CBS101 - Lesson 1: What is the Blob?

The State-CIA-Pentagon Trifecta and the Whole-of-Society Quadrants

BLOBSTUDIES.COM

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Background

Critical Blob Studies

Critical Blob Studies (CBS) is a subdiscipline of political science centered around the American foreign policy establishment, also known as “the Blob”. The goal of CBS is to understand the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the Blob from its inception in 1948 to the present day and beyond.

CBS is based in large part on the research of Mike Benz, a former White House and State Department official who now serves as the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online.

CBS 101 - Intro to CBS

CBS 101 is the introductory course in Critical Blob Studies, intended for anyone who wants to start learning about the Blob. It is intended for all experience levels.

By the end of this course, you will be able to answer each of the following questions with primary source references and multiple examples:

1. Who and What is the Blob? (This Lesson)

2. Why does the Blob exist? (Lesson 2)

3. How does the Blob operate? (Lesson 3)

4. Why does it matter to us? (Lesson 4)

5. How can we identify a Blob operation in real time? (Lesson 5)

More importantly, however, this course will equip you with both the mindset and skillset to continue your Critical Blob Studies journey on your own. You’ll be armed with a framework through which to view the world around you.

Lesson 1: What is The Blob?

Why “Blob”?

Though it is unclear who originally coined the term, “the Blob” was popularized by former Obama White House Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes in a 2016 interview with The New York Times.

If anything, that anger has grown fiercer during Rhodes’s time in the White House. He referred to the American foreign-policy establishment as the Blob. According to Rhodes, the Blob includes Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and other Iraq-war promoters from both parties who now whine incessantly about the collapse of the American security order in Europe and the Middle East.

This is in reference to the film The Blob (1958), which features an unstoppable gooey alien lifeform that consumes everything in its path.

As you learn about our Blob, that description will prove to be quite accurate.

The State-CIA-Pentagon Trifecta

The anatomy of the blob can most simply be summarized with two graphics: the State-CIA-Pentagon Trifecta and the Whole-of-Society Quadrants.

The trifecta represents the three components of the blob:

1. The State Department does overt diplomacy and “soft power”

2. The Pentagon does military action as well as covert special operations

3. The CIA (plus other intelligence agencies) does the plausibly deniable dirty work

All three are coordinated by the National Security Council.

The most important takeaway from the trifecta is that the three are inseparable: they are to be thought of as one and the same. When you see State, think Pentagon and CIA. When you see CIA, think Pentagon and State. When you see Pentagon, think CIA and State.

Often in conversation, we use “CIA” as a synecdoche for the Blob as a whole. For example, instead of saying “the 2014 Maidan Coup in Ukraine was funded through State Department and USAID grants, and it was facilitated through multiple levels of NED and USIP-adjacent civil society cutouts”, we say “the 2014 Maidan Coup in Ukraine was done by the CIA”. This is in part for simplicity and in part due to the nature of how the CIA operates.

The Central Intelligence Agency was established by the National Security Act of 1947, as a successor to the Office of Strategic Services.

The two most important founding documents to understand the purpose of the CIA and the Blob more broadly are:

• The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare

• National Security Council Directive 10/2

The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare

This document was a memorandum sent by State Department Policy Planning Director George Kennan on May 4, 1948. Paragraph 1 reads as follows:

Political warfare is the logical application of Clausewitz’s doctrine in time of peace. In broadest definition, political warfare is the employment of all the means at a nation’s command, short of war, to achieve its national objectives. Such operations are both overt and covert. They range from such overt actions as political alliances, economic measures (as ERP), and “white” propaganda to such covert operations as clandestine support of “friendly” foreign elements, “black” psychological warfare and even encouragement of underground resistance in hostile states.

Note that World War II had just ended, and the new rules-based international order no longer accepted offensive military action to achieve political ends.

Thus, there needed to be a new way for global superpowers like the United States to pursue their geostrategic goals.

Kennan lists some examples, ranging from simple political alliances and economic measures to psychological warfare and staging insurrections. There’s quite a big difference between the two, and that’s where the overt-covert distinction comes into play. Paragraph 4 reads as follows:

Understanding the concept of political warfare, we should also recognize that there are two major types of political warfare—one overt and the other covert. Both, from their basic nature, should be directed and coordinated by the Department of State. Overt operations are, of course, the traditional policy activities of any foreign office enjoying positive leadership, whether or not they are recognized as political warfare. Covert operations are traditional in many European chancelleries but are relatively unfamiliar to this Government.

NSC 10/2

Note: we say “10 dash 2”, not “10 slash 2”.

This directive, published on June 18, 1948 by the National Security Council, provided the technical implementation of Kennan’s memorandum.

