History of the Present — The Intellectualist Premium Series
A Financial Times report documents growing alarm among former American intelligence and national security officials who warn that President Donald Trump’s use of executive power is weakening institutional checks and showing patterns they associate with authoritarian rule.
More than 400 former officials belong to The Steady State, a group formed in 2016 amid concerns about authoritarian tendencies and the erosion of democratic norms. Its members include veterans of the C.I.A., F.B.I., State Department, Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security. The group also argues that weakening institutional checks poses risks to the American business environment.
Their experience lends weight to the warning. It does not prove the case. The question is whether the pattern they describe can be seen in actions already in the public record.
One example is the use of security clearances. On his first day back in office, Trump ordered the revocation of active clearances held by former intelligence officials who had signed a 2020 letter concerning material from Hunter Biden’s laptop. The administration said those officials had improperly used their status to influence an election. Former officials interviewed by the Financial Times see something different: national security powers being used against people the president regards as political opponents — one of the institutional patterns behind their broader warning.
Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer whose clearance was revoked, told the newspaper, “The guardrails were all taken down.”
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
William Faulkner
Power moves before it is named.
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