There are three layers to the U.S. state that lord it over the American people and the world: deep, middle, and shallow. It’s a typology of how technocracy works in practice. Let’s talk about how it works and how the layers interact. Former President Donald Trump popularized the term deep state, and it’s a good one. There is a large and serious literature on the topic. It refers mostly to the long-operating and largely out-of-public-eye intelligence agencies and their cut-outs in the private sector. It includes security agencies, which means CIA but also some portions of the FBI, NSC, NSA, CISA, DHS, top brass at the Pentagon, and more.