Was the FBI Russia collusion probe a symptom of the intelligence state as outlined by Mike Benz?

Posted on April 12, 2025 by Mike

The recent release of the FBI files on Russia collusion caught my attention yesterday. Along with many others, now-independent, Emmy-winning investigative journalist Catherine Herridge is reporting on the story:

Herridge has proven to be more than reliable during her career at ABC News, Fox News, and recently at CBS News. She was laid off from CBS supposedly due to budget cuts, but some say it was because her reporting was a serious bother to too many people.

This story got me thinking about Mike Benz, whose work came to my attention a year ago with an interview he did with Tucker Calson. Since then, he has been interviewed by well-known podcaster/journalist folks such as Joe Rogan, Caroline Glick, and Shawn Ryan. He also gave a presentation at Hillsdale College last September.

He has had that pinned to his feed on X for some time now, and I finally got around to listening to most of it yesterday while walking the dog. It seems important enough now that I am planning to watch so I can see his slides.

RealClearPolitics has posted the X-based video of the interview along with the timeline and transcript:

1:19: The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare
11:20: NSC 10/2 and the Plausible Deniability Doctrine
15:08: Diplomacy Thru Duplicity
16:04: Smith-Mundt Act, The CIA Media Empire
19:40: The Department of Dirty Tricks
20:36: The CIA As Servant Of The State Department
23:02: 1789-1948 pre-history
29:54: 1948-1983

The whole piece really is worth watching. For anyone short on time, I gave the entire transcript to Grok from xAI with the request for a summary. Here is what it provided:

Mike Benz’s presentation at Hillsdale College outlines the concept of the “intelligence state,” where intelligence agencies, originally meant to serve the state, have overtaken it, operating with significant autonomy and influence. He traces its origins to 1948, a pivotal year marked by the establishment of the CIA and George Kennan’s memo, “The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare.” This memo, declassified in 2005, followed the CIA’s first major operation—rigging Italy’s 1948 election to favor a U.S.-backed candidate over a Soviet-supported one. The operation involved $250 million in covert funding, propaganda through media like Voice of America, and alliances with churches, charities, and even the mafia, turning these entities into instruments of statecraft.

Benz highlights how Kennan’s vision, formalized in National Security Council Memo 10/2, authorized covert operations like propaganda, sabotage, and subversion, with “plausible deniability” as a core principle. This allowed the U.S. government to deny responsibility for illegal activities, fostering an “empire of lies” both abroad and domestically. The 1948 Smith-Mundt Act initially restricted propaganda within the U.S., but its 2013 amendment allowed government-made news to reach American audiences, weakening safeguards.

The CIA expanded its influence globally, orchestrating 85 regime changes post-Italy, with 50 during the Eisenhower era. By the 1960s, domestic operations like COINTELPRO and Operation Chaos targeted leftist movements, mirroring current efforts against populism. Scandals in the 1970s led to the Church Committee, exposing CIA abuses like assassination tools and media manipulation, prompting temporary reforms under Jimmy Carter. However, Ronald Reagan’s administration restored CIA powers, notably through the National Endowment for Democracy, embedding intelligence operations in NGOs, media, and cultural institutions.

Benz argues the intelligence state isn’t rogue but serves the State Department and Pentagon, executing their agendas while maintaining deniability. He compares it to a mafia structure, with the CIA as enforcers for diplomatic and defense elites. Today, this “blob” counters domestic populism, repurposing Cold War tactics to control narratives and suppress dissent, creating a tension between the American homeland and the global empire’s interests.

So, what are the chances the FBI Russia collusion probe was a symptom of the intelligence state as outlined by Mike Benz? When taken with other things that have happened and are happening, the chances seem to be increasingly high.

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Malicious Compliance

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Mike

A friend recently posted his objection on Facebook to the fact that the US Naval Academy had removed 381 books from its library. The comments on the post were quite interesting, and the wide spectrum of opinions expressed made me want to learn more. Reports from various news sources confirmed that books had in fact been removed. Less certain was the precise source of the order to remove the books.

