New Book Details How CIA, FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains

For any American curious about the full extent to which cultural Marxism and left-wing political dogma have infected the intelligence community, J. Michael Waller’s new book, Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains, is a good place to start.

Big Intel is part spy thriller, part historical account, and part political clarion call, all wrapped up in a horrifying true story. No one could be a more perfect fit to tell this story than Waller, who has devoted his life to studying foreign propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion. He received military training as an insurgent with the Nicaraguan Contras. He is more qualified to trace the rise of cultural Marxism in the American intelligence community than perhaps any other individual not subject to CIA pre-publication review.

Waller’s fascinating tale begins as a personal narrative tracing his first forays in intelligence, rubbing shoulders with President Ronald Reagan, CIA Director Bill Casey, Ambassador Faith Whittlesey, OSS founding member Maj. General John K. Singlaub, and other distinguished figures. He firmly establishes his personal bona fides as the right man to shed light on the inner workings of the CIA and FBI, while making the reader feel as though he’s telling them the story casually across the table at a fascinating dinner party.

But despite Big Intel’s, readability, it is chock full of shocking details about the extent to which the intelligence community has been corrupted by far-left ideology. As Waller has explained in interviews, he did not set out to go as deep as he did in researching the book. Originally, it was supposed to be exclusively about Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden.

Yet, the more he tried to understand the ideological underpinnings of those men, the more questions he uncovered. Who framed those ideologies? Who trained them? Where did it all begin?

These questions are what led Waller all the way back to a time before the CIA and FBI existed, a time when ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan and J. Edgar Hoover were just coming on the scene. Both were determined to protect American interests, but from very different perspectives. Donovan saw the threat as a foreign one, while Hoover saw Communist infiltration into domestic American life.

Waller then transports the reader to the Marx-Engels Institute in 1922 Moscow, where the worldwide association of communist parties known as the Comintern met to discuss plans for expanding the influence of Marxism throughout the globe. Waller pinpoints this as the key moment when cultural Marxism was widely adopted by the enemies of freedom as the surest path to promote their dangerous ideology.

As Waller discovered, understanding this background is absolutely key to understanding the Deep State in its present form. Cultural Marxism has filled the vacuum left by the sense of purpose that permeated American intelligence communities during the height of the Cold War. Where once the CIA and FBI worked tirelessly to preserve the American way of life from the threat of communism, now they spend their time promoting phony ideas of diversity, equity, and inclusion – in effect communism rebranded.

Waller does a stellar job of painting a story that accurately portrays bold heroes and clandestine villains. Yet, the stark contrast between these heroes and villains is much more than a literary device to Waller. In fact, he sees the perception of heroism and virtue as a key component in the fight against cultural Marxism today.

Waller defines the difference between today’s CIA and the CIA of a generation prior as a difference in the perception of America as a whole. To the old guard, America was the good guy in the fight for freedom. To the woke incomers, America is built on a foundation of racism, patriarchy, and privilege. When the CIA and FBI no longer see it as heroic to fight for America, it is obvious how the sense of mission is lost – and how the intelligence community increasingly comes to view traditional American values and the American people themselves as a threat.

Big Intel isn’t just a well-written book; it is a timely exposé that Americans need to read at this critical moment. American intelligence is being weaponized against conservatives like never before. As the presidential race heats up, voters need to understand the dark forces that want to use intelligence-fueled propaganda to mold American society into their image. The war for the minds of the American people is bigger than you could ever imagine.

The Deep State didn’t start when Donald Trump came on the scene, although Trump perhaps more than any other president before him exposed their ambitions. Rather, the Deep State has had a generation to entrench itself deeply within the recesses of the federal bureaucracy, a scheme that is only now being exposed.

J. Michael Waller is the right man to sound the alarm, and Big Intel is the right book to show Americans how the Deep State began, how it is threatening their lives and values now, and what the dangers are if it is not addressed.

Ed Martin is a lawyer who succeed iconic conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly as President of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, the pro-family organization with leaders in every state. He clerked for the federal court of appeals and has served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Missouri, Chairman of the St. Louis Board of Elections, and in 1997 as special assistant to Pope John Paul II.