and police, industry and business.
- “The currency of the Deep State is money, power, and greed.”
To hear from more whistleblowers, see Deep State Whistleblower Summary: Former Presidents and Agents of CIA, FBI, NSA.
There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, it’s own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.
– Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Why It Matters
On most pages of this site, you’ll find a section entitled “Why It Matters.” If you’re a truth-teller, this section is primarily to remind you to be very clear with your audience about why this subject matters to you, and why it might matter to them. It may seem obvious to you, but consider making the case succinctly and clearly since some people may be so distracted or indoctrinated as to be unable to see what you see. If you’re a truth-seeker doing research, we offer information for your consideration.
Note
Many people avoid giving attention and energy to issues they perceive as not affecting them or as beyond their control. That’s a crucial and effective strategy that preserves our energy for things we love and that we can directly impact. Topics such as the ones on this site may seem to fall within the dark underbelly of society, beyond our actual daily lives and our influence.
However, the subjects on this site have been chosen because the evidence demonstrates that they are, in fact, widely influential and impact our daily lives. In other words, nothing here is presented just because “you should be aware.” Rather, these typically hidden subjects are brought to light, bringing more awareness to how we can dismantle dysfunctional systems and replace them with healthy, sustainable solutions. By making informed choices and by joining with others, we can create positive change that will uplift and empower the many good people seeking to improve our world.
As for the Deep State and U.S. Shadow Government… Shipp reminds listeners that the constitution is the supreme law of the land and yet the country is being governed by groups who are not accountable or subject to constitutional enforcement. Thus:
We are living under a post-constitutional government in America, and it’s getting worse by the hour.
– Kevin Shipp
- Shipp reminds listeners that constitution is not a document of philosophy or an ideology. It is the supreme law, superseding the justice system. To violate the constitution is a felony.
- The power of the Shadow Government and Deep State is immense due to the control of government, intelligence, military, banking, technology, industry, media and Hollywood.
- The individuals, organizations and structures that make up this power “elite” will retain control until removed from power.
- These control systems employ a hierarchical structure including compartmentalization. The pyramidal structure has been the system’s strength, but it is also a weakness: while “a few” hold the power, “the many” need only unify to take back control.
The Shadow Government
Shipp explains that the Shadow Government is the Secret Government — all of the organizations that maintain a “tyranny of secrecy” including the following organizations listed here. As noted previously, in common usage, The Deep State and Shadow Government are typically used interchangeably and may refer to all of the groups noted below.
The deep state [and shadow government] refers to a parallel secret government, organized by the intelligence and security apparatus, financed by drugs, and engaging in illicit violence, to protect the status and interests of the military against threats from intellectuals, religious groups, and occasionally the constitutional government.
– UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
– Top Secret America: A Washington Post Investigation
*As of this writing, the original source material for this quote has been removed from the Internet.
See more: Top Secret America: A Hidden World Out of Control is content we can find that is either close or that references the content that disappeared
Each organization I’m going to show you functions in secrecy and is bound by secret oaths, from saying anything they see… I was there… you cannot talk about anything you see, even if it’s illegal or unconstitutional because there is a system to systematically destroy you if you do.
– Kevin Shipp, 12:00 in video
CFR
- The Council on Foreign Relations
- Established in 1921, founded by the banking elite such as the Rothschilds
The Council on Foreign Relations… members are the nearest thing we have to a ruling establishment in the United States.
– Richard Harwood, The Washington Post
The CFR is the public face of the deep state lobby upon our government.
– Peter A. Kirby
CIA
- Central Intelligence Agency
- Created just after WWII with the National Security Act of 1947; enhanced by the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949
- Approximately 21 CIA directors have been members of the CFR
- Dr. Michael Salla gives an extremely enlightening perspective of the CIA’s role within the Shadow Government in this article: Snowden Movie Misses Key Purpose of NSA Spying: Monitoring CIA Covert Operations
MSM
- Mainstream Media
- “The CFR and CIA have a direct, established contract with the MSM… Members of the CFR and CIA pump information into the news media for propaganda to the American people.”
- The Washington Post founders were members of the CFR.
- Operation Mockingbird is said to be the program under which the CIA first began controlling the public debate, thus subverting the free press. Shipp reports, “Operation Mockingbird did not end.”
