Researching the Deep State: Surveillance, Politics, and Dissent

This chapter aims to develop a working methodology for the use of those academics, investigative journalists, and political activists who wish to conduct credible research into that nexus of forces known as the ‘deep state’. It focuses on some of the popular approaches used in the field, in addition to describing what is perceived to be good journalistic and academic practice, based upon the insights of those working in this area. In effect, the encroachment of fusion centre surveillance into the public order domain has led these new hybrid intelligence agencies to conflate political activism with terrorism. The British version of a fusion intelligence complex has been presented so far in terms of the public and private sector networks that were commissioned post-9/11 to protect the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure. The biggest issue facing journalists or academics conducting research into the politics and practices of the deep state are generally all access-related.