The removal was supposedly done in response to directives received from the Department of Defense. According to reports, the goal of these directives was for all units and agencies to review all training materials and remove instruction on topics related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI). I quickly came across what appears to be the actual directive on a DoD Web site.

This document was sent with the subject line “Digital Content Refresh” and contained the sentence, “Components must take all practicable steps, consistent with records management requirements, to remove all DoD news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).” The directive refers to Web sites, but it does not mention library books,. This left the development at Annapolis an open question.

Additional searching did not uncover any evidence that library books had been removed at the US Military Academy or at the US Air Force Academy. With this discovery at Annapolis was nothing more than a case of malicious compliance that was designed to embarrass the current administration.

This is not the first time this has happened this year within the Department of Defense. In January, at least one Air Force unit removed instructional units about the World War II service of the famed Tuskegee Airman and the WASPs. Those events are described in this article in the Air and Space Forces Magazine.

About the time that these events were occurring, I came across a post on social media that was supposedly from a female former Army intelligence officer. She addressed “Service Academy Women” and gave them tips on how to “resist.” In addition, I found a reference to an older document from which this social media post might have been taken. Here are the two documents:

Excerpt from OSS WWI Manual
Social Media Post from January 2025

Wondering about the potential source of the older document, I submitted a query to three generative AI systems (Grok from xAI, Claude 3.7 from Anthropic, and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro. Grok suggested the excerpt might be from “The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, a 1942 satirical novel.” Claude and Gemini both concluded that the document was likely “an excerpt from the OSS Simple Sabotage Field Manual from 1944, specifically section (11a) “Organizations and Conferences.” Gemini provided this summary:

In essence, the second image adapts and repackages WWII-era sabotage techniques, originally intended for use against enemy organizations, as methods for internal resistance within modern military or government structures. The core methods of using bureaucracy, procedure, and communication to obstruct and delay remain the same, just presented in a contemporary context with updated language.

The purpose of malicious compliance such as this is to generate negative views towards the current administration. Seeing that the comments on your post range from very positive to very negative, it is safe to say that this effort to foment dissension was successful. The endeavor was aided as per usual by mainstream media such as the New York Times, the source of the article that my friend posted. Unfortunately, it seems these types of occurrences are par for the course in the Age of Trump.

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Alma and the Sons of Mosiah

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Mike

For many years now, a few friends and I have helped organize get-togethers for missionaries who served French-speaking missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We often refer to these as “reunions,” which they are, of sorts. With the passing years, however, they have become as much about meeting others from other mission periods and even other mission locations than about seeing people with whom we served. Above all, they are about reconnecting with our service, for some that was many years ago, but for some it was more recent.

Last evening (26 March 2025) we were blessed with such an event with Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church and Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé. In his talk, Bishop Caussé spoke of Alma from the Book of Mormon and the chance reunion he had with his former missionary companions, the Sons of Mosiah. The idea of describing that as Alma’s reunion with missionary buddies touched me.

In the service mission work in which I am engaged, I use generative AI quite a bit to help me program at a skill level far beyond my current expertise. In that context I was curious about how Grok xAI would describe that occasion. Note how very little context I provided in the prompt, the results of which I find nothing short of amazing.

“Alma’s Joyful Reunion with Sons of Mosiah.”

By Grok from Elon Musk’s xAI

Prompt: Tell me about the experience Alma had when he reconnected with his missionary buddies, the Sons of Mosiah.

Alma’s reunion with the Sons of Mosiah is a deeply moving moment recorded in the Book of Mormon, specifically in Alma 17. This encounter took place as Alma was traveling from the land of Gideon southward toward the land of Manti. Unexpectedly, he crossed paths with the Sons of Mosiah—Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni—who were journeying toward Zarahemla. The meeting was a surprise to Alma, and his reaction was one of overwhelming joy.