The single biggest takeaway from NSC 10/2, which from here on out we will call the “plausible deniability doctrine” lies in paragraph 5:

As used in this directive, “covert operations” are understood to be all activities (except as noted herein) which are conducted or sponsored by this Government against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and executed that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them.

Just in case you didn’t catch that, the key excerpt relating to covert operations is: “that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them.”

The CIA and other entities tasked with conducting covert operations are specifically instructed to intentionally hide the fact that those actions are being done by the US Government. In other words: THEY HAVE A LICENSE TO LIE! Every single thing we learn about the Blob going forward can be traced back to precisely that.

The CIA is Not in Charge

It’s important to remember that even though the CIA is tasked with covert operations, they are not generally the ones pulling the strings. They are given those tasks by the State Department and the National Security Council. As Mike Benz explains in the video above, using the analogy of The Sopranos: If the Blob is the Mafia, the CIA is Furio, not Tony.

The Whole-of-Society Quadrants

Though the Blob primarily consists of the State-CIA-Pentagon trifecta described above, it is more completely understood through a 4-quadrant “whole of society” approach:

1. The government quadrant consists of the Trifecta and other agencies

2. The private sector quadrant consists of corporate and donor-drafter partners who fund, contribute to, and benefit from Blob operations

3. The civil society quadrant consists of “independent” and “non-government” institutions and charities that the Blob partners with, infiltrates, or fabricates in order to achieve plausible deniability

4. The media quadrant consists of news, journalism, and in the modern era fact-checkers that the Blob creates or parters with to control the information environment in their area of operation

When the Blob conducts a covert or clandestine operation in furtherance of American national interests, this whole-of-society framework serves the functional purpose of achieving total control of a society and the strategic purpose of obscuring US Government involvement.

The Private Sector Quadrant

As was introduced earlier, the end goal of covert operations and political warfare is to pursue US national interests. This often manifests in the protection of National Champions: large corporations that contribute significantly to American jobs, quality of life, and GDP. Thus, the Blob will often partner with or work on behalf of large American corporations in the financial, energy, and technology sectors.

An abstract example to understand the justification for this is the famous Milton Friedman pencil video.

In this example, in order for Americans to be able to buy and use pencils, American companies need access to natural resources all over the world. And like Mike Benz’s oil example from the previous video, if a government gets elected in one of those resource-rich countries whose domestic politics make the extraction of those resources more difficult or costly, it’s the statutory obligation of the CIA to go overthrow that government and install a more favorable one. Those companies, in turn, are incentivized to contribute significant amounts of money to the Blob operations that keep them in business.

Understanding that, it makes sense then why this declassified CIA document about the overthrowing of the Guatemalan government in the early 1950s mentions this pretext:

Moreover, Arbenz’ policies had damaged US business interests in Guatemala; a sweeping agrarian reform called for the expropriation and redistribution of much of the United Fruit Company’s land.

Similarly, it makes sense why this declassified State Department document about the overthrowing of the Iranian government in the early 1950s mentions this pretext:

It appears that the Foreign Office has come to this conclusion because (a) British intelligence has reported that an organization which could handle the job exists in Iran, and (b) the Foreign Office sees virtually no prospect of an oil settlement with Mosadeq and has little hope that his Government will be able to prevent a Communist takeover.

And finally, it then makes sense why US Senator Lindsey Graham, while advocating for war in Ukraine against Russia, mentions this pretext:

They’re sitting on 10 to 12 trillion dollars of critical minerals in Ukraine. They could be the richest country in all of Europe. I don’t want to give that money and those assets to Putin to share with China. If we help Ukraine now, they can become the best business partner we ever dreamed of. That 10 to 12 trillion dollars of critical mineral assets could be used by Ukraine and the west, not given to Putin and China. This is a very big deal how Ukraine ends. Let’s help them win a war we can’t afford to lose.

The Civil Society Quadrant

The main problem in covert operations is figuring out how the Blob does things without making it seem like the government is the one doing them.

This is exactly where civil society institutions come into play. Generally speaking, the two ways the Blob can use civil society for plausible deniability are fabrication and infiltration.

National Endowment for Democracy

Fabrication is just a fancy word for creating. In this case, the blob creates civil society institutions of their own, often referred to as cutouts, pass-throughs, or fronts.

These organizations, once created, can then do everything the Blob originally wanted to do, and it’s no longer the government because they’re “independent” and “nonpartisan”.

Two notable examples are the National Endowment for Democracy and the Atlantic Council.

The NED was created by the Department of State Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1984 and 1985 in the aftermath of significant public backlash against the CIA due to the revelations of the Church Committee.

