National Security ‘Experts’ Are Bullshitting Us Into Another Quagmire

by ANDREW J. BACEVICH

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Policy intellectuals — eggheads presuming to instruct the mere mortals who actually run for office — are a blight on the republic.

Like some invasive species, they infest present-day Washington, where their presence strangles common sense and has brought to the verge of extinction the simple ability to perceive reality.

A benign appearance — well-dressed types testifying before Congress, pontificating in print and on TV, or even filling key positions in the executive branch — belies a malign impact. They are like Asian carp let loose in the Great Lakes.

It all began innocently enough. Back in 1933, with the country in the throes of the Great Depression, Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt first imported a handful of eager academics to join the ranks of his New Deal. An unprecedented economic crisis required some fresh thinking, FDR believed.