Dwight D. Eisenhower, architect of the Normandy Invasion and the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany, and 34th president of the United States, once said, “War settles nothing.” The Italian strategist and philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli, wrote, “Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.” Given the Trump administration’s actions in the […]
“We built our national security institutions to ensure we would never become what we once fought.” Earlier this week, The Steady State posted on social media a short YouTube clip on social media—a famous British comedy sketch from the 1970s titled “Are We the Baddies?” It’s a very funny skit, but also deeply unsettling. Beneath […]
What Happens to People Under Autocratic Rule? The Trump Administration’s cascading lawlessness has now made us easy prey to “news fatigue” and its dangerous corollary – considering outrageous behavior as somehow normal or acceptable. This is one reason the national outpouring on October 18 of the “No Kings” protest was so heartening. Millions of people […]
“People ask: ‘Is America really in danger of slipping into authoritarianism?’ So I brought on someone who’s spent decades inside the national security world…Steven Cash of The Steady State… and his answer is the clearest, most sobering breakdown you will hear anywhere” – Jack Hopkins, Host of the Podcast “Beyond National Security and Intelligence.” youtu.be/6Inn3GAfSlo?
Well, that didn’t take long. On Jan. 20, Donald Trump took the oath as America’s 47th president, having teased on the 2024 campaign trail that, if elected, he would be “dictator,” but only for “one day.” Trump kept the first part of his promise — but not the second. Now, some ten months into unprecedented […]
DATE-TIME GROUP: 31 1800ZOCTOBER25 FROM: EMBASSY OF FREDONIA, WASHINGTON, D.C. TO: MFA NAGADOCHES CLASSIFICATION: CONEOFSILENCE // FREDONIAN EYES ONLY SUBJECT: SITREP 019 “THE FREDONIA PROJECT” – OBSERVATIONAL DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA IN CRISIS 1-31 OCTOBER 2025 SUMMARY: IN ACCORDANCE WITH MFA DIRECTIVE 1826-APRIL-1, THIS EMBASSY HAS INITIATED A REGULAR SERIES OF ANALYTICAL DISPATCHES REGARDING THE INTERNAL […]
THE STEADY STATE An Open Letter to the Serving and Former Flag Officers of the U.S. Military We are The Steady State — a network of more than 350 former senior officials from the U.S. national security community, including veterans of intelligence, defense, diplomacy, law enforcement, and congressional oversight. Many of us spent our careers […]
FULL DOCUMENT HERE October 30, 2025 Subject: Request for a Government Accountability Office Assessment Addressing Key Questions regarding U.S. Democratic Resilience Dear Congressional Leaders and Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, As Congress fulfills its constitutional responsibility to safeguard the nation’s security and governance, it must be informed by rigorous, objective analysis. […]
Excess plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina On May 23, President Trump signed four Executive Orders to promote the development of nuclear energy. These actions go beyond previous efforts to reinvigorate the U.S. nuclear industry both by putting safety at risk and by rashly promoting commercial use of weapon-grade plutonium. The […]
The Authoritarianism we Fear is Already Here Since January 2025, there has been much written about the United States’ inexorable slide toward authoritarianism. A lot of it has been in relatively muted tones, akin to whispering as we walk past the graveyard, fearful that if we speak too loudly, we’ll make the things we fear […]