Normally intercepts of U.S. officials and citizens are some of the most tightly held government secrets. This is for good reason. Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do. – Eli Lake, Bloomberg News, February 14, 2017.
Self-Perpetuation As The Over-Arching Moral Imperative.
Careerists and appointees left over from the Obama Administration deliberately targeted Mike Flynn for political termination.
That being said, Flynn has no one to blame but himself.
First, no one forced him to speak with (Russian Ambassador to the United States) Sergey Kislyak, on an unsecured line which he knew must be monitored.
Second, he gave bad information to the Vice-President to the United States who subsequently and acting in good faith repeated it in a public forum.
Third and worst of all, he came into office announcing his intent to reform the morbidly obese US intelligence apparatus. Every soldier knows that the battlefield has been non-contiguous for a while. The enemy is not just at the gate but inside the walls. People tend to act in their rational self-interest, and self-preservation is the highest imperative for rational self-interest. Mike Flynn came to the battlefield without regarding it as a battlefield and his apparent failure to recognize the hostile environment should serve as a lesson for his successor.
Projecting The Best Of Yourself Onto The Worst Of Others.
This is the most puzzling factor in this whole drama, and perhaps it speaks to Flynn’s relative innocence. Drilled on the principal self-sacrifice for the last 40 years, it is reasonable to presume that he projected that principal onto others. Epic mistake. An imbedded and calcified apparatus such at the collective U.S. Intelligence Services knows how to defend itself and furthermore, it would make sense that those defensive mechanisms are in place. Policies and procedures, both formal and informal, immediate action drills, and defensive triggers are part of the organizational DNA.
As a young field grade officer, Flynn would never have walked into his first battalion command and announced his intent to replace all the platoon sergeants and squad leaders. Under such auspices, an organization would not only cease to function, but provoke an insurgency of volcanic proportions would manifest itself. The NCOs would quickly organize, and then proceed to draw on their collective years of experience, and ensure that their new commanding officer would fail. Flynn knew this, yet chose to disregard the laws governing socio-dynamics.
We can interpret Flynn’s disposition stemming from a deeply held belief that the members of the nation’s intelligence services held the value of self-sacrifice to the same degree he did. Because they were in government services, Flynn was morally correct in his assumptions, but wrong in practical application.
How “Deep” Does It Go?
Relationships are everything.
A single mother with mouths to feed is told to go pound sand on her second interview because the boss’s wife changed her mind and decided to keep the company’s books for “one more year.”
A business owner nudges aside capable people in favor of their off-spring.
The office manager stays with a familiar copy machine vendor.
People share information laterally and vertically. A supervisor gives or withholds a recommendation based on rapport. Organizations solidify, establish procedures, become comfortable, and calcify. Players establish mutual interests which they nurture and grow. Eventually, interests evolve into morality.
Deep State, Entrenched, Fortified…
Within the Federal Government, every department has a permanent class of functionaries. Protected by both Federal Statute and public employee unions, they are the merchant class who’s currency is information. Functionaries acquire information, sort it, prioritize it, and present it. Low-profile executive appointees – a few of whom manage to cross-pollinate between administrations of both major political parties rely on the massive reams of information. The Deep State are contracting officers who know which construction companies have successfully navigated the labyrinth of compliance regulations and who also have the power to pick winners and losers. FDIC officials who understand the nation’s Byzantine banking system, and are also required to regularly communicate with industry insiders with an equal understanding. State department actors who are privy to the identity of the embassy’s station chief.
They’ve grown deep roots. Their positions are often enshrined in law and regulation, and much of their energy is devoted to maintaining the status quo. While they can’t do everything, the can do anything. Just as your local police department can’t solve every crime, it can solve any crime. Any single case where they choose to direct their vast yet still limited resources. It works the same with politics. The Deep State cannot get rid of every single appointee to President Trump’s cabinet. But they can get rid of any single one. Which is what they did.
Selah, Baby.
I always enjoy your posts Phil; as they are thought-provoking and makes one think even after the initial reading has been done. When it comes to politics, in my opinion, most people have no clue. Many years ago (and loosely translating here) someone I admired shared “Good managers don’t necessarily make good employees and good employees don’t necessarily make good managers.”
The same can be true in politics and for civilians in the workforce.
That’s a good insight, Joanne. Thanks.