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• Wednesday, July 23, 2008 05:35 PM

  Continuity of REPUBLICAN government

  Here’s a thought. We have vast, unwieldly bureaucracies, huge ‘black’ programs and accompanying unaccountable budgets. We have ever-changing political leaders to head the various departments. It is only a short step to create a private permanent political spying organization that swims submerged, doing its work and delivering results only to the top Republican party operatives only, whether the party is in office or not. The organization would be dedicated to furthering the political and economic aims of the party, or even of a interest group within the party. It would also be dedicated to defeating the political and financial aims of any opposition, thus giving a permanent advantage to Republicans.

  Think of it. Few employees would have to know the ultimate purpose and destination of the gathered information; it would all be ‘national security’. There would be a culture of ‘need to know’ built-in, so few people could make the necessary connections. This family jewel could be passed on from political generation to generation, funded by the public, covering its tracks, using the information sparingly but intelligently at key points and on key people to avoid suspicion. The internal security could be very tight, using the usual tools of spycraft to catch leaks and weaknesses.

  If the leaders managed to avoid hubris and over reach, we would never know.

  —Ames Gilbert Read Ames Gilbert's other letters
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