- As with other organizations on this list, media organizations may employ people of integrity; there are plenty of fine journalists who are employed by the MSM; but the decision-making which has an incredibly powerful influence on public opinion, public debate, and public controversies (which divide the population) are made by 6 businesses (Evaluating the Mainstream Media)
Hollywood
- U.S. Film Industry
- In some discussions, Hollywood is treated as an element of the MSM due to it having the same ownership as mainstream media; here it’s called out separately due to it’s size and impact
NSA
- National Security Agency
- Founded in 1952, its existence was hidden until 1960s (source)
- Created not by Congress, but by executive order outside of the constitution.
- Has the FISA court, a secret supreme court that functions outside of congress, “Nobody knows what it does except grant warrants to domestically spy on US citizens, which it has done in a gross fashion.”
Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has leaked the very first documentation that proves the existence of clandestine “black budget” operations. While many would argue the existence of black budget programs had already been established and we didn’t need any official documentation to prove it, surprisingly few people knew about these programs, so every bit of disclosure helps.
– Collective Evolution
The formerly secretive agency which was referred to as “No Such Agency” was thrust into the spotlight by Edward Snowden in 2013. The NSA focuses on signals intelligence (monitoring, collecting and processing communications and other electronic information), cracking secret codes and engages in mass surveillance programs on the entire world, including Americans and US allied nations, sucking up literally trillions of “transactions” (phone calls, text messages, emails) on everyone.
– Makia Freeman
Silicon Valley
- The world’s largest high tech corporations
- Shipp has extensive experience in this area. He explains that the CIA tempts a tech company with a massive contract, and then once agreed, the company is required to sign a secrecy agreement with the CIA and NSA. The tech companies are thereby forced to keep the government’s secrets with threats of administrative action, termination or imprisonment.
- If the tech company mentions anything about a government operation, they are threatened “with jail or worse.”
JSOC
- Joint Special Operations Command
- The president’s private army, can be sent to any country to conduct a secret operation
DNI
- Department of National Intelligence
- Includes 17 different federal intelligence agencies made up of tens of thousands of people
- Some of the 17 agencies are called out separately in this list and a few are left under this catch-all title
- The agencies are: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, National Security Agency / Central Security Service, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of Treasury, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy
- “DEA agents have been caught admitting to the use of parallel construction. This is a technique where they catch someone with illegally gained information (e.g. through illegal warrantless wiretapping and surveillance operations), then set up another (false) track or trail to show the judges in court to make it look like they found and tracked a suspect legally.” (source)
DHS
- Department of Homeland Security
- Has secret branches
DOS
- Department of State
DIA
- Defense Intelligence Agency
- Caught by Congress engaging in getting citizens to spy on each other
- Directly involved in torture program
NRO
- National Reconnaissance Office
- “Spy satellite technology that would blow your mind”
- A secret agency for 31 years until its existence was declassified in 1992 (source)
- Designs, builds and operates reconnaissance satellites
NGA
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- Shipp reports that the NGA approached Google, paying a lot of money and helping to set up Google Earth.
- “Google Earth can see what kind of tomatoes you’re growing if they want… You think the NGA can check on you?… Individual privacy is gone. It’s dead. What they can do? It’s incredible.”
FBI
- Federal Bureau of Investigations
- Has a warrant-less search program, whereby they can enter your house, search and leave without you ever knowing they were there, “a gross violation of the 4th amendment.”
The magnitude, power and unconstitutionality of this thing is mind-blowing. That’s just the Shadow Government. That’s not the Deep State.
– Kevin Shipp
The Deep State
[The problems], both within the government and within the ostensibly private economy, are related. They are symptoms of a shadow government ruling the United States that pays little heed to the plain words of the Constitution. Its governing philosophy profoundly influences foreign and national security policy and such domestic matters as spending priorities, trade, investment, income inequality, privatization of government services, media presentation of news, and the whole meaning and worth of citizens’ participation their government. I have come to call this shadow government the Deep State. The term was actually coined in Turkey… I use the term to mean a hybrid association of key elements of government and parts of top-level finance and industry that is effectively able to govern the United States with only limited reference to the consent of the governed as normally expressed through elections.
– Mike Lofgren, The Deep State
This is the Deep State. It does exist. There were some of us that were talking about the Deep State five years ago before it was cool.
– Kevin Shipp
MIC
- Military Industrial Complex / Military Intelligence Complex
- Initially called the Military Industrial Congressional Complex “because Congress is tied so deeply to the MIC and the Deep State, it’s disgusting.”
- It became immortalized as the MIC after President Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation in 1961.