The context makes this reunion particularly significant. Years earlier, Alma and the Sons of Mosiah had been companions in rebellion, actively working to undermine the church of God. Their dramatic conversion came when an angel appeared to them, calling them to repentance (Mosiah 27). This shared experience forged a bond between them, but their paths diverged afterward. While Alma stayed among the Nephites, serving as a prophet and leader, the Sons of Mosiah chose to embark on a challenging mission to preach to the Lamanites, a people often hostile to the Nephites. They had been gone for 14 years by the time of this reunion, and Alma had no recent knowledge of their fate.

When Alma saw them, his joy stemmed not just from seeing old friends but from discovering that they were “still his brethren in the Lord.” Despite the long separation and the hardships they had faced, the Sons of Mosiah had remained faithful. They had grown strong in their knowledge of the truth, having diligently studied the scriptures and devoted themselves to prayer and fasting. This spiritual growth equipped them with the spirit of prophecy and revelation, enabling them to teach with power and authority. Over their 14-year mission, they had successfully brought many Lamanites to a knowledge of the truth, a remarkable achievement given the difficulties of their task.

The reunion was more than a personal moment; it marked a convergence of their missionary efforts. The Sons of Mosiah were returning with a group of Lamanite converts, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, seeking refuge among the Nephites. Alma, who had been working to strengthen the church in Zarahemla, played a key role in facilitating their acceptance. Later, in Alma 27, when they met again after these events, the joy was even more profound. Ammon, overcome with emotion, collapsed from exhaustion, and Alma and the others rejoiced greatly.

This encounter highlights the strength of their shared faith and the power of their individual journeys. Alma’s astonishment and happiness reflect the unexpected blessing of seeing his former companions not only alive but thriving in their devotion, a testament to their enduring brotherhood and commitment to their divine purpose.

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Generative AI: The Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of Software Development

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Mike

I have been using generative AI for code creation for two years now, more heavily in recent months. I have found it incredible to the point that I am doing programming at a level I would have never thought possible.

I wrote my first program as an undergraduate in 1969 using Fortran. I had just returned to Auburn University after 30 months in France as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had already had the introductory course in Aerospace Engineering where programming was taught, so my advisor told me I should take a course in the Chemical Engineering Department. Given that I knew very little of the subject matter from which the programming assignments, it was tough to say the least. I managed to squeak out an A, but not without many hours working on projects.

Fast forward to today: I am currently developing software as a service missionary for the Church. My task is to facilitate the translation of documents from English to 14 other languages. The work requires the processing of Word and PowerPoint documents to submit those to machine translation (Microsoft Translator) in the preparation of multicolumn documents using Word: English appears in one column and the target language in the other.

Translators are then able to review the machine translation without needing either computer-assisted translation (CAT) software or worrying about formatting. CAT tools are very powerful, but require more training and expertise than is available for our volunteer translators.

The bottom line is that I have been able to create some fairly sophisticated software in Visual Basic (VB.net). This language is closer to other programming languages I have used in the past. In addition, it provides much more complete access to the underlying content of Word and PowerPoint documents using the OpenXML library. This library provides very complete access to the the Office Open XML thatis used in Word in PowerPoint.

This combination of tools (Visual Basic, the OpenXML library. and AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT (the first system I used) and Claude from Anthropic (the system I have found even more useful than ChatGPT for several reasons) happens to be very powerful. Even so, there are problems, many of which I have to chalk up to my not using the tools in the best way possible. They can “hallucinate,” provide incorrect code, and even remove functionality that I had in my code before seeking to add other capabilities or simply improve the code (refactoring).

As I have worked for the past couple of days to return some capability to the software, inadvertenly omitted by one of the systems I use, I came up with what seems to be a great metaphor for describing generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) for coding. It occurred to me this morning that it would be great fun to have AI assesss the quality of the metaphor.

