Today The Steady State, a coalition of more than 250 former national security, intelligence, and diplomatic professionals, released a letter to congressional leadership expressing grave concern over the Administration’s decision to appoint the sitting Secretary of the Army to concurrently serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Thanks for […]
The Steady State FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 2025 Washington, D.C. — The Steady State, a nonpartisan coalition of over 280 former national security professionals, today released a letter addressed to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Chairman Tom Cotton and Vice Chairman Mark Warner expressing strong opposition to the nomination of Joe Kent as […]
ORIGINAL LETTER LINK December 30, 2025 The Honorable Andrew Garbarino Chair, Committee on Homeland Security United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Bennie Thompson Ranking Member, House Committee on Homeland Security United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Subject: DHS Handling of an Unfavorable Polygraph Involving the Acting CISA Director Dear […]
2025 is certainly not the first time the United States has been hit, with a potentially nation-ending social upheaval. The civil rights battles certainly revolved around a continuing effort to restrict democracy for and dehumanize an entire group of our people. The Vietnam War resulted in almost 60,000 dead, many, many thousands of wounded American […]
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. […]
Steven Cash, who formerly served as senior advisor to the undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence & Analysis, talks about his group’s “Assessment of U.S. Democracy,” which warns the Trump administration’s consolidation of executive power, weakening of institutional checks and balances, politicization of justice and intelligence, and deliberate erosion of civil […]
PDF LETTER AVAILABLE AT LINK Dear Chairpersons, Vice Chairman and Ranking Members: I write on behalf of The Steady State[1], to express deep concern regarding recent reporting that suggests the existence of an “Interagency Weaponization Working Group” (“IWWG”), composed of officials from across the federal government—including elements of the Intelligence Community—and apparently tasked with pursuing […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 20, 2025 The Steady State Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief Opposing Chicago National Guard Deployment Washington, D.C. — The Steady State, a network of more than 340 former senior U.S. national security, diplomatic, intelligence, and defense officials, today announced the filing of an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme […]
View the most recent update here. PDF VERSION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This assessment, Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline, authored by members of The Steady State, all of whom are former U.S. Intelligence Community officers with analytic responsibilities,[1] applies the analytic tradecraft of the U.S. Intelligence Community to conditions inside the United States. It concludes—with […]