Alfred W. McCoy states that the increase in the power of the U.S. intelligence community since the September 11 attacks " has built a '' fourth branch of the U.S. government '' " that is " in many ways autonomous from the executive , and increasingly so . " Stephen F. Cohen , in a May 17 , 2017 interview with Tucker Carlson said : " You and I have to ask a subversive question . Are there really three branches of government . Or is there a '' fourth branch of government '' ? These intel services ? " and that a military alliance Obama tried with Putin against terrorism was " sabotaged by the Department of Defense and its allies in the intelligence services . " Each of Trump 's efforts to " cooperate with Russia ? " have been " thwarted by a new leak of a story . " Bob Jessop , in his book , ' The State : Past , Present , Future ’ notes the similarity of three constructs :
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Fourth branch of government