- Eisenhower gave “a grave warning to the American people based on his experiences of an unlimited wartime economy… the warning being to not let the military-industrial establishment dictate America’s actions at home or abroad, for such unchecked power would begin to usurp [our] inherent freedoms.” (source)
Aviation journalist Bill Sweetman estimated that approximately 150 Special Access Programs existed within the Pentagon that weren’t even acknowledged. These programs are unknown to even the highest members of government and the highest ranking officials in the military. Sweetman determined that most of these programs were dominated by private contractors (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.) and said he had no idea how these programs were funded.
– Arjun Walia
Industry Lobbyists
- Spend billions of dollars per year to get their way with Congress.
A lobbyist tries to influence political opinion to his or her benefit. Lobbyists traditionally were considered “information givers,” usually in support of their cause to swing legislation and government agencies in their favor. Lobbyists are… paid well by sections of industry to influence the movers and shakers at Capitol Hill… The total spending on lobbying has ranged from $1.44 billion in 1998 to $3.3 billion in 2011… Lobbyists systematically build up support for their causes. They often have previous government officials joining their ranks, leveraging their understanding of how the government machine works. For example, cigar lobbyists have campaigned for cigars not to be grouped with cigarettes. They lobbied for years to avoid government scrutiny and to propagate an image that cigars were not harmful, when in fact cigars are as harmful as cigarettes.
– Investopedia
Wall Street
- “So connected to the Treasury, they’re almost like business partners.”
- “A lot of Wall Street has billions in off-shore accounts… connected directly to the Department of Treasury.”
Wall Street is a symbol for the U.S. financial markets, which include the stock market, bond market, commodities market, futures market, and the foreign exchange market… [It is also] the symbolic and geographic center of American capitalism. Symbolically, Wall Street refers to all the banks, hedge funds, and securities traders that drive the American financial system. Geographically, Wall Street is the center of Manhattan’s financial district.
– Kimberly Amadeo, Wall Street: How It Works, Its History and Its Crashes
Ably assisted by politicians, whom I began to see less and less as leaders and more and more as corporate errand boys, the titans of Wall Street constructed a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose economic system based on Ponzi schemes, asset stripping, and rent extraction. The inevitable result was the economic meltdown of 2008.
– Mike Lofgren, Congressional Staffer
USDT (Dept of the Treasury)
- “Has its own secret database on us… with a backdoor for the NSA and the CIA to look at financial information on us… I just found that out.”
Foreign Lobbyists
- Israel and Saudi Arabia have “phenomenal power and influence” over our elected officials… “they might as well have a Senate or congressional seat.”
Defense Contractors
- “Bound to the Deep State.”
Intelligence Contractors
- This is the “secret intelligence industrial complex” and it’s just as big and just as powerful as the military industrial complex.
Federal Reserve
- A private bank of international bankers, run in secrecy.
- “You can call this the economic shadow government.”
- This is not a federal agency and yet it runs the entire economy policy.
- “It took the constitutional economic freedoms of Americans away in 1913.”
The real menace of our republic is the invisible government which, like a giant octopus, sprawls its slimy length over our city, state and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses generally referred to as “international bankers.” This little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run our government for their own selfish ends.
– John F. Hylan, New York City Mayor, 1922
IMF
- International Monetary Fund
- Created by the CFR.
World Bank
- Created by the CFR.
There is a global economic order going on right now [existing] outside of the constitution and running American economics. You want to call it the New World Order? The Globalist Order?… You can call it whatever you want, but this global order exists and it’s running our country.
– Kevin Shipp
Black Budget / Special Access Programs
The Pentagon’s “black budget”—the money spent on programs and activities that are unacknowledged in nonclassified documents—amounts to around $68 billion in fiscal 2017, according to an Aviation Week analysis. This is about 12% of the total $582 billion budget and is similar in magnitude to the entire defense budgets of France, Russia or the U.K.
– Bill Sweetman, Aviation Week, Classified Pentagon Programs Will Cost $68 Billion In 2017
- The terms “black budget operations,” “deep black programs” and “special access programs (SAP)” are synonymous and refer to secret government programs and spending.
- Congress does not have any power to oversee these programs, as noted in this 2018 report.
- Black budget spending is reported as anywhere from 50 billion to trillions of dollars every single year.
