I think it’s exceptionally appropriate on 911 for us to reconcile and understand that as a nation from the 1960s onward, and accelerating with the growth of the intelligence community since 9/11, the United States has covertly or clandestinely interfered with every nations political process worldwide since the end of WWII and the “Pax Americana.”
I was an intelligence officer for ~17 years, served in Iraq and saw first hand how heavy of a hand the US plays globally in a way that is so expansive and embedded there’s no single body (HPSCI, commissions etc…) that can control it.
Yes technically all collection, processing, dissemination etc… activities are still under congressional budget authorities and executive control and subject to judicial review.
However, the fact that title 10 and title 50 authorities are so broad and interchangable, in addition to the reach into industry for any ability to do data collection, that you couldn’t dismantle the US influence system even from the inside at this point. There’s also a million checks internally to ensure OPs are LEGALLY allowed, but that just means you found a loophole or have topcover, or find an OCA that will make your activity SAP
I was an intelligence officer for ~17 years, served in Iraq and saw first hand how heavy of a hand the US plays globally in a way that is so expansive and embedded there’s no single body (HPSCI, commissions etc…) that can control it.
Yes technically all collection, processing, dissemination etc… activities are still under congressional budget authorities and executive control and subject to judicial review.
However, the fact that title 10 and title 50 authorities are so broad and interchangable, in addition to the reach into industry for any ability to do data collection, that you couldn’t dismantle the US influence system even from the inside at this point. There’s also a million checks internally to ensure OPs are LEGALLY allowed, but that just means you found a loophole or have topcover, or find an OCA that will make your activity SAP