As previously noted, the 118th Congress is expected to authorize a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.” The subcommittee will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan. Additionally, Thomas Massie (R-KY) is being reported as a representative under consideration for the chairmanship the House subcommittee.
In order to avoid another complete waste of time; and considering the background of the current political dynamic which will surround this subcommittee; and considering my accurate predictions for all other special committees and House investigations; and considering that I have ZERO optimism that this committee will generate anything any different than the prior investigative sub and select-committees that preceded it (Fast and Furious, IRS Targeting, Benghazi, etc.); and with full understanding of the complexity of the daunting challenge such an undertaking would require; I have been asked to outline an actual roadmap for success in this noble endeavor.
So, I will…. Even if I believe it is futile.
Let me also say up front that many readers will not like this approach, and most professionally Republican along with media in/around Washington DC will absolutely hate the ideas as they are presented.
Assuming Jim Jordan and Thomas Massive have some grasp of the scale and scope of the opposition they are about to face; and assuming they have a fully prepared staff to support them – willing to take on the most consequential investigation in our lifetimes; then we begin by first defining who will oppose any effort to investigate the “weaponization of government“. Which is to say everyone!
The entire apparatus of the DC political system will do everything in their power, individually and with collective assistance, to ensure this committee fails. The stakes are basically for all the marbles. DC politics is a system of weaponized institutions that view their common enemy as the American people not within it.
Specifically, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and every Republican member therein, including SSCI Vice-Chairman Marco Rubio, will make it their priority mission to block any investigation that touches on how the intelligence apparatus of the United States government is weaponized against the people. The SSCI facilitated the creation of the National Security State, and any effort to investigate the outcome will make the House investigators mortal enemies to the Senate.
Additionally, every executive branch intelligence institution including the DOJ-NSD, FBI, DHS, ODNI, CIA, DIA and every sub-agency within their authorities will do anything and everything to block a subcommittee looking into their domestic activity. Every national security justification that exists, and some that have yet to be created by the DOJ National Security Division solely for the expressed interest of blocking this subcommittee, will be deployed.
Every member of the subcommittee and their staff will be under constant surveillance. Phones will be tapped and tracked, electronic devices monitored, cars and offices bugged, physical surveillance deployed, and top tier officials at every subsidiary agency of the U.S. government will assign investigative groups and contract agents to monitor the activity of the subcommittee and provide weekly updates on their findings. The White House will also backchannel to and from these agencies doing the surveillance.
The intelligence apparatus media will be deployed, and daily leaks from the various agencies to their contact lists in the New York Times, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC will be in constant two-way communication for narrative assembly and counterpropaganda efforts.
This is the context of opposition to begin thinking about before anything moves forward.
Additionally, the national security state will demand the House investigation take place on their terms. They will demand secrecy, national security classification and require House subcommittee members to adhere to the Intelligence Community terms for review and discussion of anything.
Each agency will not voluntarily assist or participate in the investigation of any of their conduct. Every official within every agency will do the same; and they will require legal representation that will be provided to them by Lawfare political operatives skilled in the use of “National Security” and “classified information” as a justification for non-compliance and non-assistance. A protracted legal battle should be predicted.
With all of that in mind, what is the successful path forward?
♦ First, the subcommittee needs a communication strategy in place before the rules, terms and member outlines are even contemplated. A communication strategy so that information can come from the committee to the public without the filtration of a corrupt system that will bend and skew the findings as a weapon against the committee itself.
Hire a communication staff and set up a website for the sharing of information directly from the committee to the public. The daily activity of the committee should be shared publicly in granular detail. The witness names as scheduled, documents requested, everything that involves the committee activity should be known to the general public. This system should be updated at least DAILY, or as information is compiled.
This communication network should also contain a separate staff assigned to solicit, accept and distribute information provided by the public to the subcommittee. Yes, you read that correctly, the subcommittee website should be able to accept information provided by the public as it relates to the ongoing committee work. Crowdsource We The People as research leverage against the much more effective Lawfare operations you will face in opposition.
♦ Next, GO PUBLIC with everything. Do not use the terms and conditions of the secretive administrative state. Tell the public what you are finding as you are finding it. You can share information without violating “sources and methods.” Schedule a media appearance at the 8pm hour twice weekly with a high visibility broadcast media network to provide updates and answer questions.
These scheduled appearances should be in addition to random media press releases and press comments as pertinent information to the subcommittee arrives. What this means is that you do not wait to produce a 2,000-page final report before releasing the information. The final report should be an update and summary of all previous findings that have been released to the public along the way.
♦ At the outset, put no rules on media contacts with any subcommittee staff or member. Counter the darkness that fuels the intelligence community agenda with maximum sunlight and transparency. Use truth as a weapon against disinformation. That means no nondisclosure agreements at any part of the process.
Yes, this is radical change in approach, but this is also a radical enemy you are facing. Playing the secrecy game works in their favor, not yours. Transparency is your tool, not theirs – use it.
Every member of the committee can say anything they want about any of the material or witness testimony they hear during the course of the investigation. Public hearing or closed-door sessions, it matters not. The same rule applies. Committee members are completely free to discuss any findings as the information is reviewed.
The goal should NOT BE accountability on those who may have perpetrated or supported weaponized activity against American Citizens. The goal SHOULD BE for maximum public information, transparency and sunlight about the weaponization as it is discovered. This approach makes We The People the accountability portion of the process. As a result, the next section is again rather groundbreaking….
♦ Every witness to the committee should be granted full legal immunity provided by the House and House Speaker for anything said during the testimony or admitted as being done as part of the evidence fact-finding. Again, the goal is transparency and openness, not prosecution and accountability. Use sunlight as a weapon to draw out the truth, then let the American people be the judges of what that truth means when contrast against the constitution of our nation.
Let me repeat this… There should be ZERO legal liability for any conduct that happened as a part of any witness effort to weaponize the United States government against the American people.
Why this approach? Because (a) it circumvents any issues that might impede testimony, removes hurdles; (b) immunity compels confession, honest sunlight and the urgency of the situation; (c) immunity makes the truth more likely; and finally, (c) you are not going to get legal convictions anyway. The truth has no agenda.
Let’s rip the Band-Aid off and start the process to fix this crap, restore the first and fourth amendments and heal the injury.
Remember, from the Church Commission we got the secret FISA court and more tools for violations of our Fourth Amendment rights. From the 911 Commission we got The Patriot Act, DHS, TSA, DNI and many more violations of our rights and Fourth Amendment protections. We do not need any legislation as an outcome of the House “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”
We do not need your legislative help. All prior legislative help only ended up making things worse. What we need is a full, uncensored, brutally honest expose’ of how bad things have become and how that system can be dismantled and destroyed. The existing constitution is the protection, just remove the stuff that is violating it.
I know the approach is rather different from the norm. However, if this roadmap seems reasonable, I am certain you will find a great deal of support from within the system that is currently operating and from people outside the system who will volunteer time and effort to assist.
Summarized: (1) Know the scale of opposition. (2) Formulate a communication strategy around it & build a website. (3) Communicate findings by telling the story to the American people as it is discovered. (4) Grant immunity to all witnesses. (5) Don’t wait until the end to generate another useless report that few will read. (6) Make sunlight the motive of the committee. (7) Consider success when the American people can see the problem. (8) Dissolve any weaponized systems. (9) Don’t create new ones.
If you tell us the truth, We The People will then fix it ourselves.