As the President of NED Carl Gershman put it in a 1986 interview with the New York Times:

The concept of the endowment took shape as the country moved from the dark self-doubts after the Vietnam War into a new era of confidence in its own virtues and a conviction that democracy should be supported publicly and proudly, without the secrecy that tainted the C.I.A.'s activities. From Covert to Overt: Evolution of Policy ''We should not have to do this kind of work covertly,'' said Carl Gershman, president of the endowment, who was an aide to Jeane J. Kirkpatrick when she was the chief United States delegate to the United Nations. ''It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the C.I.A. We saw that in the 60's, and that's why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that's why the endowment was created.''

The NED has four sub-organizations:

1. The National Democratic Institute

2. The International Republican Institute

3. The Center for International Private Enterprise

4. The Solidarity Center

Notable board members of the NDI include:

• Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

• Hunter Biden

• Vice President Walter Mondale

• DNC Chairman Paul Kirk

• Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle

• DNC Chairman Donna Brazile

• US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul

• Stacey Abrams

Notable board members of the IRI include:

• Senator John McCain

• Senator Mitt Romney

• National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster

• Senator Lindsey Graham

• Senator Joni Ernst

• Senator Tom Cotton

• Senator Dan Sullivan

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council was created in 1961 by Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Secretary of State Christian Herter.

Their Digital Forensic Research Lab was one of the key players in censorship of Trump supporters for “disinformation”.

Their Eurasia Center published a report classifying Turning Point USA-affiliated journalist Jack Posobiec as the central node of anti-Democratic disinformation.

They often partner with George Soros and his Open Society Foundation.

Notable board members and advisors of the Atlantic Council include:

• CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

• CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

• CIA Director David Petraeus

• CIA Director James Woolsey

• CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden

• Director of National Intelligence James Clapper

• National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice

• Secretary of Defense James Mattis

• Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla

• Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman

• World Bank President Robert Zoellick

The infiltration method of exerting control over civil society is identical to and often overlaps with that of media organizations, which we will cover in the next section.

The Media Quadrant

In order to maintain popular support for their covert operations, the Blob must partner with media and news organizations. Like with civil society organizations, this can be done either through fabrication or infiltration.

Media and Civil Society Infiltration

The main way the Blob infiltrates both media and civil society organizations is through grants and other forms of funding. When the Blob provides the funds, they hold leverage over these organizations and can use that leverage to influence decisions.

This is where multiple layers of plausible deniability can be seen. Many of these funds are provided through programs coordinated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID was created by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Their Moldova Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion, And Accountability (MEDIA-M) program, for example, reported providing funds to over 100 media and civil society organizations in Moldova alone:

To this end, USAID, Freedom House, and United Kingdom Aid designed the Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion, and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M) program to strengthen the ability of independent media to fulfill its role as a watchdog over the government and serve as a space for citizens to engage in public policy dialogue. By August 2023, 54 national, 20 regional, and 10 local media outlets, along with 26 media-monitoring Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), benefited from the support rendered under the MEDIA-M program, such as grants/subgrants, training, consultancy, and other technical assistance.

It is noteworthy that Moldova is a country of only 2.4 million people.

Media Organization Fabrication

There are some media organizations that the Blob creates from scratch completely on their own. For others, the layers of plausible deniability are too many to trace, but the sheer amount of funding can be elucidative.

Examples of Blob-created or de facto Blob-created media organizations include:

• ZunZuneo, a Cuban Twitter alternative created by USAID to foment civil unrest

• Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

• The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

• The Worldwide Propaganda Network Built and Controlled by the CIA

• Polygraph.info, a fact-check organization created by the US Agency for Global Media

• Chequeado, one of the biggest fact-check organizations in Latin America

Conclusion and Homework: Ukraine Case Study

Now that you have a basic understanding of the Blob, try to apply your knowledge to a real-world example. Read this Joint statement by civil society representatives on the first political steps of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky by the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

As you read, think back to what you learned in this lesson. Consider clicking around UCMC’s website to learn about them. See if you can find their page of partners or donors.

Consider the following questions to guide your mindset:

1. How is this relevant to NSC 10/2, the Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare, and the Plausible Deniability Doctrine?

2. What part of this is covert action, and what part is overt action?

3. How are all three branches of the Blob trifecta represented here?

4. What are examples in each of the four Whole-of-Society quadrants here?

5. What else, if anything, stands out?

AFTER you’ve read the article and answered the questions on your own, watch this video of Mike Benz giving his analysis of the document. Compare and contrast your conclusions with his.

Congratulations on completing Lesson 1 of CBS101. I’ll see you on the internet!

CBS 101 - Lesson 2: Which side is the Blob on?