For details and evidence of black budget spending, here are some sources:
- Trump Administration Requests Record $81.1 Billion for “Black Budget,” Washington Times (2018)
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Announced $2.3 Trillion Missing from Pentagon (September 10th, 2001)
- Read the Pentagon’s $59 Billion “Black Budget,” The Daily Beast (2014)
- Has Our Government Spent $21 Trillion of Our Money Without Telling Us?, Forbes (2017)
- The Black Budget $52.6 Billion, Washington Post (2013)
- Bid to Rectify the “Black Budget” Fails, Federation of American Scientists (2018)
- In Search of the Pentagon’s Billion Dollar Hidden Budget: How the U.S. Keeps its R&D Spending Under Wraps, Bill Sweetman (2000)
See Also
Thomas Dye, a political scientist, and his students have been studying the upper echelons of leadership in America since 1972. These “top positions” encompassed the posts with the authority to run programs and activities of major political, economic, legal, educational, cultural, scientific, and civic institutions. The occupants of these offices, Dye’s investigators found, control half of the nation’s industrial, communications, transportation, and banking assets, and two-thirds of all insurance assets. In addition, they direct about 40 percent of the resources of private foundations and 50 percent of university endowments. Furthermore, less than 250 people hold the most influential posts in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government, while approximately 200 men and women run the three major television networks and most of the national newspaper chains. Facts like these, which have been duplicated in countless other studies, suggest to many observers that power in the United States is concentrated in the hands of a single power elite.
– H.T. Reynolds, University of Delaware, The Power Elite
What You Can Do
It’s not about the small group of people and the corporations they run at the top of the pyramid, it’s about the seven billion strong army of people who are complying to a system which no longer resonates with their soul… Sure, there is no denying the fact that corporations dictate major government policy, and that a handful of corporations and the people who run them seem to have control over major resources and industries that currently govern our world, but without us they are powerless.
– Arjun Walia
- See What You Can Do and Where to Start.
- Research the history, structure and impact of the organizations noted here.
- Learn more about the hierarchical pyramid structure and its strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge highlights the need to join with others “at the bottom of the pyramid” to reclaim power from the corrupt upper reaches.
For another perspective, see this 6-minute video by Graham Hancock. Although he is highlighting the criminalization of consciousness-enhancing plants, he explains the vital importance of personal sovereignty (that does no harm to others) and why human consciousness and human potential are being so violently suppressed. In other words, “what we can do” is to explore consciousness (in personally meaningful ways) and to develop our personal and spiritual power.
There are those who run things in society and there are those who are there to serve them and to serve their ends… and so our society has created a realm of unquestioning meat robots who will perform their daily tasks without complaining and without causing trouble. That may be very useful to certain small interest groups but it’s extremely damaging to the rest of humanity. Once we realize our potential, we don’t need elites anymore. Who needs elites? Who needs to be led?… We do not need leaders… over us telling us what to do… They have no right to do that. The moment we begin to wake up and start asking really profound questions about the nature of reality and about the society we live in, their power is instantly diminished… society is… riddled through and through with unbelievable hypocrisy and we have to show people this.
– Graham Hancock
Sources & Resources
- Bird’s Eye View Summary — Deep State Whistleblower Summary: Former Presidents and Agents of CIA – FBI – NSA
- Amadeo, Kimberly, thebalance.com — Wall Street: How It Works, Its History and Its Crashes
- Freeman, Makia, The Freedom Articles — The Military Intelligence Complex (MIC): A List of 20 Ex-Agents Who Have Exposed the U.S. Military Intelligence Complex (2-part article)
- Harwood, Richard, The Washington Post — Ruling Class Journalists
- Kirby, Peter A., Waking Times — Chemtrails Exposed: The Deep State and the New Manhattan Project
- Lofgren, Mike — The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government — 2016 book “An insider’s account of who really runs Washington regardless of which party is in power”
- miltaryindustrialcomplex.com — What is the Military-Industrial Complex
- Priest, Dana and William M. Arkin, Washington Post — Top Secret America: A Washington Post Investigation – A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control (link no longer working)
- Sahajawani, Manish Investopedia — The Differences Between Bribery and Lobbying
- Scott, Peter D. — The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil and the Attack on U.S. Democracy — 2014 book
- Shipp, Kevin (ex-CIA counterintelligence officer and whistleblower) — Testimony — 1 hr video
- Walia, Arjun, Collective Evolution — The Illuminati: Separating Fact from Fiction & Propaganda
- Walia, Arjun, Collective Evolution — Snowden Reveals First Ever Public Disclosure of Secret Black Budget Programs
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