To do this, I decided to use a research system LMSYS.org, which “originated from a multi-university collaboration involving UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCSD, CMU, and MBZUAI in 2023.”). The system provides free access to many AI systems, with the only requirement to be to provide feedback on the quality of the results received.

Here is how this exploration of the metaphor came out! (Note: Model A is from Google. I am not sure where Model B “raspberry” is from.)

My query posted on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena: Tell me how Generative AI for coding can be compared to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Tell me how Generative AI for coding can be compared to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Model A: raspberry

The comparison of Generative AI for coding to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella is a compelling analogy that highlights the dual nature of this technology—its potential for great benefit as well as its inherent risks.

The Dr. Jekyll Aspect: Benefits of Generative AI in Coding

Enhanced Productivity:

  • Automation of Repetitive Tasks: Generative AI can automate mundane and repetitive coding tasks, allowing developers to focus on more complex and creative aspects of software development.
  • Speeding Up Development: By generating boilerplate code, suggesting improvements, and even writing entire functions, Generative AI can significantly reduce the time required to develop software.

Improved Code Quality:

  • Error Reduction: AI can help identify and correct coding errors, leading to more robust and reliable software.
  • Best Practices: Generative AI can enforce coding standards and best practices, resulting in cleaner, more maintainable code.

Learning and Education:

  • Assisting Novices: Beginners can learn from the code generated by AI, understanding patterns and best practices.
  • Continuing Education: Experienced developers can stay updated with the latest coding trends and technologies by leveraging AI-generated examples.

Innovation:

  • Inspiration: Generative AI can provide novel solutions and ideas that human developers might not consider, fostering innovation.

Conclusion

Generative AI for coding, much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, presents a dual-edged sword. When used responsibly, it can greatly enhance productivity, improve code quality, and foster innovation. However, it also poses significant risks that must be carefully managed to prevent negative outcomes.

Model B: gemini-1.5-flash-002

The analogy of Generative AI for coding being like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a compelling one, highlighting the dual nature of this technology. Both the fictional character and the AI reflect a powerful duality: immense potential for good juxtaposed with significant risks and unforeseen consequences.

Dr. Jekyll (the good): Benefits of Generative AI

  • Increased Productivity: Just as Jekyll aimed for self-improvement and a better understanding of the human condition, Generative AI aims to improve developer productivity. It can automate repetitive tasks, generate boilerplate code, suggest improvements, and even help debug, freeing up developers to focus on more complex and creative aspects.
  • Accessibility and Democratization: Jekyll’s transformation was, in a way, a quest for knowledge and understanding. Similarly, Generative AI can democratize access to coding. Individuals without extensive programming experience might use it to build basic applications or automate tasks.
  • Innovation and Exploration: Jekyll’s experiments, though ultimately disastrous, were driven by a desire for knowledge. Generative AI can similarly foster innovation. It can help explore new coding paradigms and generate novel solutions to problems.

Mr. Hyde (the bad): Potential Dangers

  • Security Vulnerabilities: Hyde’s violent nature mirrors the potential for Generative AI to produce insecure code. If the AI is trained on flawed or malicious data, it can generate code containing vulnerabilities or security risks.
  • Lack of Transparency: Hyde’s unpredictable actions reflect the “black box” nature of some Generative AI models. It can be difficult to understand why the AI generated a particular piece of code.
  • Bias and Ethical Concerns: Hyde’s inherent wickedness stems from a lack of moral compass. Similarly, Generative AI can perpetuate and amplify biases present in the training data.
  • Job Displacement: Hyde’s destructive actions can be likened to the fear of job displacement among programmers. While AI can augment human capabilities, there’s concern about potential job losses.
  • Over-reliance and Skill Degradation: Over-reliance on Generative AI might lead to a decline in core programming skills if developers become too dependent on it.

In conclusion, Generative AI for coding embodies a powerful duality. The key is to control the “Hyde” within the “Jekyll” – to use the technology responsibly and thoughtfully, ensuring its transformative potential benefits humanity as a whole.

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