Many years ago, while I was still serving undercover in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), I attended a series of briefings given to Chiefs of Station before they went out to take over their posts. There were maybe twenty of us in the room, all new Chiefs getting ready to head out into the field.

The Director of CIA came and spoke to us one day just before we were to break for lunch. He gave a very powerful and very direct talk regarding what he expected of us. The gist of it was that he wanted us to be aggressive, take risks, and swing for the fences. He never wanted to hear about anyone being risk-averse or failing to push the envelope. He wanted us to think big.

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It was an inspiring address. Then the Director left the room. We all stood up to head out for lunch. The chief of our area division got up quickly and told us to sit back down. Then he went outside to make sure the Director was really gone before he came back into the room.

Our area division chief then told us in no uncertain terms to disregard everything we had just been told. He did not care what the Director, his boss, thought. Our marching orders remained the same, and he had no interest in anyone “pushing the envelope” or “swinging for the fences”. Caution was the word of the day.

The room went silent. We went to lunch demoralized and certain that nothing would ever change.

Right now, all over Washington, I have to think a great many good men and women are experiencing the same emotion. They were momentarily elated when Trump took office. Now they see that inside the key federal agencies, nothing has really changed.

Take a look at what just happened when Trump announced the launch of a new class of “battleships”. His words were clear and unmistakable. We were going to build the largest such vessels since the Second World War, and we were going to do it in record time. The President estimated that the lead ship of the class would be operational in two and one-half years.

“The President has been clear – we must bring back our American Maritime Industrial might, and he has told me many times that as Secretary of the Navy, it is my job to equip our sailors to win the fight at sea with the finest ships in our history.

Now, when a conflict arises, you’re going to ask us two questions: where is the carrier, and where is the battleship?”

The Honorable John C. Phelan, 79th Secretary of the Navy

Then, almost immediately, the voices of the Deep State began to speak up in direct contravention of the President’s announcement.

“On December 22, President Trump announced a new class of ‘battleships’ that will be 100 times more powerful than previous battleships and larger than any other surface combatant on the oceans. The ship’s purported characteristics are so extraordinary that the announcement will surely spark immense discussion. However, there is little need for said discussion because this ship will never sail.”

“The first ship, USS Defiant (BBG-1), is likely to commission in the early to mid-2030s, assuming it is built at all.”

Center for Strategic and International Studies

“The U.S. Navy has confirmed to TWZ that construction of the first two Trump class “battleships” is not expected to start until the early 2030s.”

The War Zone

“Almost as soon as President Donald Trump announced that the United States Navy’s “Golden Fleet” would include a new class of battleships, critics listed all the reasons why it wouldn’t likely happen. There are plenty of golden reasons why the Trump-class are likely never to set sail.”

Forbes

“Trump’s big, bad battleship will fail. At best, the Navy will receive three troublesome ships that will cost more than $10 billion each before the entire scheme is abandoned.”

Responsible Tradecraft

There are a myriad of outlets now singing from the same song sheet. The lyrics were written inside the Department of the Navy. There the same people who were in place under Joe Biden and his predecessors hold sway. The same processes are in place.

These men and women do not give a good God damn what the President says. They have their own ideas, and they do things their own way. These are the people who just spent many years wasting billions on the failed Constellation frigate program. They have not learned anything from that debacle, and they do not intend to.

Trump’s “battleship” will now be turned over to these Mandarins, and they will wrap it in red tape and paperwork and strangle it to death. The President does not decide what the Navy does. These unelected denizens of the unaccountable 4th branch of government do.

The story is, unfortunately, the same wherever you look in Washington. Trump’s appointees are failing him because they have never actually taken control of their agencies. Outside of a handful of offices, there has been no change. There have been no firings. The Deep State remains intact, and, frankly, increasingly emboldened.

The midterms are coming. The Swamp shows no signs of being drained. The apparatchiks now feel sure they can hold on, stifle any real reform, and that permanent Washington will remain intact on the other side of this President’s term.

The President’s opponents believe they can wait him out. Let’s all hope they are not right.

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