Deep State.

What is the 'deep state' and should we be worried?

Heather Tomlinson  19 January 2025.

We live in a time when conspiracy theories abound. Two words often used in these narratives are the 'deep state', a powerful, unelected and unaccountable group of government officials. But unlike many conspiracies, it is widely acknowledged that it does exist. What varies is whether it is considered to exist for the good of a country, or for ill.

Definitions of the term vary. It can mean anything from officious, controlling civil servants such as those portrayed in the ever relevant British comedy 'Yes Minister', to sinister networks controlling governments against the wishes of the people.

The secretive nature of the latter means that an ordinary person cannot know the extent to which they exist in real life or just in the imagination of conspiracy theorists.

In the US there is about to be a president who believes that the bureaucracy seeks to work against him, and that it should go. Donald Trump has said that he plans to "dismantle the deep state and reclaim our democracy from Washington corruption" using a series of measures that will allow him to fire civil servants and supposedly improve accountability of intelligence services.

"Faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to persecute conservatives, Christians or the left's political enemies," he said.  CT.